Preconditions for Long Cycle Time Assembly and Its Management – Some Findings

Reports results from research collaboration between university and industry from the last six years (1985‐91) intensive work on the development of the radically new production concepts in use today in Volvo Car Corporation′s Uddevalla plant. Important breakthroughs in knowledge have been realized, including a product description adapted to assembly, new material supply systems and layouts for final assembly. This product description allowed performance to be determined for alternative production concepts. It is also a basic precondition for maintaining a logic in how the material is displayed and assembly work described, and is therefore formalized, principally through material supply systems, information systems and final assembly layouts. Emphasizes that efficient long cycle assembly work and flexible manufacturing assume both completely new preconditions on the shopfloor and a new management form. Makes clear, however, that these pre‐conditions demand a basically untraditional way of reasoning.