Proceedings of KGCOE-MD2004:
R·I·T Multi-Disciplinary Engineering Design Conference
PRODUCTIVITY IMPROVEMENT OF THE HYDRAULIC
MOTOR ASSEMBLY LINE AT VALEO
Stefan Enjem
Industrial & Systems
Engineering
Young Lee Luis Garcia
Industrial & Systems Electrical Engineering
Engineering
Jason Zion
Mechanical Engineering
ABSTRACT
The purpose of this project is to increase the quantity
of hydraulic motors produced per person, per hour
(QPH) at Valeo’s production facility. This is done,
as specified by the customer, without sacrificing
quality of safety. When the improvements have been
fully implemented, the team estimates a 9.5%
improvement in motor output. All improvements are
justified based on Valeo’s 2-year payback standard.
The areas of improvement are made in downtime,
processing time, procedures and improved workflow.
INTRODUCTION
Valeo manufactures hydraulic motors that are for use
in high-end vehicles including the Jeep Grand
Cherokee, the Dodge Viper, and the Dodge Ram
SRT-10. These motors contribute to an engine
cooling system, which provides increased trailer
towing capacity, reduced grill openings, improved
fuel economy and reduced alternator loading. This
innovative development is powered by the vehicle's
existing steering pump, thus reducing the parasitic
losses associated with fan clutches.
The motors’ parts are washed before assembly and
are assembled in a clean room environment to
prevent any foreign debris from affecting the motor’s
operation. The motors are produced on a Prodel
production line. Each plug-and-play module of the
Prodel system is entirely self-contained and
interchangeable. [2] The modules are joined together
to form a system-level conveyance. Work modules or
stations, both manual and automatic serve as the
workhorses for assembly operations. Each station
© 2004 Rochester Institute of Technology
Kate Gleason College of Engineering
Rochester Institute of Technology
Rochester New York
May, 2004
MD2004-04016
Joe Van Hofwegen
Industrial & Systems
Engineering
Walter Freitag
Mechanical Engineering
Joe Pecht
Mechanical Engineering
performs quality checks before and after the motor
goes through an operation. After the motor has gone
through all the stations, sequentially, and is fully
assembled, the motor has to pass quality and
performance tests performed on a machine called the
end of line tester (EOLT). (See Figure 1) Then, the
motor is installed onto a cooling fan assembly.
The EOLT takes the motor off the conveyor belt and
places it onto a test table. The motor is coupled to
hoses and the PCV (pressure control valve), as it
would be connected onto the car. The EOLT runs a
series of 7 tests on the motor, which tests start-up,
speed of the motor, torque, idle state speed and
proper steering flow and pressure. If the motor does
not meet any of the parameters established, to ensure
the correct function of the fan, the motor will fail the
test and be removed to be repaired by a technician.
The motor assembly line was observed to be running
at a less than optimal production rate. This was
indicated by long cycles times, frequent machine
failures, malfunctions in the end of line tester, and
large quantities of work in process.
Valeo’s goal for this project is to increase the
quantity of hydraulic motors produced per person,
per hour (QPH) by 4-6%. In addition, Valeo required
a cost justification resulting in a 2-year payback for
all expenses for improvements exceeding $1000. As
shown in the next sections, the results of the project
are expected to exceed these goals with an estimated
9.5% improvement in motor production.
Proceedings of KGCOE-MD2004: Multi-Disciplinary Engineering Design Conference Page 2

Figure 1. Shows the layout of the studied system. Assembly begins at the bottom-left and continues until it
loops back to the EOLT (top-left).

