when the cars came down the line were they built in batches? in ohter words did they have so many red cars then so many green cars ect.. with diffrent optional equipment of course. in regards to tires how did they run did they have all diffent ones coming at the same time say a black wall then RWL then WS are were some of them in a batch where you had a groupe of balck wall then RWL? I know they had a build sheet but did they waite untill they had so many of the same then build them?
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Re: on the line
The 'line' is a mental misnomer. There were a plurality of feeder lines (power train, chassis, body) that produced discrete major sub-assy items. For example: receive an engine from, say, Flint, add the final assy components (carb, fuel pump, starter, alternator, Etc.) and mate it with its final job specific transmission from Muncie, Saginaw, Etc.
Once feeder line major subassy component were ready to go, they were 'hung' on the conveyer system of the final assy line, sequenced to come together at the right time/right place for workers to assemble completed vehicles, each built to match the specifics of that job's configuration/build sheet.
The decision regarding 'batching' certain jobs, like bodies through paint, WAS done based on Time & Motion industrial engineering study to achieve lowest cost and highest flow rate. But, these decisions were more likely at the sub-assy or 'feeder' line level than at the final assy level.
Touring an automotive final assy facility is a marvel in automation. You'll see both overhead and underground conveyors moving an 'infinite' supply of components in three dimensions at a fixed rate of speed with the parts coming together here/there at various works stations and being assembled onto the target vehicle ('job').
If you keep your eyes open during such a tour, you just might spot a 'stray' door, hood, Etc. sitting along the way that NOT a part of the rest of the pre-fixtured moving sub-assy components. The novice will leap to the conclusion these are 'oops' parts... But, spend a long enough time there (it usually happens on 2nd or 3rd shift when plant tours are inactive and the plant is closed to the public) and you'll observe a chassis rolling down the line the the companion conveyer for door, hood, Etc. EMPTY and assy folks grabbing that 'extra' part that was sitting/waiting...
You'd be watching the assy of a prototye for next year's product offering! The final line hasn't yet been 'tooled' to handle the new build, but with enough design stability, pre-production cars CAN be assembled on the final line (instead of by hand in engineering) with individual parts manually staged... -
Re: on the line
Lyndon,
Actually, the exact opposite was true. The cars were built in no particular batch or color/equipment group. The build was totally random as far as equipment or options. Basically, the builds were in the order in which they were received at the plant and determined a "buildable combination" at that time. There were, however, many exceptions to this. Material supply/shortage would hold some jobs until some "optional part" was back in service or reinstated. If a car was ordered with a low volume option that happened to be out of stock, such as 4-way flasher in 1966, the order may have been held until the supply of flasher units was available. The line was typically a rainbow of different colored cars.
There were times where several identical cars would run one after another but this was uncommon. I suppose the Shriner cars could have all been one after another, as an example, as they were probably ordered at the same time with the same equipment.
The wheel/tire combinations were assembled as needed. The build sheet that would have been at the wheel/tire area showed the correct combination of wheel and tire for every job and the units were assembled and sent to the line in that exact order.
Some time in the early/mid 60's, the wheel/tire assembly area was moved to a completely different building and the assy's were sent to the line on an overhead conveyor, one by one so they would arrive at the point on the line where they were installed on the car in the exact order for each car.
The communications between the main bldg and the wheel/tire assy bldg had to be exact and accurate so the proper set of wheels/tires arrived at precisely the right time for each car. That was another task for the "job number" that was used throughout the entire assembly.
MichaelComment
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Re: on the line
Mike:
I bet with a lot of separation of the wheel/tire build area and the final line it got real interesting when someone left out a set of tires in the line-up or maybe double hung a set of wheels. Even one tire falling off the line prior to the mounting line could result in at least one tire/wheel in each set being wrong for many sets before it would be caught.Comment
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Re: on the line
Mike -
As you and I were in the same business for most of our lives, you can appreciate the chaos surrounding a wheel/tire sequence screwup. When we were running the Vega at 103 per hour at Lordstown and the overhead roller delivery chutes from the wheel room to the install points on the line jammed up or the monorail hooks automatically dropping the tires into the wheel mount/inflate/balance line jammed up at 550/hour and there were only 25 jobs from wheel install to the point where the car was dropped out of the clamshell carrier on its wheels on the Final Line, the wild scramble to get any kind of wheel on a car before the Final Line (right or wrong) was legendary. My foreman whose area included the Wheel Room referred to it as "Captain Crunch"Comment
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I hear ya' Bro!
That area is where I started as a line supervisor. To keep from shutting the line off (even for a minute) I have been known to run trucks off the two strand conveyor where the wheels/tires were installed and down onto the flattop on the brake drums and then send my hey boy down the line with a jack and put them on, on the fly!
One of them got away from me one day and went right down the line and broke up the 9:00AM tire kick meeting. Got all kinds of good visibility over that one!Comment
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