Concurrent process flow analysis for collaborative process planning

To ensure competitiveness in the modern automotive market, process planning should be performed concurrently with new car developments. Process planners should make decisions in the manner of concurrent and collaborative engineering in order to reduce the manufacturing preparation time in developing a new car. Automated generation of a simulation model from the integrated process plan database can reduce time to perform a simulation and enable to use a consistent model. In this research, we developed a Web-based system for concurrent and collaborative process planning and flow analysis for an automotive final assembly, using Web, database, and simulation technology. A single integrated database is designed to automatically generate simulation models from process plans without reworking the data. This system enables process planners to evaluate their decision fast considering diverse factors and share their opinions with others easily. By using this system, it is possible to save time and cost of the assembly process planning, and reliability of the process plan can be improved.