Toronto, Ontario – Not to be outdone by mad scientists at Audi, Nissan has unveiled its new smart factory which the company says will take high-precision vehicle assembly to new heights and will be made up almost entirely of robots.
Nissan said the robots will produce cars with paintwork that won’t have defects larger than 0.3mm and precise component assembly down to 0.05mm.
The company’s robots will be able to perform tasks that would be impossible for a human worker, such as ‘socket welding’, a method that uses a thinner electrode to produce a narrower but longer weld area. which makes it possible to reduce the width of the flange. of the door frame.
“As a result, we can reduce the width of the front pillar by 5mm and increase visibility for the driver,†said Teiji Hirata, vice president of engineering and vehicle production development at Nissan, by the through a translator in a recorded introduction to the new factory posted on YouTube.
The smart factory concept has been incorporated into a production line at Nissan’s Tochigi plant, where the new Nissan Ariya 2022 crossover electric vehicle is due to start production by April.
Nissan said the concept would also incorporate a new, simplified robot-applied paint system and remove rare earth metals from production of EV motors, opting for coil-field motors instead.