CONCEPTS FOR IMPROVEMENT averaged 11 micro-stops per shift (failed motors,

In order to determine where to concentrate efforts, connection problems, etc). For calculations, micro-
the beginning stages of the project focused on data stops were assumed to take an average of 3 minutes
acquisition and analysis. Process times, downtimes, to fix and resume testing. The data also showed that
and procedures were studied and open the EOLT averaged 1065 minutes of total downtime
communication was established between the per month (not including micro-stops), for the
operators and the Valeo team. After studying the periods observed.
system and obtaining a complete understanding of its
One of the main problems with the End of Line
operation, four major areas of improvement were
Tester (EOLT) was that the hydraulic connections,
identified. These areas were downtime, processing
required for the testing, are prone to failure and
time, procedures and improved workflow.
unexpected operation. The current connections are
off-the-shelf, pneumatically actuated opening jaws
Downtime
that lock with the threads in the motor’s hydraulic
The collection and analysis of downtime data indicate
ports. The system caused misalignment between
that the end of line tester and station 210 make up the
connectors and repeatedly produced EOLT downtime
major problematic stations (See Figure 1).
and false motor failures (retests). If a proper
Downtime is measured by Valeo as any interrupt in
hydraulic seal was not made, hydraulic fluid would
production lasting more than 5 minutes. Anything
spill into the rest of the tester. This would eventually
less than five minutes is recorded as a micro-stop.
cause more downtime and increased operator
The end of line tester is not only a major cause of
interaction by causing damage to other parts, such as
downtime, but also has the largest process time out of
the pneumatics. If the current connectors are not
all stations within the system. (See Figure 5)
aligned with the motor’s hydraulic ports, the motion
Consequently, having the end of line tester up and
associated with the mate would cause the motor to
running as much as possible is critical to the
move and not achieve an optimal seal.
performance of the system.
1000 The design concept chosen incorporates existing
900 technology in the Valeo plant, from their assembly
800 cells, and integrates that technology into the EOLT.
700 The connection in the assembly cell is made using
600 tapered connections with an o-ring that is forced into
500
place, linearly via a spring. Once in place, they are
400
locked in the forward position so they do not back off
300
during the test. As opposed to the assembly cell, the
200
connections used in the EOLT will both be extended
100
and retracted pneumatically.
0 The existing assembly cell connections will be used
EOLT Station Station Station Station Station
210 140 230 200 170
as the basis for the new design. However, the space
constraints in the EOLT are much tighter than in the
Figure 2. A Pareto Chart ranking the stations assembly cell. Special low profile cylinders were
associated with the most downtime. selected in order to provide the necessary force in the
End of Line Tester: rather small area. A few calculations were performed
A new tracking method was implemented to find data to choose the proper cylinder. Knowing the
and trends for areas that were currently not being properties for the springs in the assembly cells, we
recorded. According to data collected, the EOLT calculated the force with the equation Fs = ½ * k * x2
= 112.5 lbs. [6] Since there were 2 springs, the total

MD2004-04016
Proceedings of KGCOE-MD2004: Multi-Disciplinary Engineering Design Conference
force applied to keep the connectors in place was 223
lbs with a hydraulic pressure of 800psi. Since the
EOLT runs a test with almost 1600psi, a cylinder to
keep the connectors in place needed to apply a force
of 446 lbs. In order to create a forced seal, the
pneumatic cylinder must exert enough pressure to
overcome the force from the 1600psi hydraulic fluid.
A load safety factor of 25% was used to account for
frictional and other losses. [7]
Load Safety Factor – 25%
FR = (446 * .25) + 446 = 557 lbs
Concept Cylinder
F = pi * 1.252 * 160 = 785 lbs
From Bimba Supplied Power Factor (pf = 5) [5]
F = 5 * 160 = 800 lbs
Cylinder Safety Factor
( 557 lbs ) / ( 800 lbs ) = 1.44
According to the analysis of the pressures and forces
encountered in the two hydraulic systems, these
modifications are possible. The new air cylinder will
be able to provide more than adequate force to
withstand the 1800psi hydraulic fluid. The new
cylinder has an additional safety factor of 1.44
beyond the calculated value, which already included
a 25% increase in the load for unaccounted for losses.
In the modified assembly cell mating concept, a
support bar is used to lock the connections forward
once they successfully mate with the motor. This will
prevent the connectors from backing off when the
hydraulic fluid flow has been started.
Design work began with reviewing models of the
current EOLT and assembly cell components. With
the information gathered from these drawings, space
constraints were noted and the initial design began.
Pressure and force calculations were used in which
the results aided in the choosing of the pneumatic
cylinders that will be used in the new design. A final
assembly with both custom and purchased parts was
created in Solidworks. With this assembly model,
clearance and fit issues could be seen and corrected if
necessary.
Figure 3. Design to increase EOLT reliability.
Copyright © 2004 by Rochester Institute of Technology
Page 3
During the design process, some of the custom parts
needed to have a Finite Element Analysis (FEA)
performed to assure that they would not deflect when
the system is fully loaded. The main area of concern
was the back off pin (see Figure 4), which is pressed
up behind the connector assembly once the
connectors are placed into the motor. This pin’s
purpose is to keep the connectors from backing out of
the motor when the hydraulic fluid is pressurized
during testing. If the connectors back off more than a
few thousandths of an inch, the seal will be broken,
the test will fail, and fluid will leak.
Figure 4. Finite Element Analysis on the back off
pin for EOLT.
The design reduces micro-stops which saves the
system an estimated half hour per shift, of downtime.
The final design was completed and submitted to the
customer for review and the next phase of
implementation.
Leak Testing and Optical Inspection (Station
210):
After collecting data and making observations, there
were two problems identified with producing
downtime. Most downtime on station 210
was caused by a false failure that occurred on the
optical check of the snap ring. The second problem,
which became evident through a more recent
collection of data, showed that the station was having
a lot of trouble with false leak test failures.
The source of the optical problem was investigated,
and it was discovered that the pictures obtained from
the camera, presented shining sections that the
software mistakenly labels as the holes in the snap
ring. The test would then use these false holes in the
position measurement, and therefore falsely failing
the part. The bright sections on the snap ring occur
because the light that is shined on the snap holes
approaches the ring at an angle, reflecting glare into
the lens creating a false hole in the program
interpretation.
The solution to this problem was to develop a
concept that would reduce the glare entering the
lens. (See Figure 5) Since polarized filters were
tried in the past with little success, it was decided that
Proceedings of KGCOE-MD2004: Multi-Disciplinary Engineering Design Conference Page 4

