Prosjektoppgave

In320 – Strategisk bruk av IT

Hydro Raufoss Automotive

Just in time, thanks to CATIA

Frank Oksavik

Ove Hamre

Asbjørn Bjørdal

Martin Sandal

Contents:

Hydro Raufoss AutomativePage 2

CATIAPage 4

Just-in-TimePage 5

How is the system strategical? Page 7

Hydro Raufoss Automative

Hydro Raufoss Automative is located in Raufoss. It’s one of Europe`s leading suppliers of technically sophisticated car components based on high tensile aluminum extusions. Their bumpers in aluminium plays an active role in Europe and North-America applications - as for example axelstructures, seatstructures and rooflists. The division also produce space frames at their factory in Denmark. The company has an yearly turnover at 2,5 billion NOK, and employ nearly 2 500 people in 11 operations located in seven different countries.

The company's key resources Include:

  • 30 years experience of car components,
  • R&D, testing and prototype production,
  • Plant for the production of extrusion ingots,
  • Specialized paint for aluminum extrusions,
  • Fully automated press lines for the forming and production of bumpers,
  • Tool shop with a high degree of expertise,
  • Material research center (RAUFOSS Hydro Automotive Research Center AS).

The company is divided into two business units. Structures, comprising a product range based on extruded aluminum, develops, markets and manufactures structural

and safety aluminum components, subassemblies and systems for the automotive industry. BMW, Audi, Volvo, Porsche, SAAB, Iveco, Jaguar, Rover, Rolls Royce and Mazda are their most important customers. The Plastics department develops, designs. manufactures and supplies complete bumper systems featuring injection-molded and car-color painted plastic facias. Their main customer is Volvo.

H y d r o R a u f o s s A u t o m o t i v e s

  • Established: 1997
  • Products: Spare Frames, axelparts, Soft Topconstructions.
  • Markets: The Europian Automobileindustry.
  • Employees: 170 (1997)
  • Vision: To promote the use of aluminium in automobileconstuctions, and to make Hydro Raufoss Automotive Tønder A/S to a leading supplier.
  • Mission: To develop, produce and sell constructionparts and components, mainly aluminium to the automobile-industy.
  • Keywords: Conceptual design - Simultaneous Engineering - Building and testing of prototypes - Serial production.

Hydro Raufoss automative is one of those few companies which has succeded in the competition in components and systemdeliveries to the worlds carproducers. The competition is hard on this market and the requirements are high, both for products and logisticquality.

Hydro Raufoss Automotive was established in 1997 when the former Hydro Aluminium Automotive bought another Norwegian company; Raufoss Automotive, Europe's largest supplier of aluminium bumper reinforcement beams.

CATIA

CATIA is a type of KWS system(Knowledge Work Systems): Use the information system in engineering workstations.

Knowledge work system are information system that aids knowledge workers in the creation and integration of new knowledge in the organization. Serve the information needs at the knowledge level of the organization. Knowledge work systems aid knowledge workers, whereas office automation systems primarily aid data workers. A knowledge work system, such as a scientific or engineering design workstation, promotes the creation of new knowledge and ensures that new knowledge and technical expertise are properly integrated into the business.

Raufoss – Volvo use CATIA to design the optimal solution and meet the recast from customer. CATIA solution is the world’s leading CAD (Computer- aided design), CAM (computer – aided manufacturing) and CAE (Computer – aided engineering) software. This gives you a broad range of integrated solutions to cover all aspects of product design and manufacture, driving enterprise competitiveness task productivity and process improvement.

Its leading edge solutions and technologies for Computer – Aided Design Manufacturing and Engineering including product data management let you achieve your digital product definition and simulation goals. You can easily implement all necessary changes on the digital model for a concurrent optimisation of design and manufacturing. Therefore, you minimise the risk of late expensive modifications and reduce the number of iterations by designing right the fist time.

CATIA also lets you drive innovation by capturing, managing and sharing corporate knowledge. IT enables to ensure compliance of your products and processes with corporate standards and best practices. This overall process integration and optimization, allowes to cut costs and time to market, improving productivity and quality.

VALUE

For Raufoss and Volvo this is an strategist tool to make the manufacturing and engineering process faster and more polite. The customers have more opportunities to choose and handpick their one car. Because whit CATIA, Raufoss and Volvo can change the manufacturing process for every single car ho are going to be build.

Just-in-Time

Just in time is a type of Tps(Transaction Processing Systems) system: Use the information system in Manufacturing/production. Major functions of system are scheduling, purchasing, operations. Major application systems are materials resource planning systems, purchase order control systems, engineering systems and quality control systems.

Transaction processing systems (TPS) are the basic business systems that serve the operational level of the organization. A transaction processing system is a computerized system that performs and records the daily, routine transactions necessary to conduct the business. Examples are sales order entry, hotel reservation systems, payroll, employee record keeping, and shipping. At the operational level, tasks, resources, and goals are predefined and highly structured. The decision to grant credit to a customer, for instance, is made by a lower level supervisor according to predefined criteria. All that must be determied is whether the customer meets the criteria.

