The approach
Saying goodbye to bottlenecks
The Nissan team has applied digital twins in a number of cases to create value with their predictive power.
For example, they were used to calculate the optimum investment levels for a new bumper-painting facility, the required capacity of the site’s pre-storage area, and the packaging requirements needed to support engine transportation from Sunderland to Spain.
Nissan also used a digital twin to identify the cause of congestion in its Painted Body Store – and, more importantly, to find a solution.
The predictive digital twin showed that simple adjustments to Work in Progress levels, and a new process flow for the slings that carry car bodies through the store, could reduce the bottlenecks in this part of the production process.
After applying these changes in the real world, not only were bottlenecks avoided, but further obstructions later in the production line – specifically in the Trim and Chassis lines – were also removed.
Another similar project saw Nissan use simulation technologies to improve the manufacturing process control logic in its White Body Store – again reducing bottlenecks in both body shops and paint shops, and bringing new levels of efficiency to its production processes.