Vehicle assembly line

Details Vehicle assembly line Vehicle assembly line

2000-02-25

2001-12-04

Hughes, S. Thomas (Department: 3726)

Metal working

Means to assemble or disassemble

With means to regulate operation by use of templet, tape,...

C029S402010, C029S407010, C029S430000, C029S771000, C029S783000

Reexamination Certificate

active

06324749

ABSTRACT:

TECHNICAL FIELD
The present invention relates to an improved automotive vehicle assembly line wherein the assembly line is divided into a plurality of zones according to their functions and positions of an automotive vehicle on which predetermined vehicle components are to be installed and wherein inspection and repair processes are performed at each of the functional zones so that each of the functional zones is allowed to assure functional quality of assembly on its own or on a self-completing basis.
BACKGROUND ART
In conventional automotive vehicle assembly lines as typically disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,683,651, vehicle components are fed to a main assembly line after being subassembled by subassembly lines located outside the main assembly line. The main assembly line includes an automated assembly zone for installing the components via automatic machines and a manual assembly zone for installing the components via human labor downstream of the automated assembly zone, and each vehicle thus assembled is then subjected to inspection at the terminal of the main assembly line.
Namely, according to the conventional automotive vehicle assembly lines, appearance and functionality of each assembled vehicle are examined in an inspection process only after a plurality of assemble processes or zones, and when any improper assembly is identified in the assembled vehicle, the improperly assembled vehicle is normally taken out of the assembly line to be delivered to a common repair process, where the identified improper assembly is repaired to provide a complete assembled vehicle.
Further, with the recent development of vehicle-assembly-information sharing systems based on a computer network, a more sophisticated automotive vehicle assembly line has been proposed, which employs data input and display devices, based on a computer or the like, in inspection and repair processes. In this case, all identified improper assembly occurrences for a vehicle are entered via the data input device by a human operator in charge of the inspection process and the entered improper assembly occurrences are visually displayed on the computer display in the repair process so that the repair process can promptly repair the improperly assembled assemblies on the basis of the displayed occurrence information.
However, because the appearance and functionality inspection is performed in an assembled-vehicle inspection department located after the assembly line and identified improperly assembled assemblies are repaired in a common repair process outside the assembly line (i.e., out-of-line repair process), the conventionally-known automotive vehicle assembly lines would impose enormous loads on the common out-of-line repair process in situations where a great number of occurrences, particularly those occurring at initial assembly stages, are found in the appearance and functionality inspection.
Further, where there are many repair items per identified improper assembly, amounts of information to be fed from the repair process to the production-related departments become enormous, which would unavoidably lead to time delays in dealing with the improperly assembled assemblies.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide an automotive vehicle assembly line which readily achieves effective mutual assistance between human operators deployed at various workstations along the assembly line and can promptly identify an improper assembly.
DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION
According to an aspect of the present invention, there is provided an improved automotive vehicle assembly line for sequentially installing predetermined components on a vehicle body having undergone a painting process and inspecting installation of the components so as to provide a completely-assembled automotive vehicle, which is characterized in that the predetermined components are assigned to a plurality of functional zones according to functions of the components, positions of the vehicle where the components are to be installed and procedures for installing the components on the vehicle, the plurality of functional zones are connected together in series to organize the automotive vehicle assembly line, and there are provided, at a downstream end portion of each of the functional zones, an inspection station for performing a static inspection process that can be done without causing the vehicle to actually run and a repair station for performing a necessary repair process on the basis of occurrence information indicative of an improper assembly identified through the static inspection process performed by the inspection station.
In one specific implementation, the plurality of functional zones include: a wiring/piping and communication equipment zone for installing wiring/piping-related components on an underside, engine room, passenger cell and trunk of the vehicle body having undergone the painting process and also installing auxiliary equipment on the vehicle body; an interior equipment zone for installing interior components, including an instrument panel, pedals, floor mats, ceiling lining and side lining, to the vehicle body passed from the wiring/piping and communication equipment zone; an underside equipment zone for installing underside components, including a suspension and an engine, on the vehicle body passed from the interior equipment zone, the underside components being installed on the vehicle body from underneath the vehicle body; and an exterior equipment zone for installing exterior components, including windowpanes and a bumper, on the vehicle body passed from the underside equipment zone.
The automotive vehicle assembly line of the present invention may further include, downstream of the exterior equipment zone, a complex quality assurance zone for inspecting an item that was not inspected by the respective inspection stations of the functional zones and making repairs of the item if necessary.
The complex quality assurance zone may include a complex inspection process and a dress up process following the complex inspection process, and the complex inspection process is directed to inspecting the item that was not inspected by the respective inspection stations of the functional zones and an item that could not be repaired by the respective repair stations of the functional zones. The complex quality assurance zone further includes an in-line repair process for making repairs on the basis of inspection information indicative of results of the inspection made by the complex inspection process.
The automotive vehicle assembly line of the present invention may further include computer network means for managing occurrence information indicative of improper assembly identified via the inspection stations of the functional zones, as well as data indicative of unrepaired items and sent from the respective repair stations of the functional zones.
The computer network means may include a plurality of displays located in each of the functional zones in such a manner that the displays in each of the functional zones can visually present not only data pertaining to the functional zone but also data pertaining to the other functional zones.
The computer network means may further include a host computer for supplying data to production-related departments in the automotive vehicle assembly line.


REFERENCES:
patent: 4683651 (1987-08-01), Taketani et al.
patent: 4709337 (1987-11-01), Knapp et al.
patent: 4894908 (1990-01-01), Haba, Jr. et al.
patent: 5005277 (1991-04-01), Uemura et al.
patent: 2187683-B1 (1987-09-01), None
patent: 61-108079 (1984-10-01), None
patent: 61021872-B1 (1986-01-01), None
patent: 1-285474 (1988-05-01), None
patent: 2-71962 (1988-09-01), None
patent: 5-97076 (1991-03-01), None
patent: 6-155252 (1992-11-01), None
patent: 7-149268 (1993-11-01), None
patent: 7-329845 (1994-06-01), None

Affiliated with

Also associated with

Rating

Vehicle assembly line does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this patent.

If you have personal experience with Vehicle assembly line, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Vehicle assembly line will most certainly appreciate the feedback.

Rate now

Comments { 0 }

Profile ID: LFUS-PAI-O-2601873