OSAT Manufacturing Systems Group Research Overview Manufacturing Systems Group Overview Welcome to the Manufacturing Systems Group, a division of the Office for the Study of Automotive Transportation at the University of Michigan . The Manufacturing Systems Group focuses on vehicle development and manufacturing systems that impact the manufacture and performance of car and light-truck bodies. Major research activities are directed toward optimizing the visual and structural quality of the vehicle body, and reducing manufacturing investment and variable costs, as well as compressing new product lead-time. New technologies related to material usage, welding and assembly, and process validation have been investigated and extended.
Significant effort is also devoted to extending simultaneous-development systems.
Advanced analytical methods are being developed that support rapid product development and enhanced process capability. The Manufacturing Systems Group of the Office for the Study of Automotive Manufacturing has several ongoing research projects with connections to the auto industry. UM staff conducts research to achieve world class performance levels in automotive body development lead-time, dimensional quality, and productivity. Research objectives are to develop a scientific quantitative knowledge base of stamping, assembly and measurement variation, to develop analytical procedures that support an optimal dimensional validation strategy, to communicate research findings with companies, and to assist in implementing new dimensional validation practices. Another research project in the manufacturing group focuses on evaluating the effectiveness of the functional build process, identifying variables which impact the correlation between primary and secondary tool tryout, evaluating criteria for buy-off at primary tryout, collecting and analyzing production data, and to develop a statistical decision model.