the problem could be solved by placing the camera Initial Assembly Operation (Station 90):
behind an angled mirror and the light source would Originally, the 6 part bins that contain the parts
reflect off the mirror from the side. A mirror and required to build the PCV assembly at station 90
light source device specifically designed for this were located to the left side of the operator. The
application was found [3, 4], and will be installed worker would waste valuable assembly time by
into the station. Due to the simplicity of the change, continuously reaching across his/her body to pick up
no downtime of the line is required for installation. the parts to be assembled. After talking to production
workers, considering ergonomic guidelines [1], and
understanding the constraints of the workstation,
optimal performance of this assembly cell was
achieved by placing the 6 part bins to a height that is
approximately waist high and in front of the
operator. (See Figure 6) By doing this the operator
works with both hands and does not need to reach
across his/her body to get parts. Additionally, the
program that presses PVC assemblies was modified
to allow 2 PCV assemblies to be pressed together
simultaneously. This design is expected to reduce the
Figure 5. Before and after mirror implementation. assembly time of the PCV assembly by 5 seconds.
The leak test failure problem was caused by a poor The number of each part box corresponds to the order
seal between the motor and the rubber connector of operation. The part in box 1 is assembled with the
fittings. To fix the problem, the worn rubber part in box 2. The part in box 3 is then added to the
connectors were replaced. This resulted in a previous assembly. This continues until all 6 parts are
significant improvement in the stations micro-stops. assembled into the PCV assembly.
The changing of these connectors will be put into the
preventative maintenance schedule.
Tester
The combination of these two solutions is estimated
to eliminate micro-stops on this station, which will
save about $750/year in downtime alone. This does 5 6
not account for the additional throughput of motors. 3 4

Process Time Enhancements 1 2

An obvious bottleneck is the end of line tester
(EOLT). However, the EOLT’s process time cannot Figure 7. New configuration for Station 90.
be reduced due to the required tests that it must
perform. An advantage of the EOLT is that it Procedural Enhancements
operates on a separate conveyor, which is external to There were a few deficiencies in the current
the main assembly conveyor. (See Figure 1) The procedures of this production line. The team
EOLT is an automated machine that runs through addressed these issues with various techniques, such
breaks and off-shifts to compensate for its extensive as creating detailed procedures, a production board,
process time. Process times revealed that station 90 and a preventative maintenance schedule.
is another major bottleneck – taking an average of Detailed Procedures:
35.53 seconds per cycle. Station 90 is also the origin A worker rotation system was set up to account for
of the system. Once the problem areas of the Prodel all personnel staffing on the Prodel line. There are 5
line and EOLT were identified, concepts for manual stations on the line that must be worked
improvement were developed. before a hydraulic motor is completely assembled
and because the staffing of the line varies from 1 to 5
60
persons, a rotation system is the most efficient way to
Manual
Process Time (seconds)

50 get personal to and from each station. Through use of

Automated the Arena simulation program we were able to prove
40
that the worker rotation system will increase
30
productivity, to a varying degree, based on the
20 number of workers on the line. The system will also
10
decrease the amount of time that is wasted during a
shift because workers will now have responsibilities
0 and a structured plan of work.
EOL
90
100

130

160

180
190

205
210
110A
110B
120A
120B

140A
140B
150A
150B

170A
170B

200A
200B

230A
230B

Direction of Assembly
Station Production Board:
Figure 6. Shows the relationship of process time.

