Audi Smart Factory: The factory of the future
Human-robot cooperation and projects like the “chairless chair” are pointing the way forward. Intelligent production technologies are enabling the company to make tools in new, efficient ways: Audi Toolmaking is testing a 3D printer that can produce metal components with complex geometries.
Audi in numbers: bigger picture
As engineers, we love numbers. But how can we use them to make the world a better place? By connecting 9.6 billion people that will inhabit the world in 2050? By driving millions of electric test kilometers? Can we make the world a better place by simply applying quattro drive? All those numbers are just pieces of a bigger picture. One common dream: zero emissions.
Audi Summit: Pioneering solutions of tomorrow
From the world premiere of the Audi A8 to Audi AI and piloted driving – the Audi Summit in Barcelona showcased Audi’s Vorsprung on its way to a premium digital car company.
The rise of the Premium Digital Car Company
Visitors to the Audi Summit are able to see these benefits in action in the form of the “chairless chair”. The “chairless chair” is a so-called passive exoskeleton. While working, employees wear it like a second pair of legs which always provide support whenever it’s needed. It is affixed to the back of the legs and, like a chair, improves a person’s posture while carrying out their work. Two seat surfaces support the buttocks and thighs, and the two struts in carbon-fiber-reinforced polymer (CFRP) transfer part of the body weight to the ground. The struts are jointed behind the knee and can be hydraulically adjusted to the person’s body size and the desired seating position. Thanks to its lightweight construction, the “chairless chair” weighs just 2.4 kilograms (5.3 lb) and thus doesn’t constitute additional strain for the wearer. For many assembly operations, it allows employees to sit in an ergonomically beneficial position instead of standing – even with short working intervals. At the same time, this high-tech supporting structure improves posture and reduces strain on the legs. The exoskeleton has already been successfully tested by Audi at a number of workstations. Based on the results from the pilot test phase, Audi, together with manufacturer noonee – a Swiss startup – has developed the “chairless chair” further in order to bring it to series production maturity for subsequent widespread introduction as an ergonomic aid. The goal is to improve the ergonomic working conditions of employees, to prevent excessive strain, to avoid illness-related downtime and, in particular, to ensure that older employees or those with a physical disability can be given a valued position in the production process. 4. Smart logistics: wearables and virtual reality training Whoever is faster achieves Vorsprung. Quick action and reaction times should be beneficial to quality and customer-friendliness.
High-tech in all areas: Audi expanding Vorsprung durch Technik
Human‑robot cooperation and projects like the “chairless chair” are pointing the way forward: Ergonomics in automobile production are becoming more important all the time, and Audi is addressing demographic change with creative solutions. In the future, production systems will control and monitor themselves, and production facilities and machines at Audi sites worldwide will be connected. These dynamically connected systems will make even more flexible production possible. And the intelligent tools at Audi Toolmaking are already self-regulating. They ensure that the precision of metal panels can be measured in the range of hundredths of millimeters, while also supporting sustainable production. Intelligent production technologies are enabling the company to make tools in new, efficient ways: Audi Toolmaking is testing a 3D printer that can produce metal components with complex geometries. And Audi is using digital technologies to shape the global growth of the company. A large share of factory planning is being done with virtual reality (VR) systems, which make time-saving, cost-efficient planning possible. VR and augmented reality (AR) applications are found in all areas of the company, from Development to the Pre‑Series Center and Production, to Sales.
High-tech on the assembly line: Audi production
A second pair of “legs” made of CFRP: the chairless chair Audi’s highest priority is the health of its employees. That’s why the company collaborated with a Swiss start-up enterprise to conceive a solution that greatly reduces bodily strain on the assembly line and boosts well-being in the workplace – the “chairless chair.” The chairless chair is an exoskeleton worn on the back of the legs. The high-tech construction of carbon thus enables production employees to sit – without a physical chair. The employee fastens the chairless chair to the body, using belts at the hips, knees and ankles. Two leather-covered surfaces support the buttocks and thighs, and two struts made of carbon-fiber reinforced plastic (CFRP) adapt to the contours of the legs. They are jointed at knee height and can be hydraulically adjusted to the wearer’s body size and the desired sitting position. Body weight is transferred to the floor through these adjustable elements. The chairless chair weighs just 2.4 kilograms (5.3 lb). The employee wears it during work like a second pair of legs that always support him when needed. The exoskeleton can thus improve posture during many activities and reduce strain on the legs. It also enables the employee to sit in an ergonomically sound position instead of standing. So chairs and stools, which are currently used at some assembly line sections as temporary aids, become unnecessary. The first prototypes of the chairless chair are already in use at the Neckarsulm site, to be followed by the Audi plant in Ingolstadt. The pilot project is being supported by an interdisciplinary team and is part of the field of activity under the heading of “workplace of the future,” in line with the company’s ergonomics strategy: With “We for us. Active into the future,” Audi is responding to current and future challenges resulting from the transformation of the working world.