Only one white goods manufacturer has ever received the Assembly Plant of the Year award: GE Appliances’ factory in Decatur, AL.
The world-class facility was honored in 2019 because of the way that it mass-produces top-freezer refrigerators fast and efficiently. The vertically integrated factory produces many parts in-house to guarantee quality and meet delivery deadlines. For instance, the plant operates a large plastic injection-molding operation and a copper tube bending department. Key components, such as evaporators, are also made in-house.
GE Appliances invested $125 million in 2020 to boost production capacity at the 46-year-old facility located on the banks of the Tennessee River.
“Decatur is a great example of how we are infusing digitization and other new technologies to improve safety, quality and manufacturing efficiency in our U.S. factories,” says Bill Good, vice president of supply chain at GE Appliances.
“Smart factories help us better connect with the consumer by creating a digital thread from the moment the appliance goes into production,” explains Good, who previously served as the Decatur plant manager. “We can monitor the production lines from anywhere and pinpoint issues quickly, allowing for production to continue smoothly and efficiently, ensuring we surpass our consumers’ expectations of supply chain speed and reliability.”
Recently, the Decatur factory has been investing in artificial intelligence (AI) technology to further improve productivity and efficiency. In fact, plant manager Leifje Dighton will deliver a keynote speech on that topic at the Assembly South Show in Nashville, TN, on May 1.
ASSEMBLY recently asked Dighton, to explain how her facility has changed in the past five years.
ASSEMBLY: What have been some of the major changes at the Decatur plant since 2019?
Dighton: In 2020, we opened the doors on our completed $125 million investment, which increased our capacity by 25 percent and added 225 new jobs. Building on the success of that investment, in 2022 we added new state-of-the-art tools and equipment focused on efficiency and innovation, including a thermoformer that molds the drawers and interior of our refrigerators, maximizing output, and lowering material and energy costs.
ASSEMBLY: Have there been changes in the design of your refrigerators recently that has affected the way that the plant assembles and tests products?
Dighton: Common product architecture was a big focus of the 2020 investment. That, combined with the way we redesigned the assembly lines, gives us the flexibility to build many different size models to meet shifting consumer demand.
ASSEMBLY: How did the recent investment in the plant improve productivity?
Dighton: Investing in digitization, robotics and other new technologies has improved manufacturing efficiency, as well as safety and quality. We can now monitor the production lines from anywhere and pinpoint issues quickly. That allows production to continue smoothly and efficiently, and ensures supply chain speed and reliability. We also installed the newest and most advanced fabrication equipment in the industry. It can build a steel refrigerator case in seconds.
ASSEMBLY: Has the use of automation in the plant increased?
Dighton: Robotics and automated guided vehicles (AGVs) were a focus for our 2020 investment. AGVs help us move materials throughout our plant efficiently, and improve safety and ergonomics for our team. We also invested in new robotics. More than 50 robots perform heavy lifting operations, repetitive tasks and other precise or ergonomically challenging jobs.
ASSEMBLY: How has material handling and parts flow changed at the Decatur plant since 2019?
Dighton: We have relocated material storage to optimize the paths for our AGVs and we are adding a fleet of autonomous mobile robots (AMRs) to handle waste associated with smaller parts.
ASSEMBLY: Have you installed any new types of Industry 4.0 tools and production technology in the plant?
Dighton: We use additive manufacturing for both prototyping concepts and to make replacement parts for equipment. We have also continued to invest in technology, from mobile robotics to digital scanning technology that detects a difference in tools.
ASSEMBLY: How is the plant raising the bar when it comes to continuous improvement?
Dighton: We continue to focus on implementing new technologies like AI throughout our business to unlock innovation, improve product quality and tackle challenges. Our team installed an array of cameras on the assembly line that use AI to detect variations or quality issues in liners, harnesses and other components before cases enter the foam room. This project is positively impacting product quality and reducing waste. Our team has also implemented a process to reduce manufacturing waste even further. We were already grinding and melting plastic scrap to put it back into our operations. That process produces some dust, so our team has not found a way to capture the dust, turn it into pellets and add it back to the process. We are truly maximizing our scrap.
ASSEMBLY: What type of initiatives are you currently working on to improve productivity, quality and throughput?
Dighton: We continue to explore how we can leverage technology to make our operations safer, better and more efficient—from implementing digital scanning technology to using AI and machine learning. But, we stay true to our adherence to lean manufacturing practices. For example, right now, our team is vitalizing some of our older equipment to make it more efficient and easier to work on.
ASSEMBLY: Have any lessons learned at the Decatur plant recently been applied to other GE Appliances facilities?
Dighton: There have been a few, specifically as it relates to leveraging technology for efficiency. We are currently working on hands-free delivery of parts using our AMRs and our Oracle system for cycle counting.
Click here to learn more about the Assembly Plant of the Year award or to nominate a facility for 2024 (the deadline is May 1).