MD2004-04016
Proceedings of KGCOE-MD2004: Multi-Disciplinary Engineering Design Conference
The board is a graphical representation, on a per hour
basis, of the number of parts produced per person on
the line. So regardless of manpower, the numbers are
relative. A computer currently outputs the number of
parts per half hour. Two half hours will be added
together, divided by the current manpower in the
room and plotted on the board. This number will
conform to the company’s standard way of measuring
QPH, or quantity of parts per person, per hour. The
main purpose of this board will be to create a method
of positive reinforcement for the operators and
provide a way for benchmarking their current
production against their past production. So, in
essence they will be competing against themselves to
achieve better results.
This board will also serve as a communication hub
between personnel and management. Problems
occurring on the line will be documented via created
data sheets and the solutions to those problems will
be addressed and also recorded for reference in case
of future occurrences.
Preventive Maintenance:
A schedule was made that contains all the routine
preventive maintenance that needs to be completed
and the frequency of completion. This way the
workers will know exactly what tasks need to be
finished, the order to complete them, and wasted time
will be reduced to a minimum. The schedule was
created by consulting personnel and reviewing
downtime data to identify the major problems on the
line. Two people will come in on an off day
(Saturday or Sunday) every week and work for 6
hours. During this shift they will follow the schedule
initialing and dating each completed task.
The PM schedule consists of all the routine
maintenance that should be done to keep the
assembly line working at maximum efficiency. While
completing this maintenance the workers will also
observe any possible problems that are not easily
observed during the normal work day, such as leaks
in air lines. These leaks are often not heard because
of the large fans and noise developed by normal
production. When a problem is found the worker will
note it on the PM schedule and, if possible, fix it or
order the parts that are needed so that it can be fixed
during the next scheduled maintenance.
By following this PM schedule the line will see many
benefits. After analyzing the data it was found that
many of the problems that cause failures in
automated stations are not because of failures in the
parts but because of false failures that are caused by
the testing equipment.
PM is also going to help prevent catastrophic failures.
Since the stations are going to be inspected weekly
many problems that lead to these failures will be
noticed. The greatest benefit of the PM schedule is
that it allows the maintenance that is normally done
Copyright © 2004 by Rochester Institute of Technology
Page 5
during the production shift to get completed at a time
that the line is not operating. This will result in an
increase in production.
Work Flow Enhancements
Improvements in workflow were investigated using
simulation techniques to identify alternative
configurations in manpower, number of pallets, and
queuing. Different alternatives were tested and
recommendations were made as to what is the best
configuration for the line.
Inhibitor Controls Code for Failure Response and
blocking:
In the given case that a module becomes full, due to a
part failing a test or the module becoming jammed,
the inhibit process will propagate until it gets to a
manual module. An important characteristic of the
program is the fact that a manual station will not send
any value to the previous module, preventing the
blocking of the line in case an assembler is not
present at that module.
The code consists of three different sequences of
instructions. When the code is running the sum of the
three sets of instructions will monitor the flow of the
line. Whenever an automatic module becomes full
either due to failure, or simply because a module is
slower at processing pallets, the module will inhibit
the previous station from releasing pallets until there
is space to receive more pallets. Each of the modules
along the path of the block will display that the
module is blocked and also will indicate where the
block occurred. The program will not allow the
release of a pallet on the manual station, so the user
will not be able to build any more parts until it
attends to the source of the block.
By implementing this plan a person is always
responsible for station failures and they will be fixed
promptly. It also eliminates the problem of having
multiple people respond to a failure. This failure
response plan will allow for a better flow of parts
through the line because stations will be fixed more
quickly. It will also reduce blocking because the
people responding will be from stations that are
feeding the failed stations so new parts will not be
flowing towards it. Through improvements in failure
response and a reduction in blocking, this
implementation increases the overall throughput of
the system.
Optimal Configuration Identification:
In order to study Valeo’s HDFS Prodel line a
simulation model was created using Arena. The
model made it possible to study the existing system
as it is today and compare it to a series of “what-ifs”
which otherwise would be too expensive, time-
consuming, or disruptive to reproduce directly.
Several aspects of the production line were studied
through the simulation model including: operator
Proceedings of KGCOE-MD2004: Multi-Disciplinary Engineering Design Conference Page 6