EDI is “the organization-to-organization, computer-to-computer exchange of business data in a structured, machine-proceassable format. The purpose of EDI is to eliminate duplicate data entry and to improve the speed and accuracy of the information flow by linking computer applications between companies. The use of EDI helps to improve the timely availability of logistics information, enhance the breadth and accuracy of data, and make the process less labor-intensive. To utilize the full range of benefits offered by EDI, firms in a logistics channel must develop the capability to communicate with one another by computer. That is, efective implementation of EDI requires direct communication between the computer systems of both buyers and sellers of product.

The EDI concept, moving forward quickly and effectively, has accelerated the move to paperless, electronic communication. While the progress to date has been significant, several important areas represent challenges. One is the current proliferation of standards, which generally are of two types, proprietary and generic. Just as there are numerous ways to develop bare codes, there are multiple EDI standards in use today. The deregulation of national communications systems, the rapid growth in fiber optics as a transmission medium, and the development of artificial intelligence/expert systems should further reduce EDI costs and improve service deverity and quality over the years ahead. More incentives from cost and customer service should induce EDI systems into their operations. Finally, many EDI applications can utilize third-party value-added networks to assist in transferring information from one party to another.

Perhaps the most widely discussed, innovative approach to inventory management is the just-in-time, or JIT, approach. In today`s business environment people often refer to a JIT manufacturing process, JIT inventories, or a JIT delivery system. The commonsense phrase ”just-in-time” suggest that inventories should be available when a firm needs them-not any earlier, nor any later.

Definition and components of JIT systems. Generally, just-in-time systems are designed to manage lead times and to eliminate waste. Ideally, product should arrive exactly when a firm needs it, with no tolerance for late or early deliveries. Many JIT systems place a high priority on short, consistent lead times. This may help to explain the recent popularity of ”quick response” systems for inventory decision making.

The just-in-time concept is an Americanized version of the Kanban system, which the Toyota Motor Company developed in Japan. Kanban refers to the informative signboards attached to carts delivering small amounts of needed components and other materials to locations within Japanese plants. Each signboard precisely details the neccessary replenishment quantities and the exact time when the resupply activity must take place.

Production cards (kan cards) establish and authorize the amount of product to be manufactured or produced; requisition cards (ban cards) authorize the withdrawal of needed materials from the feeding or supply operation. Given a knowledge of daily output volumes, these activities can be accomplished manually, without the need for computer assistance.

Experience indicates that effectively implementing the JIT concept can dramatically reduce parts and materials inventories, work in process, and finished product. In addition, the Kanban and just-in-time concepts rely heavily on the quality of the manufactured product and components, and also on a capable and precise logistics system to manage materials and physical distribution. Four major elements underpin the just-in-time concept: zero inventories; short lead times; small, frequent replenishment quantities; and high quality, or zero defects. JIT, a modern approach to distibution, production, inventory, and scheduling management, is an operating concept based on delivering materials in exact amounts and at the precise times that companies need them- thus minimizing inventory costs. JIT can improve quality and minimize waste, and can completely change the way a firm performs its logistics activities. JIT, as practiced by the Japanese, is more comprehensive than an inventory management system. It includes a comprehensive culture of quality, vendor partnerships, and employee teams.

How is the system strategical?

Strategic It-system:

Definition:

”A strategic information system change the goals, operations, products, services or environmental relationships of organization to help them gain an edge over competitors. Systems that have this effects may even change the business of organizations.”

Strategic information system can be used at every level in an organization and are more widely and deeper than other systems.

CATIA: Make Raufoss Automotive who develops, design and produce bumpers who is able to perform changes in products according to specifications from the customer.

As soon as Raufoss Automative has recived the customer specifications for the product, they use Catia for designing an optimal solution according to customer demands. Because the development happens electronic, a designer who develops, and the customer is capable beeing at different places in the world and also be active in the shaping of the product.

CATIA also make the designer capable to go through different tests of the virtual product. As for example testing of air resistance and crash- simulations. Therefore you don`t need to make real models of the product in an earlier phase of the product development. While this takes long time.

So CATIA saves time cause the development time will be reduced dramaticly. This is a big advantage in a branch where time is an important factor. The car-manufacters must be capable to adjust new demands and specifications rapidly.

CATIA is cost saving cause it leads to an reduction in travelling costs. Less model building, tests and simulations contributes the most costcut, when this is the part of the development process which spends most time.

Referanser:

  • Catia web-side catia.com
  • Catia-ibm web-side catia.ibm.com
  • Coyle, Bardi, Langley. 6th edition

”The Management of Business Logistics ”

  • Kenneth C.Laudon & Jane P. Laudon –

”Managment Information Systems”

Peerson & Virum

  • ”Logistikk for konkurransekraft”

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