Conveyor increases efficiency for Honda
September 1st 2011 Leicester based CI Logistics
completed the installation of a
continuously moving, inverted
monorail conveyor for the
dashboard sub assembly line at
Honda's UK manufacturing plant in
Swindon.
Designed to transport new Honda
Civic dashboards around a 20 station
assembly line in Car Plant 2, the CI
Logistics conveyor has increased the
efficiency and reliability of the line. It
is an enclosed track, equally pitched
towline conveyor, constructed to pull
the 20 individual trolleys carrying
the dashboards around the assembly
line. The conveyor runs at a speed
ranging from 700mm to 1700mm
per minute.
Neil Adams is one of Honda's New
Model Project Engineers. He explains
why a new conveyor became a
necessity for the dashboard assembly
line in Plant 2.
"The dashboard of our new
Honda Civic model uses the latest
technology so we needed more work
stations and therefore a longer
assembly line to be able to build it.
Originally we had a 10 station
conveyor to build the current
dashboard; with the extra processes
we needed to double that to 20
stations.
"I made a shortlist of three
companies and when the quotes
came in the one from CI Logistics
was the most cost effective quote we
received. It was for a monorail
conveyor built around a 42m loop
constructed from a proven design
which is particularly suitable for the
automobile industry.
"Although I had considered a
friction drive conveyor, the one we
selected from CI is a predominantly
electronic, chain driven conveyor.
Being robust, the conveyor requires
low maintenance which is important
for long term cost efficiency. The
conveyor is also futureproofed - to
assemble a different dashboard we
only need to redesign the jig to fit a
new model."
He continues: "We had a very tight
installation timescale of just four
days to take out the old conveyor and
install the new one.Work started as
soon as production finished on
Thursday and due to a detailed
installation programme and a lot of
hard work over the weekend the
conveyor ran perfectly in time for the
Tuesday morning shift.
"CI Logistics also developed the
software controls for the system.
Software reliability is particularly
important as the controls for each
sub assembly line link into Honda's
main assembly line software." More articles from CI Logistics: | 
