Design of transport solution for truck plant line simulator

Abstract: Volvo Trucks is the second-largest heavy-duty truck provider in the world. As of now they are working towards fossil free transport solutions. This comes with a fast development pace and an increasing need of being able to verify new and complex assembly processes to ensure an integration of the production of new truck models together with the current vehicles that are being produced.  This project is a master thesis that focuses on improving the quality and verification capabilities of the Pilot Plant at the Volvo Tuve site. The goal of the project is to design and develop a modular transport solution that can be used to move truck chassis at a predefined speed to be able to simulate and perform assembly tasks with the same parameters in the test environment as in the factory process along the driven line. The design was developed using the product development process described by Ulrich et al., 2020, with slight modification. The resulting design is able to move the truck chassis at the requested predefined speeds that are possible on the driven line in the factory. This solution gives Volvo the ability to perform simulations of specific and critical assembly steps, potentially resulting in fewer failures during production ramp-up of their new truck models.  Calculations were made to in order to verify the strength and functionality of the design.