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International Research Journal of Engineering and Technology (IRJET)

e-ISSN: 2395-0056

Volume: 10 Issue: 04 | Apr 2023

p-ISSN: 2395-0072

www.irjet.net

Automotive Paint Shop Automation in Nigeria Patrick Osakuade1, Mohammed Moore Ojapah2 1Mechanical Engineering Department University of Port Harcourt, Port Harcourt, Nigeria 2Mechanical Engineering Department, University of Port Harcourt, Nigeria 1Graduate Student: 2Senior lecturer

---------------------------------------------------------------------***--------------------------------------------------------------------early design stages of production plants. In addition, Virtual Abstract - The automotive industry is currently facing a big Reality can give the benefit of a possibility to train staff who are going to work in designed lines before the commissioning.

challenge for the sustainability of its vehicle production operations and emissions due to economic, marketing, environmental and policy . A study has been carried out in a typical automotive manufacturing company in Nigeria to study their operational practice. In particular, the current level of painting operation and how the painting operation can be automated. A visitation to the automotive painting shop was done for on the spot assessment of their operating system and the level of technology that is currently being applied in the paint shop. It was observed that the automotive paint shop is still operating on human machine kind of painting operation of the vehicle body without the use of robotic system. The robotic system which is one of the disruptive technologies in the industries today of which industry 4.0 is the key enabler is already in full operation in the global key automotive paint shops. The use of robotic painting system comes with a lot of safety in particular health hazard. and other benefit in terms of employability, technology advancement, and increased revenue to the industry. The study shows that if the automotive manufacturing and paint shop in Nigeria being a key player in the Nigeria economy does not want to be left out in the industrial sector, it is now that they start to automate the paint shop by ensuring that robotics systems are in operation in the paint shop.

The present day automotive production plant consists mainly of four shops which are the press shop, the welding shop, the paint shop, and the assembly line, these are usually separated by the buffers [2]. This paper focused on the automation of automotive company in Nigeria. In particular, the paint shop. Methods like V- Model are successfully applied to both body shop and assembly line systems. Fortunately, this is could be an applicable methodology and effective tools to simulate the automated and robotic painting process in the virtual environment. Thus, the operations in the paint shop, which also double as the most hazardous shop in an automotive assembly plant need to be improved in terms of the automation of operations that are currently performed manually, and optimization of the whole process including buffer control system. The moving assembly line was introduced by Henry Ford in 1914, this introduction was able to reduce production time from 12.5h to 93 min. Every three minutes one car leaves the line and using less man power than previously [3]. The customer had a choice of several types of body work, but the number of available paint colors was limited. Ford wrote in his autobiography that in 1909 in which he told his management team that in the future “Any customer can have a car painted any color that he wants so long as it is black” [4]. However, in the first years of production from 1908 to 1913, the Model T was not available in black [5] but in several colors depending on car’s purpose: gray–for town cars, red–for touring cars, and green–for coupes and landaulets (as well as some town and touring cars). By 1912, all cars were being painted midnight blue with black fenders. The one-color concept was finally implemented in 1914. Ford suggested the use of black paint from 1914 to 1926, probably due to the low cost and durability. One hundred years later Ford’s color strategy has been replaced by mass customization: the more available colors, the greater the profit. What does it mean for the factory? This section focuses on important problem areas which have been caused by changes in automotive production policy.

Key Words:

Automotive Industry, Industry 4.0, Automation, Painting, Manufacturing, Robot,

1. INTRODUCTION In the early years of the automotive industry, the variation in the number of products offered by manufacturers were limited. An example is Henry Ford’s policy in 1918, half of all cars in the US were model Ts. In recent time, due to advanced technology, growing market competitiveness, vehicle manufacturers must provide a large product variety to meet customer requirements and this must be done ontime. To meet the demands of the modern market, the factory concept is beginning to change. The traditional industry is transforming into smart digital factories with automation [1]. This is where disruptive technology comes into play.. This goal can be reached by utilizing Virtual Reality. Such an approach enables the testing and validation of system specification, according to requirements, in the

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