Design of a cellular assembly line for electrical motors

• Autor(a) principal: Araújo, Fábio André Lopes
• Data de Publicação: 2020
• Tipo de documento: Dissertação
• Idioma: eng
• Título da fonte: Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos)
• Texto Completo: http://hdl.handle.net/10400.22/17718
• topic: Automobile industry; Electric motor; Automation; Cellular assembly line; Mechanical design; Industrial automóvel; Motor elétrico; Automação; Linha de montagem celular; Projeto mecânico

The automobile is a cornerstone of today’s society. Its large usage for personal mobility or industrial cargo transportation creates a big demand for automobiles, making this industry one of the largest ones in the world. When there is a large demand for a product, the competitiveness to gain a market share is also very high, obligating the competitors in such industry to constantly improve and innovate in order to deliver the best product possible, while complying with high quality standards and short delivery times. To survive in the automobile industry, companies and suppliers have to constantly invest in newer and more efficient technologies, and develop production methodologies capable of delivering products at high production rates, quality, and efficiency. This is where automation enters the equation, helping companies achieve these requirements through the design of dedicated or flexible systems capable of producing large quantities with great repeatability and quality, while reducing manual labor and the costs and inconsistencies associated with it. It was in this context that the work present in this thesis was developed. A supplier for the automotive industry needed an assembly line to mass-produce a new model of an electric motor and introduce it in the market. The goal was to design a semi-automated cellular assembly line, where the operators would mainly perform load/unload operations and the automated systems would perform the majority of the assembly operations. The automation of the assembly operations allows the control of the production process at all times, ensuring a final product within the quality requirements and a much easier troubleshoot of eventual problems that can emerge during the production. Due to the complexity and size of the assembly line, this thesis will have a main focus on stations 1 and 2 of the assembly line designed, which will be explained in deep detail, while the remaining stations will only be briefly explained. In the end, the results of this project were extremely positive, the assembly line was concluded with success and delivered in time to the customer, complying with all the requirements imposed in terms of safety, quality, cycle time, and production traceability.