Mexico’s Vilpac truck company uses a CIM implementation to become a world class manufacturer

Mexican and U.S. firms and universities are working together to turn a Mexican-U.S.A. truck company, Vilpac, into a world class manufacturing firm. A systems integrated enterprise and manufacturing architecture is enabling the firm to successfully manufacture and sell trucks meeting international standards. The company has increased production by 260 percent, reduced fixed total costs by 26 percent, and increased net profits by 70 percent within 18 months. An IDEF functional model helped Vilpac to identify simplification opportunities. The firm launched three long-term, five medium-term, and 19 short-term projects of high strategic impact. A SIMNET II computer simulation model of the entire fabrication process monitors the load of over 95 machines and follows the work in process of over 1,900 parts. It works under push or pull control environments and predicts daily production accurately. It permits the testing of manufacturing configurations and is being used to design a new plant based on group technology and cell concepts.