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Abstract
This project intends to use engineering analysis and lean manufacturing principles to re-design an assembly line layout at the Fisher Dynamics company in Evansville, Indiana. Fisher
Dynamics has a long history in the automotive parts business and continues to supply many well-known car manufacturers with seat structures and mechanisms. Fisher Dynamics has been facing
issues with warranty claims, inefficient part flow, and increased cycle times on one of their
assembly lines. This project focuses on implementing a new machine design as well as a new
layout into this assembly line. This report will give a brief history of the Fisher Dynamics
company as well as introduce the objective and deliverables for this project. The motivation and
need for this project come from wanting to eliminate warranty claims, decrease cycle times, and
increase production rates of the assembly line to deliver more products with higher quality to our
customers. Similar projects that have solved problems like the ones faced at Fisher Dynamics are
discussed and show that implementing lean principles can address these issues. Three conceptual
designs are looked at and pros and cons of each are discussed. Of these designs, one was selected
and taken into the design stage and discussed in further detail to show how the engineering
designs were justified. Concluding remarks discuss how new engineering knowledge was gained
and used to complete the final design of the work cell. An analysis of the work cell was
conducted to evaluate its performance after the new design was implemented. The results of the
analysis showed that the new layout and design were able to decrease part warranty claims,
decrease cycle times, and increase production.