Events and Trade Shows

September 10, 2024, 10:00 a.m.

Keynote "A Major Step Towards the Factory of the Future?! – How Autonomous Vehicles as Self-driving Assembly Items can Replace Conveyor Technology in Automotive Assembly Systems"

Julia Arlinghaus, Fraunhofer IFF 

The automotive industry is facing the transition to autonomous vehicles. This can mean novel challenges, but also chances for the redesign of assembly systems. This talk expands the idea of matrix production and explores how to exploit self-driving of autonomous cars already in an early assembly stage. Scrutinizing traditional assembly sequences, opens up potentials of up to 50% reduction of assembly takts requiring conveyor technology. This may result in a reduction of investments into material handling technology of up to 30% and may increase flexibility and changeability beyond the performance of AGV-based systems. The talk shows minimal technical and procedural requirements to exploit self-driving functions in assembly environments. Encompassing case studies from different green and brownfield assembly systems of one of the world leading OEMs serve as the basis to show the necessary reorganization of assembly sequences and consequences for assembly structures as well as assembly performance.