Automobile production controlled to the second

Many systems and components in the automotive industry today are delivered just-in-time or even just-in-sequence directly to the assembly line during ongoing assembly in the OEM plant. In view of extremely tight time frames and highly complex systems, this is a highly challenging task for global system suppliers such as thyssenkrupp Automotive Systems. How the specialist for assembly and logistics services reduces complexity for automobile manufacturers (OEMs).

More and more model variants and a growing number of individual equipment options are increasing the complexity of automobile production immensely. It is specialists like thyssenkrupp Automotive Systems that make the continuing trend towards even more individuality possible in the first place. Whether complete rear axle systems for Porsche or the electric drive for the current Smart Fortwo: thyssenkrupp Automotive Systems handles the complete supplier management, on-time delivery and assembly for its customers with around 1,600 employees worldwide. In this way, the assembly and logistics experts significantly reduce the workload for their customers within the supply chain and in production.

thyssenkrupp Automotive Systems CEO Steffen Schmidt explains what customized production actually means: “The axle systems that we assemble on behalf of our customers are always different. Two identical axle systems are as rare as six correct numbers in the lottery. With an extra number.”

Flexible automotive production through just-in-sequence and just-in-time manufacturing

The high degree of individualization of car models requires extremely flexible production. After all, all variants, sometimes of several model series, run on one assembly line. This is why cars are now produced more than ever according to the just-in-sequence (JIS) principle. This is an advanced version of just-in-time delivery (JIT): the right components should not only be available in the right quantity and quality at the right time and in the right place. Just-in-sequence delivery makes it possible to deliver the various supplier parts in the correct assembly sequence in which they are needed by the OEM and can be processed immediately in the existing production flow. In this way, stock quantities can also be kept as low as possible so that as little stock and storage space as possible is required.

Both JIT and even more so JIS deliveries therefore not only require particularly efficient processes, but often also close proximity to car manufacturers. This is why thyssenkrupp Automotive Systems plans and implements plants specially tailored to its customers either directly on the factory premises or in the immediate vicinity. “Our expertise lies not only in the fact that we plan and build our plants independently,” explains CEO Steffen Schmidt. “We also have the same standards as our customers: Our plants always meet the OEM standard”.

Interdisciplinary expertise

As a rule, thyssenkrupp Automotive Systems is involved in pre-series development at an early stage, which, according to Steffen Schmidt, is another of the company's core competencies. The project teams have experts from all specialist areas, such as quality, logistics, production and procurement.

The Test Center at thyssenkrupp Automotive Systems plays a key role in this. Even before cars or commercial vehicles are launched on the market, they undergo intensive test processes to check the operational stability of the installed parts and identify weak points in advance. This often takes place in the state-of-the-art laboratory in Essen: On 2,500 square meters, the Test Center runs high-end fatigue strength analyses for its demanding automotive customers using individually designed test benches. The 25 specialists for fatigue strength testing reliably identify weak points in the tested components and systems with the utmost precision. And they do this 24 hours a day, seven days a week. The ultimate endurance test: components that do not survive the test program must be optimized.

Just-in-sequence delivery directly to the assembly line is standard for thyssenkrupp Automotive Systems

Steffen Schmidt: “From integration into the development process to early consideration of assembly capability, from the location concept to the installation of supplier and supply chain management to precisely timed just-in-sequence assembly and delivery: our customers can choose from different concepts or a combination.”

Delivery directly to the manufacturer's assembly line to the second is no longer the exception; it has long since become a standard for thyssenkrupp Automotive Systems. A standard that requires a great deal of expertise and represents an enormous challenge. “As soon as the body comes out of the paint shop, we receive an electronic call-off that specifies exactly how the front and rear axle systems are to be configured for the vehicle. From this moment on, depending on the customer, we have 240 minutes to manufacture our modules and systems and deliver them directly to the customer's production line at the right time,” explains Steffen Schmidt. Conversely, this means: If the required volumes do not reach this target window, the assembly lines come to a standstill. The super disaster. For the car manufacturer and the suppliers.

Complex control of 150 to 200 suppliers per site

In order to master these challenges for each vehicle to be produced, the plants have to manage a considerable number of variants. “We supply complete, predominantly complex systems that consist of a large number of components,” says Timo Köhl, responsible for logistics and quality at thyssenkrupp Automotive Systems. “We are talking about parts lists that include up to 200 individual parts per module and for which we are responsible”. The challenge here is to manage the large number of different suppliers. “Depending on the location and complexity, we manage 150 to 200 suppliers and more than 1,000 part numbers,” reports logistics expert Köhl. A number that can only be managed with a high degree of automation. “Our supplier management is fully automated via our SAP system, to which all suppliers are connected.” Every exchange of information about requirements, delivery capability, delivery status, etc. takes place automatically via this system.

Timo Köhl explains: “Our customers inform us about their requirements as part of a daily data exchange. We then use this as a basis for resource planning. It takes into account the available stocks that we have at the locations and calculates the requirements that we then have to transfer to the suppliers. This is also fully automated. Our dispatchers provide our suppliers with the corresponding requirements via the parameters. As soon as the components are ready for collection from the suppliers, our transport processes take effect. This means that logistics service providers commissioned by us carry out the transportation according to our requirements, usually by land and sea freight. The dispatchers not only monitor the status of deliveries very closely, they also continuously optimize freight spaces, capacity utilization, routes and costs. When the components arrive at one of the seven thyssenkrupp Automotive Systems locations, they are checked for certain criteria and booked. “They are then allocated to the warehouse in accordance with our internal processes before being brought to the assembly line in the so-called “line feeding” process.”

International logistics: a great art

“The trick,” says Steffen Schmidt, ”is to procure parts from all over the world for the production sites and, after weeks at sea in some cases, to assemble them in an extremely tight time window and bring them directly to the line at the right time.”

How important the human factor remains, despite all the digitalization and automation, becomes clear when deviations in internal processes or other exceptional situations occur. “For example, as soon as we receive information that our suppliers are unable to meet their schedules, we set our special processes in motion,” reveals Timo Köhl. “Our scheduling teams then check why the quantity cannot be delivered and what options we have for responding to ensure that we still have the right quantity of the material on site at the right time. With local suppliers who deliver to us several times a day, we have an extremely tight schedule. We're not talking about days or weeks, the exception control has to work within hours. This is the only way we can master the complexity.”

The effects of the global political upheavals of recent years on the finely planned global supply chains represent a very special challenge; first the corona crisis, the supply bottlenecks in the semiconductor sector and later the war in Ukraine. “Since the first coronavirus lockdown, global logistics has been a super challenge,” admits Steffen Schmidt. “When our logistics machinery grinds to a halt, we have to check How much do we still have in the pipeline, how much is still on the way? How far are we likely to get based on customer requirements and where do we need to ensure that there is relief? In some cases, a real talent for improvisation is required to get hold of the necessary parts, plus a network that has been tried and tested over many years. The human factor takes center stage in such exceptional situations. Because at the end of the day, we sell our customers trust; trust in our delivery reliability. That is the standard we set ourselves and by which we measure ourselves every day,” emphasizes Steffen Schmidt.

Photos: thyssenkrupp-automotive and fotolia