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Car manufacturer Audi has upped productivity at its largest Nordic sales and service centre with the result that it can now service four to five more cars per day.
It did so by installing an automatic Tornado storage system from Constructor UK, to store all mechanic tools, which has freed up space and increased capacity.
The centre, which is located in Gothenburg, Sweden, can now boast an additional servicing point, as a result of the space savings, which in turn has pushed up productivity levels.
The system is set up so that a mechanic who needs a tool can walk to the automatic system, order the tool, and sign for it. When the work is done, the mechanic immediately returns the tool to the system. If other mechanics need the same tool, they can see who has it.
“Today’s cars are highly complex machines whose servicing requires an increasing number of tools. When compared to an automatic system, the traditional methods for keeping tools in order and managing them are inefficient,” says workshop manager Mats Lindblad.
“We have 15 mechanics. The automatic system saves their time, since they need not spend time looking for tools,” he says.
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Audi service centre’s original motivation for acquiring the automatic storage system was to save floor space. Previously, there were tool racks here and there, but now the tools are stored in the Tornado system, 6.5 metres high and four metres wide.
“The automatic system enabled us to add a new servicing point to the workshop. Since the total capacity has increased and lead times have shortened, we are able to service four to five more cars per day,” says Lindblad.
All 1,300 tools in the workshop were measured and weighed before the Tornado was made – some of the largest ones more than 30cm in length. The system features 48 pallets, each with a capacity of 300kg.
“The automatic system, which was implemented at Audi workshop at the beginning of the year, has drawn envious admiration from other units in the group eager to acquire a similar Tornado system,” says Lindblad.
