Product category:
Analysis, simulation and mathematical software
News Release from: Lanner Group | Subject: WITNESS simulation suite at Nissan, Russia
Edited by the Manufacturingtalk Editorial
Team on 07 May 2008
Simulation technology visualises paint
shop flow
Using Lanner's simulation software at a Russian automotive paintshop enabled users to visualise how to control the flow of vehicle production through spray painting, joint sealing and curing.
In 2009, the Nissan Motor Co will establish a GBP 100 million production plant in St Petersburg, Russia The group's Russian national sales company, Nissan Motor Rus (NMR), has been in Moscow since 2003
This article was originally published on Manufacturingtalk on 5 Jun 2001 at 8.00am (UK)
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NMR employs 100 staff (2008) and it distributes Nissan vehicles and parts across the Russian dealer network.
Sales of Nissan motor vehicles have increased from 9,470 units to over 50,000 in Russia by 2006.
Nissan said that the Russian car market will be worth GBP 50 billion by 2011, which is why Nissan started work on plans to build its very first production plant in Russia.
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The plant will produce a variety of vehicles specifically for the Russian market including the X-Trail 4x4 cars and Teana saloons.
It will employ around 750 people with a planned capacity of up to 50,000 units annually.
* UK plant guidance - launching a new plant in an unfamiliar country relies on expertise and experience gained from existing operations.
The Russian team sought guidance from Sunderland, UK-based Nissan Motor Manufacturing (UK), (NMUK).
NMUK is the largest car plant in the UK and is regularly recognised as the most productive in Europe, said Nissan.
The Russian team travelled to NMUK to learn in particular, how to optimise production efficiency in order to fulfill production quotas.
* Simulation - using Lanner's WITNESS simulation suite, NMUK produced a model of the St Petersburg paintshop using CAD and performance data.
The model demonstrated to the Russian team and paintshop developers, Durr, how simulation technology could drive production.
The WITNESS model visualised how to control the flow of vehicle production in the paintshop.
When vehicles are in the paintshop they are spray painted, which includes sealants for joints, and then placed in an oven to dry.
Engineer at NMUK, who designed the WITNESS model for the St Petersburg paintshop, Anthony Timmiss, said: "It is vital that cars are put in and taken out of the oven at the correct time otherwise the quality of finish is compromised, and that can be very costly".
"This leaves paintshop operatives with a huge headache as they are tasked with producing a considerable amount of vehicles, but are also required to make sure mistakes in production are minimal when doing so".
* Benefits - simulation technology is used to optimise production and to eradicate issues surrounding workflow in the paintshop.
Lanner told manufacturingtalk that Nissan required software that would guarantee the smooth transition of vehicle production.
Lanner's WITNESS is able to achieve this with a high level of precision.
By producing a model of the St Petersburg plant, NMUK identified throughput capability, bottlenecks, utilisations and the necessary control required.
The paintshop, will develop faults from time to time, which could potentially halt production.
By running the WITNESS model with this data accurately factored in, the Russian employees were able to see the consequences of any unplanned event or problem.
WITNESS can calculate and show the effect for a wide range of reliability scenarios and enable the correct robust decisions to be taken.
By using WITNESS simulation software, Nissan's Russian team were able to 'future gaze' events before they have taken place.
'Future gazing' eradicates potential mistakes and inaccuracies in production methods, which means the paintshop team can be confident that they start on the correct basis, enabling them to meet their targets from day one.
Timmiss said: "It is exciting times for Nissan with the launch of the new assembly plant at St Petersburg".
"The Russian automotive market has seen huge growth in the last few years and this is expected to increase significantly in the next three or four years".
He continued: "Russia's appetite for Nissan cars has grown in line with market growth so it is imperative that Nissan are able to supply to demand straight away".
"In order for this to happen it was vital that the new Russian team were given the very best technological advancements to maximise production at the new plant".
Timmiss concluded: "Having successfully used Lanner's WITNESS at the Sunderland plant to drive production of the Qashqui model, Nissan decided to implement the simulation technology at St Petersburg to help fulfil production of 50,000 cars".
"WITNESS is ideal as it is easy to implement and use, cost effective and offers highly accurate predictions".
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