CASE STUDIES: CAR UPHOLSTERY

Changes in the upholstery supply chain of automotive industry. The dynamic competition, the need to cut costs, the generalised trend leading towards the outsourcing of non-strategic or low value-added activities drive several companies to reorganise their production system. Cars manufacturers are a good example of outsourcing: until now they traditionally bought the hides used for the upholstery of their cars from external tanneries and managed internally their conversion into upholstery ready to be used in cars. Today the production scenario is undergoing deep changes: car producers want to get rid of the complex problems tied to hides cutting and all related activities. For this reason today's trend is to outsource the cutting: they just issue orders for finished parts ready for assembly. Of course both tanneries and former subcontractors must reorganise their supply chain to match the new requests from their customers. On the other hand new problems arise for car producers: there is a need to keep control over the quality of hides and cut parts, the yield of the layouts must be monitored, production must be carefully scheduled, delivery time must be met. Moreover it is needed to coordinate the job of tens of subcontractors, manage different data formats and let different information systems exchange data seamlessly. Atom proposes a solution that goes far beyond the simple supply of automatic cutting machines: using CUTWEB tanneries, subcontractors and car producers can smooth most of the issues of this new workflow, with further advantages for all those who join this community. Here is a sample scenario for this situation: Tanneries: Tanneries can get equipped with an "Intelliview" to digitise hides and mark quality area accordingly with the criteria set by the car manufacturer. Data is then uploaded on Cutweb, ready to be used. Doing so the tannery does not break the relationship with the car manufacturer, indeed the relationship tends towards to a partnership. Competitor tanneries will meet more difficulties if the want to enter into this market since competition is not based just upon price and quality. The car manufacturer: Advantages for car manufacturers are: Web-based evaluation of the hides digitised by the tannery, keeping accurate control over the material quality and actual area; Ability to upload into CUTWEB cutting orders and start automatic nesting accordingly with production schedule; Respect of production constraints and good yields granted by advanced automatic nesting software. It is possible to test the nesting of each order on several material batches and cut the parts on the materials that deliver the best yield; Flexible coordination and management of the cutting subcontractors' job, so that each of them receive directly from tanneries the hides to be cut using the layouts produced by Cutweb; Full control on the nesting yields, ability and experience of cutting operators become irrelevant; Faster and more accurate communication, CUTWEB collects and distributes information, manages data format conversion for shapes, hides and layouts data. The advantages for the cutting subcontractors: Companies specialised in cutting as subcontractors have a great opportunity to streamline their job and strengthen the relationship with customers and suppliers. The car manufacturer coordinates the whole process so that when each cutter receives the needed materials on Cutweb the related layout are ready to be downloaded. This means simpler management and de-skilling of workers, which turns into greater flexibility. The subcontractor can be fully focalised on the cutting activity and optimise it at bests, becoming thus more efficient and competitive. To match the requests of more and more exigent customers it is compulsory to manage a great variety of different materials granting fast delivery time, high yield on material usage and excellent cutting quality. Atom cutting systems provide the needed versatility to match these requirements, enabling companies who use them to enrich their customer portfolio since they can offer a much wider range of cutting services at competitive costs.