Case study

High-performance manufacturing for a new automobile range

Creating cutting-edge car manufacturing facility

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High-performance manufacturing for a new automobile range

Facility design and robotics system

Confidential

Justin Jackson

Senior Vice President, Engineering Projects

Robert S Scheper

Vice President, Discrete Automation

In the UK since 1997

Production of the first aluminium monocoque vehicle in product range and sector

Advanced virtual reality simulation and visualisation techniques

Car and other automotive manufacturing requires sophisticated and intelligent automation and control systems, to be designed and deployed with flexibility and adaptability to new models, materials and facility constrains.

Wood has been a key automation partner to a leading automative manufacturer in the UK since 1997, delivering principal manufacturing and control systems to assembly factories for all parts of their vehicle manufacturing process.

On one of the projects we led for them, the client engaged us to support the manufacturing process for the production of the first aluminum monocoque vehicle within their range and the sector. In order to achieve the higher production volumes planned for this range, the new production facilities had to operate at higher speeds and with greater efficiency and reliability than any others.

The need to ensure the shortest possible facility delivery and optimization time whilst carefully controlling costs, furthermore, high-performance manufacturing required demanded a much higher density of equipment installed within a significantly larger facility.

Through use of advanced virtual reality simulation and visualisation techniques, the Wood team was able to provide the client with confidence that the new facility design and robotics system would exceed the performance needed, whilst also allowing a better understanding of how they could be integrated, much earlier in the design process.

These virtual reality models offered performance and scenario analysis and provided an interactive platform for the robotic, tooling and handling systems to be commissioned to a very high level in an office rather than site environment, thereby reducing risk implementation times and costs.

Automative welding