Challenge Simulation as a Solution Background
LANNER
Nissan "shift expectations" with Lanner Simulation Software - 7080 CASE STUDY: NISSAN “SHIFT EXPECTATIONS” WITH LANNER SIMULATION SOFTWARE
Sunderland plant increases production of new automotive models by 20 per cent using Lanner software
In maximising the plant’s ability to produce the required volumes of the Qashqai, several options existed: traditional methods and simulation-led methods. Traditional Industrial Engineering methods include the creation of Man/Machine charts in order to understand the individual welding cells and standard calculations to determine the capacity using a planned system efficiency percentage. However this manual approach is immensely time consuming in manpower hours and therefore costly. When this approach was Nissan Motor Manufacturing (UK) Ltd, (NMUK) is an automotive manufacturing plant in Sunderland, Tyne and Wear. It is the largest car plant in the United Kingdom, and has regularly been recognised as the most productive in Europe.In December 2006, NMUK began producing Nissan’s latest model, the Qashqai. Built on an all-new platform, the Qashqai will cater for those car buyers who want a more dynamic design but are not attracted to the large, aggressive nature of a sport utility vehicle. The car slots below the X-Trail in the Nissan range and partially replaces the conventional Primera and Almera. In a hugely competitive market, NMUK has to demonstrate excellent value for money when securing contracts for production of new models. New contracts to manufacture models can only be secured by providing the best manufacturing option in terms of quality, cost and delivery. NMUK faces competition from other Nissan plants globally and also from low cost countries in Eastern Europe where several major automotive manufacturers have recently established plants to provide low-cost propositions for the European market.NMUK needed to optimise production processes for the manufacture of Nissan’s latest Qashqai model. In particular it needed to understand and map the role of its new suspension plant that was installed specifically for the manufacture of the Qashqai. evaluated against a simulation-led approach, traditional methods simply could not compete with the depth of analysis that simulation technology is able to provide.
Building on a successful track record of using WITNESS simulation over many years Nissan’s first choice was to use the Lanner
software for this analysis. NMUK have developed their own methodology for modelling large scale production lines. Firstly, small models are produced to look at particular cells in the line and improve the cycle times of particular processes, then the processes are all put together in a large scale model fed by the data from the smaller models. This model helps establish the overall plant’s ability to achieve volume requirements. This methodology was used and the variety of levels of WITNESS model were produced and analysed.The simulation models took just a few weeks to develop to a stage where NMUK was receiving tangible results and identifying efficiency gains. The simulation technology is so effective because it is visual, interactive, it takes into account variability and users can see and understand why certain results are achieved with different control strategies and investment options.The models built are used on an ongoing basis page 1 of 2NISSAN CASE STUDY
