The systems, equipment, and processes required by original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) and Tier 1, 2 and 3 component suppliers in the automotive industries must support just-in-time (JIT) delivery of stored components line side to meet lean manufacturing best-practice initiatives.
From well-recognized suppliers to remote small part providers, the automotive kitting process must be cost-effective. These processes all require quick turn-around on product orders. Topper Industrial, operating in a Fork Truck Free environment, accelerates response time between order placement and production, enabling organizations to operate lean and efficiently, maximizing throughput and productivity.
By reducing inventory carrying costs, improving parts availability, increasing worker productivity and work throughput, and minimizing storage space, automotive manufacturers and the entire supply chain is securing flexible and accurate customized (often engineer-to-order) kit assemblies. The strength of engineering allows for in-house design, planning, and prototyping upfront, while simultaneously addressing the need for scalable and sustainable growth. Automotive sub-assembly of components must meet the requirement for line side presentation. Bulk quantities of individual parts must be assembled and kitted to the customers’ specific requirements and shipped to them by using a kanban process.
Topper Industrial products have been deployed by vehicle OEMs and suppliers throughout manufacturing and assembly facilities worldwide for more than a decade, providing robust, smart devices, and industrial carts for all segments of the automotive industry.
Topper Industrial is currently expanding the plant facility in Sturtevant, WI. This growth ensures that error proofing solutions increase automotive part and component picking, kitting, assembly, sub-assembly, and sequencing quality for OEMs and suppliers. Whether picking parts in a supermarket/dedicated parts warehouse, or sequentially assembling components lineside, the standalone or fully integrated systems ensures quality.
Sara Pearson Spector, Editor at Large for Modern Materials Handling reported vision-guided vehicles were initially deployed to deliver components and kitted parts to assembly workers lineside at the point of vehicle assembly, automakers have now further expanded the use of these autonomous vehicles elsewhere in their plants. The practice not only extends the “fork-free” safety mandate, but also supports greater flexibility within operations as OEMs now build multiple vehicle models on the same line—and offer an ever-expanding selection of customization options to customers.
The practice of providing streamlined, automated solutions that boost material handling productivity, accuracy, and cost efficiency enterprise-wide is central to the Topper Industrial’s mission. Manufacturers, suppliers, and distributors worldwide rely on these engineer-to-order solutions to identify, track, control, and pick products at the highest levels of accuracy and throughput.
Topper brings companies considering a Fork Truck Free operation to various customer sites for benchmarking; to arrange an on-site benchmarking session call 800-529-0909.
By Thomas R. Cutler, Manufacturing Journalist for Topper Industrial – Material Handling Solutions
Visit Topper Industrial at MODEX 2016. To view video, go to: http://www.modexshow.com/attendees/youroneminute.aspx.
