| July 3,1998 |
State-of-the-Art Facility Proving its Worth in the Production of the New Familia
- C-BAL Line of Mazda Motor Corp. Speeding Up the Model Change -
In the production of the new Familia that Mazda unveiled on June 9, 1998, the C-BAL line, Circulated Body Assembly Line, is playing an important role. Mazda was the very first auto manufacturer in the world to introduce such line, a mixed body assembly line which can produce different models in variable volumes.
The C-BAL line is a versatile body assembly line that utilizing carts fitted with jigs for each specific body type enables the production of up to twelve different models as well as changeovers without lengthy interruptions. The line was the first introduced in the Hofu plant, Mazda's state-of-the art facility, in 1992. Subsequently, the company's Hiroshima plant (in Ujina) also started using improved version of C-BAL for some of its lines.
Production launch of the new Familia was the first full model change for the C-BAL line in the Hiroshima Plant. This C-BAL line has greatly contributed to the production start-up of the recently launched new Familia. The conventional body assembly line was based on the ones used exclusively for a particular model. On the other hand, as C-BAL line is a versatile line, it eliminated the need to install an exclusive line every time a new model is introduced. As a result, in addition to the reduction of approximately four months in the lead-up time for mass production compared with the case of previous versions of Familia., capital investment has been slashed be about 60% compared with the conventional approach.
Furthermore, MDI, Mazda Digital Innovation which the company is pressing ahead with, contributes a great deal to the highly stable product quality of the new Familia as well as to improvements in productivity, by using CAD/CAM in more areas and advance verification through simulation.
The new 9th generation Familia is also available as the S-wagon, which has been developed to meet the needs of customers' diversifying lifestyles, in addition to the sedan, which incorporates functionality into an intelligent package. The progress in the C-Bal line and MDI is making significant contributions in sending Familia into the market as a product that promises customers even more high quality.
