Proceedings of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers Part O Journal of Risk and Reliability · 2018 · 33 citations · 30 references
EngineeringIndustrial EngineeringManufacturing EngineeringAutomotive ManufacturingMulti-criteria Decision MakingProduction EngineeringMaintainability EngineeringMaintenance OptimizationMaintenance SchedulingMaintenance StrategyLoading EquipmentMaintainabilityMaintainability EvaluationMaintenance Interval OptimizationMaintenance IntervalsMaintenance Intervals OptimizationMulti-attribute Utility TheoryOpportunistic Maintenance
Automotive manufacturing must increase productivity while reducing costs, downtime, and ensuring reliable operation. The study proposes applying reliability, availability, and maintainability methods to identify bottlenecks and optimize maintenance for a resilient automotive assembly line. A multi‑attribute utility theory decision model was used to determine optimal maintenance intervals for each unit, balancing reliability, availability, and cost. Analysis identified forklift and loading equipment as key bottlenecks, and opportunistic maintenance intervals were optimized, improving operational performance and sustainability.
Automotive manufacturing industries are required to improve their productivity with higher production rates at the lowest cost, less number of unexpected shutdowns, and reliable operation. In order to achieve the above objectives, the application of reliability, availability, and maintainability methodologies can constitute for resilient operation, identifying the bottlenecks of manufacturing process and optimization of maintenance actions. In this article, we propose a framework for reliability, availability, and maintainability evaluation and maintenance optimization to improve the performance of conveying process of vehicle body in an automotive assembly line. The results of reliability, availability, and maintainability analysis showed that the reliability and maintainability of forklift and loading equipment are the main bottlenecks. To find the optimal maintenance intervals of each unit, a multi-attribute utility theory is applied for multi-criteria decision model considering reliability, availability, and costs. Due to the series configuration of conveying process in automotive assembly line, the optimized time intervals are obtained using opportunistic maintenance strategy. The results could be useful to improve operational performance and sustainability of the production process.
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