Sizing and Balancing of a Semi-Automated Line for Automotive Electric Motors by Means of Ergonomic and Performance Analysis

Smart mobility has become more and more critical during the last years, being one of the most keyways to reduce and regulate vehicular traffic and relevant environmental pollution. In this context, the University of Bergamo participates in a broad project promoted by Brembo S.p.A., a well-known Italian automotive company specialized in vehicles' braking systems, aimed at the synergistic development of the design of brushless electric motor for braking and the relevant production process. The present paper concerns the design phase of the manufacturing line and, in particular, the sizing and the balancing of the line itself. The production line is a semi-automated one, hence many different scenarios have been considered, according to the number of operators and to the number of machines assigned to each operator. The method applied for the design process is based on the application of discrete – event simulations; as a tool for the analysis of each scenario, FlexSim software has been used. The high number of workstations involved, the evaluation of the ergonomics and productivity of each single task, and the use of a wide range of indexes as assessment criteria lead to an activity characterized by a high level of complexity. The operators' ergonomic analysis refers to the ISO standard related to the evaluation of the ergonomic risks and on the operator's walking distance covered during the shift. The paper ends showing how it is possible to define the best scenario, taking into consideration such indexes which concern productivity, ergonomics, optimal balancing of the operators and the distance travelled by the operators during the shift.