Alternatives to assembly line production in the automotive industry

During the last decades the automotive market has shifted from a seller’s to a buyer’s market, and automobile manufacturers have become global players. These developments result in a massive product differentiation turning what once were uniform products into highly customized ones. Due to alternative drives and an increasing individualization, this trend will continue. Assembly line production, once introduced for a homogenous product, causes high efforts when operated as mixed-model assembly line for increasingly heterogeneous products. Therefore, alternatives need to be discussed to meet the changing requirements towards assembly. Accordingly, in this paper a modular assembly concept is developed as an alternative to conventional assembly lines. Based on its main characteristics of modular workstations and flexible transportation, the concept’s nine characteristic principles are described and evaluated. This may lead to a more flexible and adaptable assembly system, and may enable car manufacturers to handle the increasing diversity and dynamicity in the most productive way possible