Factory managers at Renault were amazed when video footage from their company's alliance partner Nissan revealed that new production-line workers were expected to spend a week learning how to use a screwdriver. Renault discovered that if a person acquires basic skills in detail, he improves the way he moves, achieves significantly better productivity and also improves conditions for his colleagues by working with greater safety. And whatever operation he carries out is also completed with higher quality. Examples of poka yoke (the term Japanese production engineers use to describe operations they regard as foolproof) now abound in Renault body assembly and powertrain plants. At Palencia in Spain, one of Europe's most productive car plants, a special holder makes it impossible for an operative to choose the wrong type of cable for any electrical component. But Renault regards the introduction of the checkman as one of the key factors in stepping up quality levels in assembly. An extra member of staff has been added to every workstation team to scour each vehicle for potential defects before it moves to the next stage of production. When it reaches the end of the line, each car is subjected to a 500-point evaluation and a 350-metre test drive before being signed off for despatch. Under the new alliance vehicle evaluation standard, they are representing the interests of the customer in effect. They take eight vehicles at random each month and put them through a 100km road test. The operation takes people six hours to complete because they classify 300 items on a fault list. Reanault is now more concerned with problems relating to noise than in the past and faults are found on fewer than two of the 30,000 cars they build every month. With that performance, Renault is to achieve a 100 per cent improvement in the next two years.
Quality partnership
Automotive Engineer ; Jan. ; 23-24
2006
2 Seiten, 3 Bilder
Article (Journal)
English
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