allocation and utilization, number of pallets in the The net present value was calculated for all
system and line speed. improvements and is detailed in the table below.
This proves that the identified improvements are a
The simulation model provided a means to allocate
worthwhile investment.
operators to manual stations. [8] The model simulates
different scenarios in which operators are utilized in Table 4. Net Present Value Calculation
different aspects of the assembly process. The Interest Rate 10%
following table shows the optimal line configuration. Total Cost $ (71,537.00)
The configuration is based on the number of Return After 1 Year $ 78,915.90
operators available and using the best worker Return After 2 Years $157,831.80
rotation. Regardless of number of operators the Net Present Value $59,476.80
optimal number of pallets in the system is 45.
However, the number of assembly processes to CONCLUSION
complete prior to an operator moving to a new station Through improvements in downtime, process time,
varies according to the number of operators available procedures, and workflow the 4-6% increase in motor
(denoted by ‘Parts’ in the Table 1). output has been demonstrated. Using the optimal
Table 1. Using optimal sequence of operator configuration and considering the projected
rotation, the optimal configuration for the system improvements a 9.5% improvement in quantity of
based on manpower. parts, per person, per hour has been demonstrated
Operators Speed Parts Motors with the use of simulation. The 2-year payback has
1 1 15 210 been met solely using the overtime that will be saved,
2 1 25 381 by the increase in throughput of the system. With the
3 1 30 530 improvements described the system will now run
4 1 10 538 more efficiently that it has in the past.
5 1.1 -- 558
Mechanical improvements made to the system were ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
translated into the Arena model to obtain the new Team Valeo would like to thank Mentor, Dr. Michael
system’s output of motors. Using this system, line Kuhl; Coordinator, Dr. Paul Stiebitz; The entire
speed and number of pallets in the system were tested Valeo Staff including Richard Guerin, Paul
at different values to find an optimal configuration Vandeursen, James Ely, and the Valeo machine shop.
for 5 operators. The optimal configuration with 5
operators is 47 pallets in the system and a line speed REFERENCES
of 1.1 ft/sec. Table 2 provides the percent [1] Niebal, Benjamin, W. & Freivalds, Andris.
improvement with station improvements (EOL, Methods, Standards and Work Design 10th ed. New
Station 90 & 210) followed by the ‘Optimal System’, York: McGraw Hill, 1999.
which includes both station improvements and the [2] Prodel. “The system catalog.” Prodel USA.
aforementioned optimal configuration. 2002.<http://prodel.net/prodel/groupe_prodel.htm>.
[3]DVT sensors. “Doal-50-led.” Northeast Robotics
Table 2. Improvements based on mechanical LLC. 1999. <http://www.dvtsensors.com
station improvements and overall improvements. /shopcart/specs/INRD-50.pdf>.
Station Optimal [4] DVT sensors. “FrameWork 2.6.3. Installation
Improvements System Program.” DVT Corporation. 2001.
Motors Out 593 601 <http://www.dvtsensors.com/support/DownloadsMan
% Improvement 8% 9.5% ager.php?KW=Release>.
[5] Bimba. “How proper mounting prevents
COST BENEFIT ANALYSIS premature cylinder wear.” Bimba Stainless.1999.
The upfront costs have been estimated for the <http://www.bimba.com/techctr/techcenter.htm>.
improvements to this system. They have been [6] Avallone, Eugene A. & Baumeister, Theodore,
justified to reflect a 2-year payback based on the III. Mark’s Standard Handbook for Mechanical
overtime that will be saved. It is important to note Engineers. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1996.
that this does not account for the profit from the [7] McMaster-Carr. “Linear Pneumatics Actuators.”
increase in motor production. McMaster-Carr. 2004. http://www.mcmaster.com/.
Table 3. Shows Payback based on manpower. [8] Kelton, David, W. & Sadowski, Randall, P.
Improvement Cost OT Saved (After 2yrs) Simulation with Arena. New York: McGraw-Hill
EOLT $ 13,000.00 $ 12,331.80 2002.
Preventative Maintenance (4% improvement) $ 50,000.00 $ 144,000.00
Station 210 $ 1,536.00 $ 1,500.00
Procedures $ 91.00
Station 90 $ 6,910.00 Agreed to w/o Payback
Total $ 71,537.00 $ 157,831.80

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