Since the establishment of the factory, Dongfeng Motor Corporation has regarded the effective operation of the logistics system as one of the key tasks to ensure normal production. This article introduces Dongfeng Company’s logistics management improvement practices for reference by manufacturing companies and logistics managers.

Adopt flexible transportation methods for the automobile production process

When Dongfeng Company was founded, it entrusted the Fourth Design Institute of the Ministry of Railways to carry out factory transportation design. The inter-factory transportation design formulated at that time The principle is the transportation of large assemblies (body, frame, axle, wheel, engine, gearbox, etc.) between factories (assembly plant and assembly plant and between assembly plant and assembly plant), and the transportation of bulk materials. Incoming and dispatching of commercial vehicles are transported by rail, while the remaining small and medium-sized assemblies and parts are transported by automobile. According to this design principle, when the large assembly uses railway transportation, it is necessary to build 74 kilometers of railways and 7 stations for receiving, dispatching, and dispatching of railway vehicles in the factory area. At the same time, in order to meet the needs of automobile production, large parts warehouses were built in corresponding professional production plants and special railway lines were laid. In this way, the supply of large assemblies is loaded on trains from the production plant, sent to the warehouse of the assembly plant via railway, unloaded, and then sent to the assembly line. Not only is the logistics operation complex and the process long, but also the reserves are large, time-consuming, and costly. Railway transportation is characterized by large transportation volume, long cycle, and many operating links, making it difficult to achieve door-to-door transportation. Automobile production needs to be fast, accurate and timely, which is difficult to achieve in railway transportation. For this reason, the company made a decisive decision to change the inter-factory transportation of large assemblies to automobile transportation. The import of bulk raw materials (steel, molding sand, pig iron, etc.) and the delivery of commercial vehicles are still transported by rail. This clarifies the transportation mode for the main materials to be transported in and out between factories.

Continuously improve the transportation efficiency of large assemblies

1. Cab assembly.

In the initial stage of the factory's production, the cab assemblies produced by the body factory were sent to the assembly plant for vehicle assembly. Two 4-ton trucks were used to ship two units at a time, with a load capacity of about 1 ton and a loading efficiency of only At 25, there is a huge waste of capacity. In order to improve efficiency, the truck was modified and the floor of the truck was lengthened, so that each truck can accommodate three cabs and the loading efficiency was increased to 37.5. But the waste of capacity is still huge. To this end, a 3-ton light-duty truck was selected, the floor of the carriage was lengthened, and three cabs were installed to achieve a loading efficiency of 50.

2. Wheel assembly.

Each 5-ton truck produced by Dongfeng Company requires 8 wheels, which are produced and supplied by the wheel factory. Due to the large number, there are many transportation trips to and from the factory, and the frequency of loading and unloading is quite high, which requires labor. High strength and long loading and unloading time. To this end, the company has improved the loading and unloading spreader, lifting 20 wheels at a time and loading them into modified and lengthened special vehicles. It only takes 15 minutes to install 60 wheels per vehicle, which not only reduces labor intensity but also improves work efficiency.

3. Engine assembly.

According to the 100,000-unit production plan, the engine assembly produced by the engine factory must send more than 400 assemblies to the assembly line on time every day, requiring more than 80 trains. Due to the bulk form when loading, not only does it cause collisions, but it is also inefficient. The distance between the two factories is more than 10 kilometers, so the method of modifying the vehicle was adopted, that is, nine engines were installed on the extended bed of the 5-ton truck, and fixing devices were installed to avoid collisions between the assemblies.

Since the supply of large assemblies directly affects the production plan and the loading efficiency of the general assembly line, the timely supply and efficiency of large assemblies have always been concerned by leaders and managers at all levels of the company, and have also become a logistics issue. Improvement priorities.

Build a special channel for commercial vehicles to enter the warehouse

Commercial vehicles must undergo performance tests such as toe-in, sideslip, lighting, and rain before leaving the factory. They must pass the road test before being put into the warehouse. Dongfeng Company has built a special channel for the warehousing of commercial vehicles and implemented fully closed management. One section of it passes through a cave, which not only shortens the distance, avoids traffic accidents, ensures the quality of the warehousing of commercial vehicles, but also greatly speeds up the warehousing of vehicles. speed, alleviating vehicle congestion.

At the same time, transportation should be organized rationally, make full use of empty return vehicles, and improve transportation efficiency.

After more than 30 years of development, Dongfeng Company has now formed four major production bases in Shiyan, Xiangfan, Wuhan and Guangzhou. The transportation distance is long and the production collaboration is scattered. Reasonable organization of transportation is particularly important. In order to continuously improve vehicle usage efficiency and reduce operating costs, based on the two-way logistics characteristics between Dongfeng Company's Shiyan and Xiangfan bases, overall arrangements are made for goods and vehicles in the two places, so that the return vehicles between the two bases can be better utilized. .

Dongfeng Diesel Engine Factory (Xiangfan) transports engines to the general assembly plant (Shiyan) every day, which requires 10 transport vehicles. Usually, heavy trucks go and empty trucks return, and only a few vehicles return empty trucks. Loading equipment and taking it back to Xiangfan was a huge waste of vehicle capacity. Through reasonable organization, 5 of the vehicles were used to transport empty containers, and the remaining 5 were used to undertake the task of transporting wheel assemblies from the wheel company (Shiyan) to the light vehicle factory (Xiangfan), making the vehicle utilization rate reach 100 .

Using the body factory (Shiyan) to send the cab-empty vehicles to the light vehicle factory, the light vehicle factory (Xiangfan) sent the frame longitudinal beams to the frame factory (Shiyan) and Laohekou Chuangpu Company to Te The task of transporting parts to the assembly plant (Shiyan) was eliminated, thus saving 6 transport vehicles.

Improve the generalization and management level of container equipment

Container equipment is one of the important means to ensure product quality and improve logistics efficiency. As Dongfeng Company's product variety and output continue to increase, containerized equipment is faced with how to adapt to changes in product structure and an increase in quantity. Generally speaking, every time a new variety is added, a new type of container must be made. At the same time, as the output increases, the number of container units also increases. In this way, to adapt to product changes, it is necessary to continuously increase the number of containers. quantity and variety of utensils as a consideration. Therefore, the production and investment of containerized equipment has become a heavy burden for the factory, and it also brings a series of problems, such as use, storage, circulation, exchange and management, which are difficult to coordinate. To this end, Dongfeng has been exploring effective ways to solve the above problems.

Dongfeng Company first starts from the source, standardizes the design principles of container equipment, unifies design standards, and continuously improves the design level. From the cumbersome and heavy steel of the first OEM, angle and channel steel to the compact, light and Small development, from flat stacking to space stacking, from fixed to folding, has laid the foundation for improving production and management levels.

With the continuous development of the market economy, the implementation of supply chain management has become an inevitable trend, and the scope of management has also developed from OEMs to suppliers and sellers. Improving the generalization and management level of container equipment has become an important issue that logistics management must face. Therefore, Dongfeng Company has formulated a series of standards such as design standards, management standards and corresponding regulations to ensure that containerized equipment can better serve production.

Currently, Dongfeng Motor Company is further carrying out in-depth and detailed logistics improvement work and has officially included it in the company's mid-term business plan. A clear goal of reducing procurement costs has been set. The procurement costs of commercial vehicle companies have been reduced by 12% every year; the procurement costs of passenger car companies have been reduced by 5%. Promote operating methods to suppliers to obtain competitive supplies in terms of quality, cost and delivery time. We must also carry out continued cost reduction activities among suppliers and encourage close cooperation between product R&D departments and suppliers.