jraef
Member
I am periferally involved. The comments about “automation failing” and “cars being built by hand” are extreme exaggerations. The main issue they are having, in my opinion, is that fixture vendors from all over the world are being tasked with rapid delevopmemt of equipment that is only vaguely reminiscent of the products they have been building for other car mfrs, so everything is custom and all these disparate vendors insist on using their own control platforms in order to do it fast. So when it arrives, there is a huge mish-mash of platforms; some Siemens if the machines came from Europe, Omrom and Mitzi if it comes from Asia and A-B if it comes from the US or Canada. Their MES system is trying to coordinate all of these systems and THAT’S the nightmare. On top of all that, last month they discovered that a disgruntled Engineer working on the MES system purposely sabotaged it. So the “hand” aspect is that they had to stop production and restart without the MES system, meaning that Engineers were “manually” overseeing the total production line while they dealt with the mess this guy left behind.
The press, unable to comprehend the complexities, boils it down into little nibbles of stuff that John and Jane Q Public can understand.
The press, unable to comprehend the complexities, boils it down into little nibbles of stuff that John and Jane Q Public can understand.
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