1)Introduction

Automotive manufacturing is a complex task with several automatic functions. Machined or purchased
components are assembled on sub-system and the sub-assemblies are assembled during the final assembly system.
In the automotive industry, there are four main production stages in car manufacturing: stamping shop, body shop,
paint shop and final assembly (FA). Figure 1 shows the material flow through the different shops from raw
material to final product. The various stages of an automotive plant differ concerning the equipment which is used
as well as the automation level.

Figure 1: Stages of an automotive plant

The assembly sequence of a vehicle starts in the stamping shop. The metal sheets are transferred to the
stamping press lines where the different parts for the vehicle are formed. The vehicle body skeleton is known as
body in white (BIW) and it consists of hundreds of stamped sheet metal pieces. After the stamping process, the
finished parts are transferred to a storage area from where they are fed to the body shop. In the body shop area,
the stamped parts are assembled to panels (e.g., side panel, floor assembly) in several sub-assembly lines before
the BIW is assembled in the main line. This stage of the automotive plant is usually highly automated.
The completed BIW is then transferred to the paint shop. In the paint shop, the surface of the BIW is first
prepared to spray paint. This stage of the automotive plant is generally fully automated. After the BIW have coated,
they are transferred to a storage area. In the last stage of an automotive plant, the final assembly, the interior and
exterior trims are installed. This stage of an automotive plant is highly depended on manual labour because this
stage requires a high degree of flexibility to assemble a large number of different variants.