The encyclopedia · Engineering & Operations · Operational decision · 1997–1998
Visteon's plant simulator doubled as a training tool and produced 144,000 extra axles
Visteon used one plant-floor simulation for training, operations and new-line design; the front-axle line gained 30% productivity and 144,496 extra axles.
Visteon (Sterling plant)
The solution
Visteon's Sterling, Michigan plant made front axles for Ford Expeditions, Lincoln Navigators and F-series trucks — exactly the high-profit 4x4 and SUV products whose US market exploded in the late 1990s.
The plant built a strategic decision-support system integrating plant-floor information with simulation, and used the same model three ways: to train the front-axle team, to improve daily operations, and to design new operations.
Between January 1997 and July 1998 productivity rose more than 30 percent, producing an extra 144,496 front axles. The DSS also helped Visteon avoid a $10 million line modification that would have been inefficient, and guided a new line with $5.5 million in savings.
Why it worked
- Training on the live model cut the gap between learning and doing
- Operations experiments ran on simulation before touching production
- The same model designed new lines, carrying validated logic forward
- A self-directed team could test its own improvement ideas
What can be applied
A simulation pays three times when the same model serves training, daily operations and capital design: each use validates and improves the others.
Aftermath
The Sterling project became a documented example of simulation-based decision support in automotive manufacturing; Visteon spun off from Ford in 2000 and the approach fed its broader plant-analytics practice.
Sources
- Visteon's Sterling Plant Uses Simulation-Based Decision Support in Training, Operations, and Planning
- Visteon's Sterling Plant Uses Simulation-Based Decision Support in Training, Operations, and Planning (abstract)
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