Car Assembly (Part 1)
Car assembly has change dramatically over the years, but in the early years each car would be virtually hand made as shown below.
Car assembly in
1909.
Then the idea of a assemble
line, where the various components could be attached as the chassis
was moved forward by hand.
Austin '20'
assembly line 1921
In the 1930s progress was
been made to speed up the process of car assembly. but there was no
real mechanisation.
Austin '10'
(centre) assembly line 1935
Although improvements had
been made year on year, the assembly of cars was still, even by the
late 1940s a very manual operation.
Various models
been trimmed
It was in 1948 that Leonard
Lord brought together a small team working under the umbrella of
the factory planning department, whose sole job was to develop all
sorts of new ideas to improve the production processes. One day he
got them all together and said, “this is my vision for the future,
the next generation of cars will not have a chassis, forget what
we’ve done in the past. I want a building with a completely clear
floor and a hole in it for the axles to pop up. Then further along
the engine/gearbox will follow and latter on the body will come
together. There will be different body types saloon, coupe, estate
etc, various engine and gearbox specifications all synchronised
together on the same track”.
So work started on making his vision a reality. A Devon was
stripped down and by looking at its various components, it was
worked out where the components should be place at the stations on
the track.
While this was been worked out, it was the turn of the architects
to design a building that would embraced all the ideas for this new
concept of car production along with a modern appearance.
Artist
impression of the new building
Note that it shows various
buildings in the foreground and a further assemble building in the
top of the picture which mirrored CAB 1. In the end these were not
built as shown, which can be seen in the following
picture.
CAB 1 and CAB 2
1964
In the foreground, left
hand corner is the Design Block which is connected to the
Administration Block, known by the workforce as the Kremlin by a
covered way.
Below is a plan of CAB 1 showing where the Tunnel were and
references to the pictures.
J Baker
Main
Entrance
This is an artist drawing
of the main entrance, what it does not show is that the actual
doors had the flying 'A' on the glass. so was it an after thought.
In the 1990s the doors were replaced. But the original doors were
saved thanks to the works maintenance team, and are now on display
at the Heritage Centre Gaydon.
The site of the Car
Assembly Building was originally a hill, the top of which was
actually in cross-section convex to form a airfield. It was
necessary to level this before building commenced. The ground
varied considerably, from rock in the centre, changing to stiff
clay. sand and made-up ground. So that in some places it was
necessary to pile drive. In all 280,000 tons of rock and earth had
to be removed before work could begin.
Construction
starts on the building in June 1950
View C
. .
.
Note the the depth below
ground level, also you can visualise how wide it is. From the next
two pictures you realise why it need very substantial brick walls
and supporting steelwork for the roof. The tunnel was 20 ft below
ground level and 1,000 ft long.
View
B
Artist sketch
of the construction of the tunnels
View
A
This is a view looking in
the opposite direction of the previous picture. It is really that
steep, as it comes up from the Trentham area.
View
D
You can see from this view
that the building is now taking shape. It shows the other end of
the tunnel which gave access for maintenance personal for the
inspection and repair of the conveyer system along with the cradles
that support the trimmed bodies.
Looking up to 'Q'
Gate
CAB 1 was officially opened
on the 19th July 1951 by the Minister of Supply Mr George Strauss.
He stated at the ceremony, "this week had been a very important one
in the history of British industry, it was a fine tribute to
British craftsmen and to the ability of British designers. It
showed the determination of the Austin Motor Company to remain in
the forefront of technical progress."
The building housed three tracks each 250 yds long with room to
install a fourth track if needed, this never actual happened. Each
track can assemble 150 vehicles each day, about 2,250 cars per
week. These figures are based on production of chassis version cars
A40 Devon & Somerset A70 Hereford & Hampshire. When the
chassis-less car came on the scene production figures increased as
their were less assemble operations.
The press described the building as Austin's ‘Crystal
Palace’
Quote from the Company at the time.
Set amid green lawns and
flower beds the new Austin Car Assembly Building is the antithesis
of the usually accepted notion of a huge factory. lt is constructed
in accordance with the most modern ideas of efficiency, yet has
considerable eye-appeal. and blends into the surrounding
countryside. Its frontal aspect pierced at intervals by loading
decks and massive doors carries little ornamentation except the
words " Austin ol England " which proudly fronts the main office
block and a " Flying A " motif at the one end of the main building.
Some 60,000 sq. lt. of glass all arranged vertically is used in
roof and walls to ensure maximum daylight and this method, together
with natural cross-ventilation and efficient insulation, ensure
warmth in winter and coolness in summer.
(Part 2) Car
Production
We
are now going to follow the process that starts with the making of
the Body to the final assembly in CAB 1
It all starts here where
steel sheets are placed under large presses, the largest of which
can apply a pressure of 1,000 tons. The process only takes a few
seconds to turn a flat sheet of steel into a roof or a wing
etc.
Press Shop West
Works
From here the various
panels are clamped together in specially designed jigs. Then
approximately 800 spots welds joining all the panels together into
a complete body.
