A Case Study of Simulation for the Design of Crankshaft Line in an Automotive Engine Shop

The major components of an engine are the cylinder block, cylinder head, crankshaft, connecting rod, and camshaft, which are more popularly known as the 5 C’s. Thus, the engine shop usually consists of six sub-lines, including five machining lines and one assembly line. The flow line is the typical concept of the layout when the engineer designs the engine shop. This paper introduces a simulation study regarding the new crankshaft machining line in a Korean automotive factory. The major factors for designing the machining line are considered, and their effects on the system performance are evaluated with a three-dimensional (3D) simulation model that is developed with QUEST ® . The initial layout is analyzed using the simulation model, and we suggest some ideas for improvement.