manufacturing technology
and very little wasted motion, as every station at JAC is a dedicated operation producing an average of 100,000– 200,000 left- and right-side rail sets per year for each specifi c automobile model.
Another point of note is the openness of the machinery. That condition results, according to Traylor, from one very important supplier to JAC, one that has been a partner to this Tier One for nearly 20 years. Suhner Automation Divi- sion, based in nearby Rome, GA, supplies an assortment of fl ex-shaft and direct motor-driven drilling units to JAC, where Traylor’s team of mechanical specialists incorporates them into the company’s internally-designed production equipment. Owing to the fl ex-shaft design on many drills, the drive motors are removed from the cutting area, making
accessibility much better not only for operators but also maintenance personnel.
Ease of Access This confi guration also improves access to other equip- ment such as laser trackers and position sensors. “The bot- tom line, as they say, is that we get upwards of 60–70% more output from our equipment since we began using the Suhner solutions for our drilling,” said Traylor. The drills used here previously were prone to breakdowns and service problems, which caused unacceptable delays in production, especially as the industry transitioned to the just-in-time philosophy. As Traylor noted, “If JAC was going to keep up with JIT, we needed a more reliable supplier and better ergonomics on our equipment to improve the output.” To meet the challenge he contacted an associate from a previous company relationship, Charles Stitcher, the regional marketing manager from Suhner, who presented his company’s solu- tions in fl ex-shaft and related drilling devices. “It was a light-bulb moment for our com- pany,” said Traylor, “because we knew we’d found an answer to a lot of our challenges.” By taking the motors out of the drilling
area, the JAC operators could have much freer access to the work product, while the maintenance personnel could access a single manifold in many cases to do repairs, routine maintenance or replace components. Most of the machines designed here are dedi- cated pieces of equipment, used to produce a single rail set for a particular model, then retrofi tted or rebuilt for the next generation, next model-year design, or a completely dif- ferent vehicle by Traylor’s team. The fl ex-shaft design gave the machine building and main- tenance group at JAC a signifi cant advantage and it has continued to benefi t the company in many ways, according to Traylor.
No matter if the rails are destined for a Toyota CUV as shown here or some other brand or model they are processed on machinery that mostly has been designed and built by JAC.
Better Use of Space “We can now use a more compact work
area concept, which saves operator steps,” he said. “Seems like a little thing, but when
56 — Motorized Vehicle Manufacturing 2015
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