Thursday 2023-03-23

​​The winners of this year's FORVIA Lean Industrial Design Challenge have been announced: Among 21 finalists, the team from the Lighting Business Group took first place by a wide margin. The team presented the concept of a modular, universal assembly line, which will be used for the first time at the production site in Kocovce, Slovakia. It is based on a standardized assembly line layout with fully modular and scalable stations to drive massification. A first prototype was implemented in 2021 in HAN, Czech Republic. Over the last two years, the concept has been further developed in cooperation with lighting plants worldwide and with great support from the FORVIA Project One team. The first line of this new generation will be introduced in Kocovce, then rolled out in other lighting plants.

​"Congratulations to the entire team for this prestigious recognition. The successful roll out of the universal assembly line will not only shape our operations but also our headlamp business model while staying customer centric. It is a significant step forward to achieving more equipment standardization which is a clear part of our Lighting Power25 strategy" emphasises Lighting Managing Director Yves Andres.

​LID Challenge with HELLA participation for the first time

​The goal of the annual FORVIA LID Challenge is to identify and reward best practices in process design and standards in production. The concept of Lean Industrial Design aims to define and further optimise generic equipment and machines as well as the best material flows in a production plant. Flexibility, modularity, scalability and standardisation of manufacturing processes are essential enablers for cost-efficient production. This year, the LID Challenge took place for the second time; the first time with the participation of HELLA.
​The jury consists of the Faurecia Group Industrial Teams, the Industrial Managers of all Business Groups, the R&D Managers of all Business Groups and is chaired by Christophe Schmitt, Faurecia Operations Vice President. They evaluated the team presentations according to the following criteria:

• ​Flexibility, modularity, compactness, smart and lean automation ​
• CAPEX and OPEX savings
• ​Potential deployment of the new standard.

​HELLA team winning by a wide margin

​Among the total of 21 projects presented to the jury on 14 March 2023, there were the following three winners: ​
1st place: HELLA Lighting: Modular universal headlamp assembly line, awarded 45 points ​
2nd place: Faurecia Interiors: Door panel flex assembly line, 21 points
​3rd place: Faurecia Clarion Electronics: Automated rear view camera assembly line, 11 points
​As well as Faurecia Seating: Fast grinding module in MT track assembly line, also 11 points