Challenges in the Automotive JIS/JIT Production of Steering Wheels Involving Traceability

The purpose of this article is to present the new challenges faced by the automotive industry and specifically by the steering wheel producers in terms of product design changes, process changes and the solution to solve them, the concept of TTM - Total Traceability Management. The article presents the traceability solution as a proved solution for managing JIS (Just in Sequency) & JIT (Just in Time) manufacturing concepts in terms of customer demand sequence attainment, process sequence attainment, and technical test verifications. The research is based on case studies deployed in production facilities, in the companies TRW and Key Safety Systems. Both entities are steering wheel producers with JIS&JIT conditioned production systems and are also using latest technology in synchronizing the traceability communication with various cars producers (Porsche, BMW, Daimler, etc.). This concept of manufacturing and delivery of the products to the famous automotive companies is crucial for the supplier including the base of business, because the entire work in this domain is completely automatic by robots. That means: all the final products (cars end others), including the components from different suppliers, also the technology of assembling, it need to be adapted in order to be performed by robots. The components as steering wheels, and many others, arrive at the assembling line at OEMs (Original Equipment Manufacturing) facilities and the robots work on directly the buffers with these components in order to ensure the continuous assembling process in the condition of total flexibility and without errors.