Life cycle targets applied in highly automated car body manufacturing – Method and algorithm

Jan-Markus Rödger*, Niki Bey, Leo Alting, Michael Zwicky Hauschild

*Corresponding author for this work

    Research output: Contribution to journalJournal articleResearchpeer-review

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    Abstract

    Automotive companies are striving for higher productivity, flexibility and more sustainable products to meet demands of central stakeholders (e.g. regulation, customers, investors). New drive systems or lightweight-design of cars often imply an environmental burden shifting from one life cycle stage to another, e.g. from the use-stage to the manufacturing stage. More products will be manufactured for an increasing population and higher efficiency effort may lead to increased consumption (rebound effect). An optimization of the manufacturing stage is thus increasingly important but it has to be done from the perspective of bringing the product's life cycle performance in accordance with sustainability requirements. In order to support the companies in finding effective solutions, the framework “Sustainability Cone” was applied and an algorithm developed guiding the definition of economic and environmental target states (TS) in automotive manufacturing. Especially during the early phase of planning, largest improvements can be achieved, however target states are not yet integrated in production simulation software (e.g. PLM tools). This paper describes the approach and its application in the planning of a body shop, being one of the most relevant and complex steps of car production. The approach addresses all relevant levels, e.g. a robot, a production cell and the entire production line. So-called life cycle targets (LCT) are introduced, which represent a specific share of the target state, reflecting the importance (i.e. activity-based) of each level. Using this approach, a product and production system can be planned holistically and any rebound effect factored in and sub-optimization can be avoided.
    Original languageEnglish
    JournalJournal of Cleaner Production
    Volume194
    Pages (from-to)786-799
    Number of pages14
    ISSN0959-6526
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - 2018

    Keywords

    • Manufacturing
    • Sustainability
    • Life cycle assessment
    • Production planning
    • Automation
    • Target setting

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