Manufacturing Line Commissioning
Assembly Line
Mastering Ramp-up of Battery Production
The ramp-up phase of a gigafactory for the production of battery cells, modules and packs for electric mobility and other applications is crucial for its subsequent success. In the jointly published white paper “Mastering Ramp-up of Battery Production”, the Fraunhofer FFB and the Chair of Production Engineering of E-Mobility Components (PEM) at RWTH Aachen University provide information on strategies and resources for an efficient and successful start-up of a gigafactory. The following figures illustrate the importance of this: according to the publication, scrap rates of 15 to 30 per cent in the first few years are common in battery cell production. Even after five years, however, scrap rates are still high at around ten per cent. Each percentage point costs around 30.000 € per day and around ten million euros per year. A rejection rate of 30 per cent at full capacity utilisation therefore means costs of around 900.000 € per day. It is a threat to the entire European electric mobility industry if local battery cell manufacturers are unable to increase their production capacities due to problems with factory ramp-up. The white paper therefore begins by outlining the organisational and technical hurdles associated with ramping up a gigafactory, and then offers insights into how these hurdles can be overcome and how the ramp-up process can be effectively managed.
Debug, Checkout and Startup
After months of developing processes, creating drawings and integrating components, your automated assembly machine is finally complete. All that needs to be done now is hit the start button, right? Not so fast. Debug, checkout and startup come first. “Debug” means to search for and eliminate malfunctioning elements. “Checkout” refers to the test of a machine or system for proper functioning. “Startup” is the act of initiating a production process on the plant floor.
“Debug, checkout and startup are the most important parts of any automation project,” claims Sean Dotson, PE, former president and chief technology officer of systems integrator RND Automation. “I’ve seen some companies that cut corners, thinking everything is good enough just so they can get a machine out the door on time. Saying ‘we’ll fix it at the customer’s site’ is a recipe for disaster. A machine like that will never be 100 percent correct. “Debug is what gets you to the factory acceptance test,” explains Dotson. “If a machine works at that stage, then it should work when it arrives on the floor of the customer’s facility.
Challenges In Ramping New Manufacturing Processes
Manufacturing line design configuration with optimized resource groups
Skilled line engineers spend several months designing a manufacturing line based on their experience. Optimization of the four design specifications from the viewpoint of productivity and equipment continuity is required for the line design process. However, these four design specifications are highly dependent on each other and the number of feasible combinations of the specifications is enormous and difficult to automate.
To solve these issues, our research introduces the concept of a resource group that enables a methodology to solve the four design items hierarchically and develops methods to quickly build new manufacturing lines in response to changes in product varieties and manufacturing fluctuations in a factory.