BY DAVID MALONEY, CHIEF EDITOR
WAREHOUSE SUPPORT OF MANUFACTURING
specialreport
IN AN AUTO RACE, TECHNICIANS ON A PIT CREW
must carry out their tasks in a precisely choreographed
sequence to get the driver back out on the track as quickly
as possible. To do that, they have to have the right materials ready in the right order and at the right time. The
same could be said of manufacturing automobiles. Today’s
complex assembly operations require the same kind of
coordination and timing to keep manufacturing running
at a high volume.
Take the assembly of the popular Chevrolet Cruze, for
example. Thousands of parts go into its production—
parts that have to come together quickly and in a precise
sequence in order for the assembly plant in Lordstown,
Ohio, to meet its goal of producing one car per minute.
Making sure the plant has all of the parts it needs on time
and in the right sequence is the job of Comprehensive
Logistics, a third-party service provider that specializes in
automotive logistics.
Comprehensive operates a 640,000-square-foot distribution facility in Austintown, Ohio, which is located less than
10 miles from Lordstown. The facility’s sole responsibility
is to feed parts to exact positions on the Lordstown assembly lines. It receives, consolidates, and deconsolidates parts
from suppliers and prepares them for just-in-time delivery
to the plant. Currently, 85 percent of the parts used in the
Cruze flow through the Comprehensive facility—a total of
2,236 SKUs (stock-keeping units).
Providing these types of consolidation and distribution
services is a specialty of Comprehensive, which currently
supports about 25 different auto production plants nationwide. The company has been serving the Lordstown plant
for 11 years. Before it began providing production support
for the Cruze, the facility handled parts for the Chevy
Cobalt and Cavalier models that were previously built at
Lordstown.
But beyond simply sorting and organizing parts, the
real value that Comprehensive brings is its value-added
services. For Lordstown, this includes producing subas-
semblies of some of the major components for the Cruze.
These subassemblies will later be inserted directly into the
car, saving valuable time at the Lordstown assembly plant.
A PLAN FOR EVERY PART
General Motors (GM), Chevrolet’s parent company, owns
the parts processed at the Austintown facility and orders all
the parts from suppliers. The parts basically fall into three
categories. The first consists of bulk parts, which are basic
items that go into every Cruze built. The second category
consists of parts that differ depending on the individual
car, such as a door panel of a specific color. The last category consists of parts that require that something be done
to them in Austintown, either through the site’s kitting or
subassembly operations.
GM provides Comprehensive with electronic data files on
each type of part it requires for the Cruze. Comprehensive
then creates an individualized plan for handling that part
based on its dimensions, weight, origins, where on the
Lordstown line it will be needed, and the minimum/maxi-mum number needed to maintain desired levels of inventory. This information is uploaded to Austintown’s proprietary warehouse management system (WMS), known
as Streme. Processes in the Austintown building are then
designed around those particular incoming parts.
“We engineer the layout based on the parts—where
they will be stored, when they need to be picked, what value-added work needs to be done on them, which dock they
will enter the building from, and which dock they will ship
from,” explains Trey Lyda, director of corporate services,
who is responsible for the engineering design and layout at
the Austintown facility.
Once a plan is in place, the facility is ready to receive the
parts. GM provides advance ship notices for parts due to
Producing a car a minute requires coordination,
split-second timing, and a lot of behind-the-scenes
support. Here’s how GM keeps the Chevrolet Cruze
assembly lines humming.
Cruze control
PH
O
T
O
C
O
U
R
T
E
S
Y
O
F
G
E
N
E
R
A
L
M
O
T
O
R
S
