Abstract:
All worldwide operating automobile manufacturers are on the constant search
for the optimum between desirable flexibility on that one hand and required cost
productivity on the other hand.
In particular, the planning of a new final assembly shop of a car manufacturer is
a big challenge since a huge number of influencing factors must be taken into
consideration, so that in the end a best-practice final assembly shop with the
desired attributes is created. To minimise the risk of bad planning, the length of
time for the planning process should be shortened and at the same time the
planning exactness should be improved with the help of new tools.
This research project demonstrates that in the early stages of the planning
process key performance indicators could be a proper instrument to achieve the
the desired effects. Even if key performance indicators have been used in many
areas of industry over several decades, this is the first research project which
deals in this degree of accuracy with the dependencies between the different
key performance indicators during the factory planning process for a new final
assembly shop of a car manufacturer. Following the basic idea of 'System
Thinking', numerous key performance indicators were linked to each other in an
adaptable system of key performance indicators.
During this research project, the developed model was successfully evaluated
with four locations of the research partner BMW Group. Since the results are all
between ± 20%, which is a sufficient exactness for this planning stage, there is
great confidence that this general system of key performance indicators could
also be important to other automobile manufacturers. The findings of this
research project should serve as a basis for other researchers in this field to
enhance the scarce theories about the dependencies.
Besides, the software 'Powersim' and the chosen approach of 'System Thinking'
doubtless can be transferred to other industrial areas with similar challenges.
