Hella Designs New Factory With Virtual Modelling

PLYMOUTH, Mich., Sept. 23 -- Hella KG Hueck & Co., a world leader in automotive lighting and electronics, is developing an innovative factory and logistics concept at its new manufacturing site in Ko ovce, Slovakia.

The highly-efficient manufacturing program was developed in cooperation with the Institute for Factory Plant and Logistics (IFA) at the University of Hanover in Germany for the production of headlamps and other automotive components at Hella's plant in Slovakia.

The groundbreaking logistics concept facilitates production control, storage and transport organization and material allocation planning. It meets challenges posed by the increasing number of model variants and shorter product life cycles, which present logistical challenges to supply for just- in-time deadlines. It also facilitates requirements for small production quantities and irregular demands for the automotive aftermarket.

The complete run of factory events, with production lines, tooling/machines, products and production sequences can be simulated on a computer, including spatial and production requirements. The software- supported planning tools were developed by Hella's own manufacturing development team.

"A 3-D model of the factory optimizes arrangement of the individual operations," notes Joe Borruso, president of Hella North America. "The system permits a virtual tour of our new factory early in the planning stages. This gives planners a 'big picture' of the spatial relationships between machines and employee working areas, the functionality of the configuration of the building in general, and logistics concepts for internal operations."

The virtual factory model enables planners and designers to optimize processes by computer simulation. Hella's factory in Slovakia can achieve shorter development times by eliminating set-up phases which were previously unavoidable. Because of increased computer processing speeds, the entire run of factory events over a number of months can be simulated and analyzed in a matter of minutes.

"Every Hella planner can use the simulation technology independently, and if the need arises on location, applications to reference functionally operative modules with a 'building-block' system can be developed," Borruso said. "The entire process represents a real breakthrough in digital factory planning."

Lighting, electronics, complete vehicle modules, air conditioning systems, vehicle wiring systems and signal processing for the automobile industry, as well as parts suppliers to the aftermarket, are the core competence fields of automotive supplier Hella KG Hueck & Co. Sales for the Hella Group are approximately $3.8 billion, placing Hella among the top 100 German industrial companies.

With its corporate headquarters in Lippstadt, Germany, the company employs more than 22,800 people at 61 manufacturing facilities, production subsidiaries and joint-venture companies in 18 countries. Over 1,800 engineers and technicians work in research and development. All of the world's leading automobile and systems manufacturers are Hella customers as well as the automotive components aftermarket.

Additional information is available on the Internet at www.hella.com .