A turnkey production line assembles all variations of rear axles and sets precisely their toe-in / camber angle settings at a Tier One supplier for a new mid-sized European automobile.
Delphi Automotive Systems has come to British plantmaker Cirrus Technologies with a particular challenge - to design, manufacture and install a turnkey production line to assemble rear axles and set precisely their toe-in / camber angle settings. Accordingly, in a US$ 2-1/4m project, the Delphi Ellesmere Port (UK) Module Assembly and SILS (Supply In Line Sequence) Centre has specified a Cirrus Technologies assembly line to enable them to manufacture rear axles for a major World OEM, General Motors. All necessary variations of axle will be produced for the launch of a new mid-sized European automobile, branded in the UK market as the latest model of the Vauxhall Vectra - which goes into production here at Vauxhall Motors in April 2002.

To summarize, the project includes a variety of systems with features enabling operators to fully assemble the rear axle including DC torque tooling systems and automatic pre-load and toe-in / camber angle setting machines.

Cirrus Technologies have implemented a full ‘No Fault Forward’ system to ensure that all the correct components are fitted prior to the axle being completed by the two automatic stations described above.

Axles will be built with their toe-in / camber angles set to exacting tolerances.

The equipment is designed to operate as a continuous industrial application, for use 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

The axle production line, 23m (75ft) in overall length, consists of individual build stations, with each station operator being guided through the correct part selection and build process by visual display units and mimic screens.

Information is relayed to the operators following instruction on the axle variation and sequence required by the OEM, General Motors.

Designed to accommodate all possible variations of axle for the new Vauxhall Vectra, a palletized conveyor system records the build information relating to the individual axle, logs this information on a central computer control system and prompts either the operators or automatic stations to carry out tasks accordingly.

In more detail, from on-load at station 1, the axle assembly is initially constructed over seven manual build stations.

Here the operators are clearly instructed for the axle variant and build procedure.

The pre-load station 8 is completely automatic.

It reproduces the forces applied by the vehicle when on the road.

It then tightens all critical fastenings to complete the build stage.

Following this, the toe-in and camber angles of the wheel carriers are set to predefined angles depending on the type of axle variant.

The most complex station is station 9, again fully automatic, which raises the complete axle into view of a laser array.

The axle sits on a pallet which has been brought into the station on the conveyor and is raised up off the conveyor to be presented to the laser setting equipment.

These lasers accurately monitor the angle of the rotating wheel carrier assembly on the axle.

Meanwhile tooling automatically adjusts the toe-in and camber angles before locking and ensuring that they are within tolerance.

Multi-national Delphi Automotive Systems is the World’s largest automotive supplier (www.delphiauto.com).

Headquartered in Troy, Michigan, USA, Delphi’s three business sectors - Dynamics and Propulsion; Safety, Thermal and Electrical Architecture; and Electronics and Mobile Communication - provide comprehensive product solutions to complex customer needs.

Delphi has approximately 195,000 employees and operates 199 wholly-owned manufacturing sites, 43 joint ventures, 53 customer centres and sales offices, and 32 technical centres in 43 countries.

Regional headquarters are located in Paris, Tokyo and Sao Paulo.

It is good news when the World’s largest automotive supplier recognizes your engineering excellence by choosing you against fierce international competition as its supplier-partner for such a mission-critical automotive assembly solution.

In fact, the rear axle assembly line for Delphi Automotive Systems adds to Cirrus Technologies’ increasing business with global automotive OEMs and Tier One suppliers.

With 110 employees, mostly skilled engineers working with state-of-the-art technology, Cirrus Technologies are a private and independent British company which has for 35 years been providing a rare combination of mechanical, electrical and electronic experience and expertise in designing, building and commissioning turnkey integrated test and assembly lines for automotive production.

Overall, the business offers four core automotive engineering competencies - rolling roads (whether for the end of the production line or as dynamometers both for laboratories and for motorsport constructors and tuners); electrical assembly testing; wheel-and-tyre assembly and inflation machines; and special-purpose, automated assembly lines to equip Tier One suppliers.

The turnkey packages from Cirrus Technologies take in project management; mechanical, electrical and electronic design; system and software design; networked systems; machining, welding and fabrication; installation and commissioning; and ongoing servicing and maintenance.

Cirrus Technologies pride themselves on offering the broadest possible spectrum of expertise and experience in-house: for every project they assemble a dedicated multi-disciplinary team drawn from six Groups - Business Development, Technical Support, Systems Engineering, Design, Manufacturing and Project Management.