Research regarding assembly flow optimization of wiring harness in automotive industry

Abstract

Considering the strong need for improvement of security and multimedia systems in the automotive industry, wiring harness production is becoming more and more important. Adapting to the integration of new technologies on the vehicle is a challenge for wiring harnesses manufacturers. Now the production of wiring harnesses is still quite dependent on human resources, the way of distributing the workload on the workstations having a large share in increasing productivity. Components such as terminals, connectors and seals are getting smaller and smaller, making the manual handling more difficult. A solution to this problem could be increasing the automation degree in wiring harness production. The objective of the research topic approached in this article is to identify solutions for optimizing the wiring assembly flow by partially automating the production flow. The concern for the application of automated processes in the production of car wiring is not new, but so far, the wiring manufacturers have been more focused on automating the prefabrication of the elements that compose the harness and not the wiring harness assembly line. From an economic point of view, the automation of the assembly flow would increase productivity by reducing fabrication time and the uncertainty given by the human resource dependence.