Agile Production Systems for Electric Mobility
Jürgen Fleischer, Felix Fraider, Florian Kößler, Dominik Mayer, Felix Wirth
Abstract
Against the background of growing environmental awareness and ambitious international efforts against global warming, sales in the electric mobility sector are expected to rise steadily in the coming years. However, volatile markets accompanied by shorter product life cycles and uncertainties regarding legal, political and technological developments make it still difficult to forecast accurate figures and requirements of components such as batteries or electric motors. Therefore, the investment in highly productive but non-versatile production lines must be seen as a risk. Instead, the tension between need and uncertainty causes a need for rapidly adaptable, profitable production systems with low investment risk. In literature, the term "agile production systems" is often used in this context. Based on an extensive literature review, this paper therefore presents the state of research and attempts to develop a general definition of agile production systems in the context of electric mobility. In particular, relationships to existing production concepts are considered. The practical implementation of agile production systems is described using two different case studies. On the one hand, agile battery cell production based on modular and fully enclosed robotic cells is presented. This approach, based on microenvironments with adjustable humidity, enables a highly automated pouch cell production that is flexible in terms of material, number of units and format. Furthermore, the case study of an agile electric motor production is presented. Process chains of rotor and stator production are analyzed and an approach to conceptualize an agile production system for electric motors is introduced.