Abstract:

Today’s automotive industry is characterized by mass customization with high volumes and a large variety of different options, yielding several billions of possible models. Vehicle production takes place on mixed-model assembly lines. Costs are driven through the production sequence which is subject to workload constraints at the stations linked to the car’s different options (e.g. electric sunroof yes/no). Distribution of finished vehicles in the automotive industry is mainly done by road and rail.

The inventory carrying cost induced through the large amount of capital bound in finished vehicles waiting for their delivery could be decreased through a distribution that is better tuned with production. Because of the established processes in the automotive industry, this integration of production and distribution has the highest chances of implementation on the stage from one plant to many distribution centers. An integrated optimization approach to tackle this problem is presented and compared to consecutive optimization of production and distribution.

Biography:

Felix Zesch works as a senior researcher at 4flow, a provider of supply chain consulting, software and fourth-party logistics (4PL) services, on research and consulting projects with a focus on the automotive industry. He holds a master’s degree from the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology in Industrial Engineering and Management as well as a master’s degree in Industrial Engineering from the Grenoble Institute of Technology. In his Ph.D. project he explores the possibilities and benefits of integrating production and outbound distribution planning for automotive vehicle manufacturers.