Body Assembly
Track West Works
The final process in West
Works is the Rota Dip. Here each body is clamped to a frame which
slowly moves forward, it then connects with a continous chain on
both sides of the Rota Dip and is picked up by the large toothed
wheel which then rotates it along the 500 ft long tunnel. The first
stage removes any grease on the body. Next stage is the phosphate
dip which coats the metal and gives it a protective coating.
Further on the body receives the paint primer which is then baked
hard on passing through ovens.
Rota Dip West
Works
The body is then
transported by lorries over to the South Works to be painted. There
they receive a undercoat, which is rubbed down and prepared for the
final coat. The final coat is then applied before entering gas
fired ovens at 250 F which the brochure of the day said, "to give
the lustrous durable finish familiar to thousands of Austin owners
all over the world."
Paint
Shop
A40 Devon
assembly line in Trentham 1948
After been trimmed the
Bodies are put on the conveyor as shown below which takes them
through the tunnels to CAB. Also engines and axles travel up at the
same time.
Underground
tunnels
Well it all starts here in
the Receiving Deck where components from companies throughout the
UK and also from other parts of the factory arrive to be stored. It
could be a simple washer or exhaust system. The stores holds
components for two days production, which amounts to 750,00 items.
The picture below which was obviously staged as it was actual a
very chaotic and noisy place to be, with stacker trucks darting
around and lorries queuing outside waiting to unload.
Receiving
Deck
Stores
The next stage is that each
car to be built has a list of the major items need. This list will
state the model the variant (saloon-estate etc) is it RHD or LHD
what type of suspension is needed, engine and gearbox specification
etc, etc. So it was very important that the ladies made sure that
the items they placed on the track were correct to the build
requirement.
The first
operation is the lowering of the chassis onto locating jigs that
are part of the moving track.
Further down
items like brake and petrol pipes are clipped to the
chassis.
Here we see the Rear Axles
traveling up the tunnel, to arrive in the assemble area ready to be
lowered on to the track. (as shown in the next
picture)
This is the
station where the rear axles are lowered and bolted to the rear
springs and then attached to the chassis.
Now we see the front
suspension receiving the coil springs which are held in the
compressed state by means of special pneumatic tools. The spring
retaining plates are then bolted up and the spring clamp is
released. At the top of the picture you will see two circular
objects, these are constant spring devices that counter balance the
weight of the pneumatic tools, and so allows them to be lifted out
of the way with no effort when not required. They are used
extensively in production areas even in to-days highly mechanised
production facilities.
Meanwhile the
engine-gearbox allocated for this particular vehicle is winding its
way through the tunnel
Here we see the engine and
gearbox slowly been lowered automatically, as the chassis inches
forward
Air tools are
used extensible to tighten bolts to their correct
torque.
At this point shown below
the complete assembly is attached to slings that will take it
through the electrostatic spray booths. This is where it will
receive a protective paint coating. As the complete chassis
assembly passes through the booth a positive charge of 150,000
volts is applied. The finely atomised paint mist is given a
negative charge so the paint is attracted to the assembly giving a
very even coating. It then continues its journey to the drying
ovens and on to the next stage.
Now emerging from the
drying oven, all the following will receive a measured supply of
lubrication. Engine -Gearbox- Rear Axle. and also the oil
nipples.
Here we see the painted and
timed bodies coming up the main tunnel from Trentham. They then
turn left into a underground marshalling area where the Devon,
Somerset and Hereford are held in sidings ready to be lifted up to
the respective assembly track.
This view taken from the
tunnel floor shows a Devon body starting its final journey to the
track. In the top right corner you can see the Hereford
line.
They then emerge from the
underground storage area and swing over the track. This procedure
happens quite rapidly until the body is within about two foot of
the engine.
The rate of the
descent is now brought down to a crawl as the body is located on
the chassis.
At this point the car is
seated on its own wheels. The chassis mounting points are
tightened, radiators are filled along with the petrol
tank.
Here we see the view of the
three tracks as the cars come to the end of the line, a distance of
600 ft from stores to the end of the track.
CAB
tracks
Final end of
the track
Final checks are made
before the car comes down the decline onto floor level. It then
receives a final polish and inspection before been driven away for
a short test drive and on to the dispatch area which was located at
'Q' gate.
So how is all this
mechanisation controlled
Below is the Control Room
where one man controlled all the automatic functions of the system.
This comprised nearly 16 miles of various conveyers which had the
capacity of transporting 700 tons of components through the
tunnels. If a fault occurred it would immediately show up on the
desk by means of a flashing light.
Control Room
1950s
Here we see the enlarged
Control Room which was located by number one track and gave the
operator a view of the tracks through the window. Note that there
was more information at his disposal through improved electronics,
so if a small fault occurred it was now possible to get round the
problem and keep the tracks going.
A30
comes down the line on number three track,
There we see Herbert Austin
brother Harry Austin at the age of 75 showing the progress that has
been made in Car Design and Production in less than fifty years. On
his left is the A30 4 dr saloon the first Austin produced without a
chassis and announced to the buying public in May 1952. So Leonard
Lord vision in 1948 became in a very short time scale a
reality.
The End