• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.16 no.12
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• pp.8940-8947
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• 2015

Mixed-model assembly line has been widely used in automotive assembly industry to quickly respond the diverse product demands. But, this model can lead to part confusion, which is a source for assembly errors when parts are physically interchangeable in a mixed-model assembly line. With the recent application of new technologies such as radio frequency identification (RFID) and ZigBee wireless sensor network (WSN) to the assembly process, real-time information has become available in this manufacturing systems through IT infrastructures. At first, this paper presents an RFID application for assembly processes, specifically, for a mixed-model assembly line. Thus, to ensure that parts be picked accurately, each cockpit module on the assembly line is attached with a RFID tag and the tag is scanned using a RFID reader and recognizes the vehicle, and each part of the cockpit module is attached with a barcode and the barcode is scanned by a barcode reader and each part is identified correctly for the vehicle. Second, this paper presents a ZigBee wireless sensor network (WSN) protocol-based application for a reconfigurable mixed-model assembly line of cockpit module to reduce the assembly errors and the cost of the change/reconfiguration on the assembly lines due to the various orders and new models from the motor company, avoiding the wiring efforts and inconvenience by wiring between the several RFID devices and the IT server system. Finally, we presents the operation results for several years using this RFID/ZigBee wireless sensor network (WSN) protocol-based cockpit module assembly line.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Automotive Engineers
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• v.12 no.1
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• pp.122-129
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• 2004

Finite element analysis was performed to analyze structural safety of a new heavy-duty direct injection diesel engine. A half section of the in-line 6-cylinder engine was selected as a computational domain. A mapping method was used to project heat transfer coefficients from CFD results of engine coolant flow onto the FE model. The accurate setting of thermal boundary condition on the FE model was expected to result in improved prediction of temperature, cylinder bore distortion, and stresses. Characteristics of high cycle fatigue were investigated by assuming the engine was operated under the following five loading conditions repeatedly; assembly force, assembly force with thermal loading, alternating maximum gas pressure loading at each cylinder combined with assembly force and thermal loading. Distribution of fatigue safety factor was calculated by using it Haigh diagram in which the maximum and the minimum stresses were selected from the five loading cases.

• Journal of the Korea Society for Simulation
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• v.29 no.4
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• pp.95-109
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• 2020

In this paper, an optimal manufacturing system design problem in an automotive body assembly lines is introduced when various costs such as equipment investment costs are considered. Meta-model methodology based on simulation results has been used for estimating the performances of the system such as production rate and work-in-process levels. The objective function is minimizing total cost which satisfies the target production rate. The investment costs such as robots, buffers, transportation equipment, and the inventory holding cost of work-in-process have been included in the objective function. Harmony search method has been used for optimization.

• Journal of Sensor Science and Technology
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• v.32 no.5
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• pp.320-327
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• 2023

In this study, an FPGA-based sealer inspection system was developed to inspect the sealer applied to install vehicle glass on a car body. The sealer is a liquid or paste-like material that promotes adhesion such as sealing and waterproofing for mounting and assembling vehicle parts to a car body. The system installed in the existing vehicle design parts line does not detect the sealer in the glass rotation section and takes a long time to process. This study developed a line laser camera sensor and an FPGA vision signal processing module to solve this problem. The line laser camera sensor was developed such that the resolution and speed of the camera for data acquisition could be modified according to the irradiation angle of the laser. Furthermore, it was developed considering the mountability of the entire system to prevent interference with the sealer ejection machine. In addition, a vision signal processing module was developed using the Zynq-7020 FPGA chip to improve the processing speed of the algorithm that converted the profile to the sealer shape image acquired from a 2D camera and calculated the width and height of the sealer using the converted profile. The performance of the developed sealer application inspection system was verified by establishing an experimental environment identical to that of an actual automobile production line. The experimental results confirmed the performance of the sealer application inspection at a level that satisfied the requirements of automotive field standards.

• Journal of Korean Society for Quality Management
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• v.38 no.3
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• pp.439-448
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• 2010

Since the six sigma strategy was first introduced to Motorola in 1987, it has been taken as an important business strategy to strengthen the competitiveness of leading companies in the global competitiveness environm ent. This paper presents a six sigma project to reduce the cycle time of assembly line in a medium size automotive part company. The project follows a structured methodology of DMAIC cycle which consists of Define, Measure, Analyze, Improve, and Control. A CTQ is determined based on COPQ analysis, and a process map is utilized for identifying process input variables. As a result of the project, two assembly lines are converted to cell line production lines. The cycle times become 55 sec./unit and 64 sec./unit from 64 sec./unit and 83 sec./unit at the beginning of the project, respectively.

