In 2003, Android Industries (Flint, MI) opened a 226,000-square-foot facility in Shreeveport, LA, to provide outfitting for engines and transmission going into Chevrolet Colorado and GMC Canyon trucks from General Motors Corp. (Detroit). The plant-Android Industries seventh-is located just a mile from where GM performs final assembly of the two truck lines. It supplies more than 900 engine-transmissions a day on a just-in-time basis.
In order to provide efficient "dressing" of these assemblies, Android uses a number of flow cell workstations to provide easy access to parts, right on the assembly line. In its previous facilities, the company had used pipe rack structures mounted on plastic wheels. But for the Shreeveport plant, it installed full-width roller Span-Track workstations from Unex Manufacturing Inc. (Jackson, NJ), to enhance both adaptability and ease of use.