Hot-stamped B-pillar for automotive driven by Lean 4.0

Lean is applied in automobile companies to reduce lead time and waste through value stream mapping. Industry 4.0 is a process of industrial systems revolution in companies driven by digitalization and data-oriented techniques. The combination of both is called Lean 4.0. In this sense, the purpose of this paper is to attend Ultra-Light Steel Auto-body (ULSAB) automotive requirements through Lean 4.0 framework applied in the fabrication of B-pillar by hot stamping. Optimization algorithms are important to simulate different scenarios and interact with these processes. The proposal was developed in the case study by assessments based on semi-structured questionnaires, analysis of records and documents. The findings showed overall equipment effectiveness (OEE) was increased by 41.5%. The contribution of this work was to meet ULSAB automotive requirements for hot stamping process by reducing vehicle weight while increasing structural strength.

Automated summary

This paper investigates the implementation of Lean 4.0 framework in the fabrication of B-pillar using hot stamping to meet the requirements of Ultra-Light Steel Auto-body (ULSAB). The findings reveal a significant increase in overall equipment effectiveness (OEE).