| Case Study : Marking of components used in automobile seats |
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Burton-on-Trent based Kongsberg is operated by the 'seat comfort' division of the Norwegian-owned Kongsberg Automotive AS. It has sister divisions, which supply head rests, gearshifts and truck suspension components. The 50,000 sq ft factory at Burton was purpose built and opened in 2002 and employs 250 personnel. Manufacturing is organised using dedicated production cells, each of which may produce a family of parts. The product range encompasses seat heating and pneumatic 'configuration' systems for incorporation into the seats fitted to upmarket and luxury cars built by a variety of predominantly European manufacturers. Kongsberg operates as a second tier supplier, developing its technology for use by leading car seat manufacturers. The solenoid valves marked using the Technifor TD410 are key components of a system that also comprises an electric pump and one or more inflatable air cells. Historically, this type of system has been applied mainly to provide variable lumbar support. Increasingly, however, the technology is being used to provide drivers and passengers with the means to customise their seat for idealised lateral support through inflatable bolsters and provide massage by modulating air flow into the air cells. Chris Cutts, Kongsberg's design and development director comments. "The pneumatic technology we provide enables car seat manufacturers to provide OEMs with very sophisticated seating systems. However this makes considerable demands of the assembly process. The quality and reliability of the systems we supply is critical, as is the capability of the seat builder to easily identify the correct component for his application." To satisfy market requirements a seat manufacturer may be required to produce numerous trim level variations derived from a basic design. By marking a bar code onto each part it becomes possible for the assembly line worker to verify that he or she is fitting the correct component for a particular job with a single swipe. In fact the Technifor application at Kongsberg goes further; as well as the bar code, the time and date of test, part number and OEM name and logo are all inscribed within the 28 second timeframe required by the test cell cycle. Process engineer Andy Hunt remarked. "It's a very effective system. The testing cell has eight stations of which the marking operation is the final one, so a component cannot go through the testing process without being marked and cannot be marked without being tested. Moreover the marking program is integral with the test sequence so whichever variant of the product is being tested always receives the correct inscription. And as test results are archived every part is fully traceable so we can call up the actual test data if a quality issue did arise." The test cell was built for Kongsberg Automotive by Melton Mowbray based TEC Manufacturing Ltd - a leading systems integrator for the manufacturing sector -on whose recommendation the Technifor TD410 was selected. The proven performance of the system in other applications engineered by TEC, and the capability of Technifor to supply the system to a tight deadline were major factors in the selection of the system. Moreover Technifor were able to provide a quick turnaround on sample parts for customer approval, which allowed the project to progress. The TD410 is a diode pumped marking laser system developed with a small footprint for easy integration. It offers short pulses for high peak power and excellent beam quality, providing optimum marking precision on metal and plastic parts. The unit is air cooled with a low maintenance fiber-coupled diode with a lifetime greater than 10,000 hours. Easy marking job programming includes user friendly marking T700W Windows® software, marking of text, Bar codes, Data Matrix™ codes, logos, and control of traceability data: date, time, serialization, shift codes and so on. "We've been very happy with the performance of the system as a whole." Mr Cutts concluded. "It fits in well with our lean manufacturing ethic in that it adds value to the product while the capabilities of the marking system allows us to exceed current market requirements in terms of the level of individual component traceability that we can provide."
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