Stellantis staged an event at its Mirafiori assembly complex in Turin, Italy, to highlight 93 manufacturing and production technologies implemented by the automaker at various locations, among more than 300 ideas that have been proposed by suppliers and startups in the past three years. The automaker’s ninth annual Factory Booster Day demonstrated the new capabilities via physical and virtual demonstrations as part of the ongoing effort to promote product quality and improve efficiencies, with minimal environmental impact.
The effort includes an “open challenge” process in which plant leaders solicit ideas from suppliers and developers.
“We have proof that collaboration with our manufacturing partners works. Implementing innovations and continuous improvement have reduced our transformation costs 11%, energy consumption 23% and quality issues 40% since 2021,” stated Stellantis chief manufacturing officers Arnaud Deboeuf.
“Stellantis workers are proud to build vehicles that deliver the emotional and world-class qualities of our iconic brands,” he continued. “Leveraging the latest technologies, especially AI, is a significant lever to achieve the level of excellence we are aiming for.”
Among the innovations Stellantis has adopted to bring speed and error-proofing to its manufacturing operations are cloud-based digital twins, artificial intelligence (AI) and 3D vision-enabled capabilities. Among these are:
- Autodesk Construction Cloud, which supports workflows for all phases of construction – from design, to planning, to building, to operations. It lets Stellantis and suppliers share and simulate construction layouts simultaneously and interact in a “digital twin” of a manufacturing facility. Autodesk Construction Cloud was first implemented at the Windsor (Ont.) Assembly Plant, and based on the cost savings it was expanded to the Sterling Heights (Mich.) Assembly Plant.
- AI-enabled robot guidance, installed in several Stellantis powertrain plants, and incorporating three-dimensional (3D) vision system. This GuideNow innovation with Inbolt, a French startup, uses AI and vision systems to allow robots to adjust their trajectory and operations in real-time to avoid potential conflicts or impacts.
- Autonomous wheels from wheel.me, a Norwegian robotics startup, converts existing carts and dollies into autonomous mobile robots (AMRs). The wheels replace standard casters, automating the movement of parts or commodities within factories.
- According to Stellantis, manufacturing innovations that help deliver better products, generate less waste, or reduce energy usage are critical to the automaker’s strategy to be a carbon net-zero organization by 2038, and reducing production costs by 40% by 2030.
