The automation of an assembly system: A business process re-engineering (BPR) perspective

The purpose of this paper is to automate a manual assembly line following a structured framework, in a motorcyclist industry. Process re-engineering is implemented in order to improve and automate the assembly process of a manufacturing company. The transition from the manual process to the new semi-automated assembly line is composed of 4 main steps: the as-is analysis, the Process reengineering and layout design, the training and finally the mass production. The study has shown that the line automation yields significant improvements: sizeable increase of the workstations saturation, better cohesion with Just in Time principles, reduction of the employed working force, and increase of the quality control process rigor. The scope of the study was limited to one of the firm assembly line. In future, the company plans to perform similar studies on the other lines. This investigation shows significant benefit associated with a structured implementation automation in the field of assembly process. The findings will mainly be relevant for process and logistics managers involved in the planning of a new assembly line or in the redesign of an existing one. This paper provides an original case study of as-is analysis, re-design, training and testing of an improved assembly line.