Back from the summer vocation Volvo Europa Truck has begun trimming truck cabins in a new industrial building in Oostakker. This new department, with a technical capacity of 144 cabins a day, is based entirely on ‘lean manufacturing’ principles. EUR 15 million has been invested in this innovatively designed project.
Next to truck assembly this is the largest activity at Volvo Europa Truck. The Volvo Cab Trim department employs more than 200 personnel.
Trimming of heavy truck cabins began at Ghent in August 2007. Initially just 44 cabins a day were trimmed in two shifts. At the end of 2007 the decision was taken to expand the trim activities at Ghent. For this a complete new building has been erected and the production process structured around “lean manufacturing” principles. The new department has a technical capacity of 144 cabins a day and employs more than 200 people.
The Lean Manufacturing principle
The new production process seeks to work in the most efficient way by enabling the cab trim line operators to make optimal use of the available space and time. The starting point is the employee, with work stations and material arranged to avoid all unnecessary activities and movements.
Focus on new supply technologies
In the new cabtrim plant, material arrives at the work stations on “carriers”. These are trolleys that have been ergonomically designed so that the operator does not have to bend down to pick up the required parts. Material is delivered in a carefully structured fashion, using “tuggers”. These can best be compared with goods trains: in front is the driver in the “locomotive” which draws along four to seven “wagons”. The driver, or “sequencer” in the technical jargon, follows a fixed route with the tugger, picking up and putting down material in a sorted manner. There will be no more pallets along the assembly lines, only blue boxes or carts.
Supermarket
The sequencer picks up all the empty boxes with the tugger and brings them to the “supermarket”. This too is a new way of working. In this “supermarket” empty packaging is exchanged for filled boxes that are brought back online.
Docks
For the first time at Volvo Europa Truck, the BTQ-building has been designed with “docks” for bringing the material to where they are needed for assembly. The truck drives down an inclined slope into the dock. The material can then be unloaded directly out of the truck's hold.
“Continuous improvement has been a driving force here for years”, says Patrick Collignon, General Manager of Volvo Europa Truck. “For the extension of the cabin trim activities we have had the good fortune to be able to structure everything in a ‘green field’ perspective, not limited by existing walls and structures. In designing the extension of the cabin trim activities, we have made full use of the Lean Manufacturing know-how that we have built up in the plant . Efficient, ergonomic working is central to this, with a focus on new supply technologies.”