More and more models and individual configurations are pushing assembly line assembly to its limits. Audi will therefore soon go into series production with a new technology that could revolutionize industrial production.
Ingolstadt – The year 1913 was a key year for the industry: in Detroit, the car manufacturer Henry Ford began to manufacture his station wagon on the assembly line. Workers were suddenly only responsible for a single production step, such as screwing on tires or steering wheels – and had to submit to the speed of the assembly line.
The division of labor and the strict timing, which Ford copied from the slaughterhouses in Chicago, brought enormous gains in efficiency: instead of twelve hours, it now took just 90 minutes to assemble a car. No wonder other car manufacturers like Opel quickly took up the idea.
Matrix production is to replace the assembly line at Audi
Today, assembly line production is part of everyday life in industry. However, she is slowly reaching her limits. “There are more and more models and possible configurations in car construction,” explains Wolfgang Kern, who works as a project manager for Audi. For example, a car door is not just a car door. Driver’s doors usually have four windows instead of one, as well as additional buttons for the exterior mirrors. There is also freely configurable special equipment, from sun blinds and different audio systems to ambient lighting, decorative strips or different colors and materials such as leather or carbon. “It’s almost impossible to do that on the assembly line,” says Kern. Production here is too rigid and too tightly timed.
That’s why Kern and his team at the Audi plant in Ingolstadt are researching a new technology that is now about to be ready for series production. It is called matrix production or modular assembly. It is currently being tested on door panels in a pilot project. Instead of standing on a line in a hall, the employees are distributed at eight stations, where they still only carry out individual work steps. Unlike on the assembly line, the stations are specifically controlled by autonomous transport systems, which bring the doors to exactly where an employee is free and where exactly those parts that are required for the special door, such as sun blinds, are installed.
Audi: Modern AI is the brain of the entire system
All of this is controlled by artificial intelligence (AI). She knows the customers’ orders and knows what kind of doors have to be built with which equipment. And she directs the driverless transport systems, organizes the employees at the stations and provides the right parts. This makes it the brain of the entire system. The employee no longer thinks about what he has to install, but the AI decides which door to send to which employee. She organizes what looks like a chaos of driving robots, people doing the work and many containers with parts. She also notices when a station is taking longer because an employee is slower or a part is more difficult to install. Then the AI reorganizes the production process or controls other stations to avoid traffic jams or waiting times.
“The modular assembly is more flexible and efficient,” Kern explains the advantage of the system. The division of labor as on the assembly line is retained, but at the same time the sequence of production is variable and the pace of work can differ from station to station. In this way, difficult production steps such as installing the sun blinds, which have to be carried out by three employees due to the tight cycle times on the assembly line, can be bundled onto one worker. “Overall, we reduce the production time and increase productivity by up to 20 percent on a case-by-case basis,” calculates the project manager.
Audi: Will matrix processing cause job cuts?
Audi does not say whether the switch to matrix production will involve job cuts. For the employees, the system is a step forward compared to the tape, asserts Kern. “Thanks to the variable timing, we can also employ people here who can no longer work on the line due to physical impairments,” says Kern. In addition, you can adapt the stations better to your own size and thus set up an ergonomic workplace.
At Audi we are sure that the technology will come. Like the assembly line, it is considered a revolution in industry. According to a study by the German Academy of Science and Technology, groups such as Infineon, SAP and Daimler Trucks are already working on matrix production alongside Audi. At Audi, the pilot project is scheduled to run until the end of the year, and in 2026 the technology will finally be integrated into series production in Ingolstadt. By then, the second largest car factory in Europe will be even more networked. Robot dogs could then scan the halls to create 3D models needed for smart production processes.
Even then, Audi will not completely mothball the assembly line. One is currently looking for which fields of application matrix production is still suitable for, says Kern, who does not want to let his cards be looked at. Just this much: “The modular technology will play an important role, especially in the pre-assembly of complex products with many variants. In the end, only as few large parts as possible should be assembled on the assembly line.” Until then, however, the finished door panels from the pilot project are always completely dismantled – and then screwed together again, with up to 100 percent certainty that everything is as it should be works on the assembly line.
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