• Journal of Korean Society of Industrial and Systems Engineering
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• v.46 no.1
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• pp.68-75
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• 2023

In an automotive plant, an automated storage and retrieval system (ASRS) synchronizes material handling flows from a part production line to an auto-assembly line. The part production line transfers parts on small-/large-sized pallets. The products on pallets are temporarily stored on the ASRS, and the ASRS retrieves the products upon request from the auto-assembly line. Each ASRS aisle is equipped with narrow-/wide-width racks for two pallet sizes. An ASRS aisle with narrow-/wide-width racks improves both storage space utilization and crane utilization while requiring delicate ASRS aisle design, i.e., the locations of the narrow-/wide-width racks in an ASRS aisle, and proper operation policies affect the ASRS performance over demand fluctuations. We focus on operation policies involving a common storage zone using wide-width racks for two pallet sizes and a storage-retrieval job-change for a crane based on assembly-line batch size. We model a discrete-event simulation model and conduct extensive experiments to evaluate operation policies. The simulation results address the best ASRS aisle design and suggest the most effective operation policies for the aisle design.

• IE interfaces
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• v.18 no.2
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• pp.136-147
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• 2005

This paper introduces a simulation study regarding the operation of the Painted Body Storage (PBS) in an automobile factory. In the paint shop of the factory, same colored bodies are grouped together in order to increase the effectiveness of process, for example decrease the loss of cleaning the painting-gun when the color of body changes from one to another. However the production of automobiles in the assembly shop is a typical example of the mixed model assembly production. Therefore PBS locates between the paint shop and the assembly shop for control the input sequence of bodies to the assembly shop, and it enables to meet the smoothing requirement of assembly sequence. There are highly restricted constraints on the assembly sequence in a assembly shop. Those are spacing restriction and smoothing restriction. If such restrictions are violated, conveyor-stop or utility work will be necessary. Thus the major objective of PBS is to control the assembly sequence in a way to meet the two restrictions. In this paper a case study of PBS in an automotive factory is introduced. The storage/retrieval algorithms are suggested and the proposed system is verified using simulation models. Sensitivity analysis for operating factors is also conducted.

• Proceedings of the Korea Society for Simulation Conference
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• 1999.10a
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• pp.217-217
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• 1999

The main objective of this study is to simulate the design and operational policies of the assembly shop of an automotive plant for planning purposes and to find possible improvements. The simulation study was used to answer the following questions: How does the sequence affect the daily throughput\ulcorner What are the bottlenecks to the assembly lines in a given scenario\ulcorner A Simulation model was developed in accordance with the objective of this study. The model incorporates detailed workstation logic to accurately model downtime results through the use of a pull cord system. It is written with SIMAN. The discrete event feature of SIMAN does not adequately model the conveyor systems of the asembly shop. As a result, a few subroutines were added to the SIMAN modeling structures to mimic the operations of the assembly shop. Use of the model uncovered attractive improvement opportunities, such as a tremendous gain in annual volume if four additional spaces were added to a between-line buffer.

• Korean Journal of Computational Design and Engineering
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• v.14 no.4
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• pp.225-233
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• 2009

The objective of this paper is to examine a construction method and verify PLC logic using the logical modeling and simulation of a virtual plant has complex manufacturing system and the domain of application is car body assembly line of automotive industrial operated by PLC Program. The proposed virtual plant model for the analysis of the construction method consists of three types of components which are virtual device, intermediary transfer and controller is modeled by logical model but it the case of the verification of PLC program, HMI and PLC logic in the field substitute for the controller. The implementation of the proposed virtual plant model is conducted PLC Studio which is an object-oriented modeling language based on logical model. As a result, proposed methods enable 3D graphics is designed in the analysis step to use for verification of PLC program without special efforts.

• 제어로봇시스템학회:학술대회논문집
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• 1999.10a
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• pp.194-197
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• 1999

Automatic weld bead removal system is consisted of bead removal tool, bead profile measurement system and tool motion control system. In this paper, design of weld bead profile measurement system which is used for automatic weld bead removal system is described. The system measures the weld bead position, normal vector of the auto-body and weld bead profile. The optical sensor with structured laser beam is used as a sensor and comparison of the sensor that can be used for this purpose is discussed in detail. The measurement process and the related software developed for this purpose are also described. A median filter, average filter and long line filters are used and their effects in bead profile measurement are discussed. The measurement system is integrated into automatic bead removal system and is used to remove weld bead in rear pillar of automotive body. The whole system operates well in automotive body assembly line and thus the system is proved to be good for this purpose.