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Go to germany and help build your new car! With inductive power!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nd5WGLWNllA

I guess so VW.....i guess so.

You gotta admit that plant was pretty cool.

Wow that's amazingly cool, but it's just for Phaetons and I guess if you want to pay that much for a VW you pay for stuff like this...

I found the UAW rants and burns to be quite amusing in the comments.

Hmm i wonder what drives the cost of those cars up?

It's actually not terribly uncommon to pick up a car at the factory in Europe. I've seen a magazine tour of this place before. Very impressive facility. i wouldn't think of it as unnecessary, but as good advertising. A factory like that drives curiosity and picking up a car there would likely give the new owner a sense that they're buying something high quality.

Someone has to pay for the Veyron (VW owns Bugatti)

What is UAW?

United Auto Workers. One of the commenters was also bitching about the mafia control of the IBEW, in case you wondering, that one's the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers. Unions of all kinds like to use warm and friendly socialist terms like brotherhood, fraternity, etc.

You gotta problem wit dat?

*ex teamster*

That is a very artsy form of waste in a manufacturing process. Good for advertising though.



I'd rather go see some of the these parts actually made, not just a car bolted together.

Cool idea, but it doesn't look cost-effective. If I wanted a car like that I'd get the A8 anyway, since it's aluminum.

The robot transporters are interesting. Subaru uses robots to move body panels from the presses to assembly.

I wonder if the restrooms have robots that remove feces from your ass after you drop one?

Welcome to modern manufacturing. Sure it’s all dressed up in hardwood and glass but the processes and technology they are using are the near future for assembly line manufacturing. Things like the moving line, cart of parts, computer control of parts/fasteners and already in uses by many companies Why? Because it saves money. Consistent throughput allows scheduling of “just in time delivery” and reduces capital investment in inventory. And systems that contribute to consistent quality control will improve the bottom line. Any major issue that requires rework of a complex product like a car will likely make it unprofitable, it might be cheaper to scrap it than fix it.

Toyota is working on a system that will allow them to build cars to order and deliver within a week. Imagine you log on to a web site, spec a car with everything your way and have it sitting at your nearest deal in a week. And they will do this with no premium to the customer and no additional cost to the company. In fact they will save money because they will have reduced the time they have to hold the product.

The manufacturing jobs of the future will not be making the parts, they will be designing, building, maintaining and operating the machines that do.


Gary

That's cool! I love the robots that deliver parts! They have their own train too!

I did some assembly line design and found it to be fun. I like seeing how things are built in automated facilities.

In Europe, due to the lack of space for inventory, people usually custom order their car. The manufacturers have been trying for years to get Americans to do the same thing, but people are too instant-gratification here. Too bad, as people would more often get exactly what they want and the savings the car companies and dealers make could either go into better product for the consumer or cheaper costs, and probable better resale value from the reductions in inventory and corresponding incentives.

All_talk wrote:Welcome to modern manufacturing. Sure it’s all dressed up in hardwood and glass but the processes and technology they are using are the near future for assembly line manufacturing. Things like the moving line, cart of parts, computer control of parts/fasteners and already in uses by many companies Why? Because it saves money. Consistent throughput allows scheduling of “just in time delivery” and reduces capital investment in inventory. And systems that contribute to consistent quality control will improve the bottom line. Any major issue that requires rework of a complex product like a car will likely make it unprofitable, it might be cheaper to scrap it than fix it.

Toyota is working on a system that will allow them to build cars to order and deliver within a week. Imagine you log on to a web site, spec a car with everything your way and have it sitting at your nearest deal in a week. And they will do this with no premium to the customer and no additional cost to the company. In fact they will save money because they will have reduced the time they have to hold the product.

The manufacturing jobs of the future will not be making the parts, they will be designing, building, maintaining and operating the machines that do.


Gary

Yes the technology is good, but their example is not a particularly cost effective model. Your comment about the hardwood and glass is mainly what I was getting at. I can see its merits and I definitely know that rework is the worst of the seven (or eight) deadly wastes.

It all depends on application though. Where I'm working right now, this could not apply at all (blown film plastics).


There is still merit in current processes though. A ton of capital can be saved with minor modifications to current processes and technology. Many companies don't have the capital to throw at a complete replacement of their process, and a few modifications can mean significant gains in quality, productivity, and a reduction in inventory.

93forestpearl wrote:
Yes the technology is good, but their example is not a particularly cost effective model. Your comment about the hardwood and glass is mainly what I was getting at. I can see its merits and I definitely know that rework is the worst of the seven (or eight) deadly wastes.

It all depends on application though. Where I'm working right now, this could not apply at all (blown film plastics).


There is still merit in current processes though. A ton of capital can be saved with minor modifications to current processes and technology. Many companies don't have the capital to throw at a complete replacement of their process, and a few modifications can mean significant gains in quality, productivity, and a reduction in inventory.

You are absolutely right, I am a mechanical engineer and have been working in manufacturing for almost 15 years now, for most average size companies its about continual process improvement. At my current job we have all been through the lean manufacturing classes and workshops, but implementing the concepts wholesale is not practical. We have started with a few high volume products and will grow things from there. I think what you are seeing with this VW factory is what you can do when you have the resources to start from the ground up.

Gary

You are forgetting one thing. Yes this plant assembles cars, but that is far from it's primary purpose.

This is advertizing, pure and simple. The Corvette is responsible for many more Camero sales than actual Corvettes. The Ford GT was intended to sell Mustangs. The Glass Factory was engineered to sell Polos, Golfs and Jettas.

Yes, it's pioneering, techy, advanced and all that. Yes, it works. Yep, it's cool. But none of that overides the fact it's no different than any other "halo" project.

Cool. I'm polishing up my Manufacturing Engineering degree, with almost minors in electrical, computer, mechanical, and of course math. We study this stuff a lot. And then a lot more.




I wish we had the capital at my current job (Berry Plastics) to make some improvements. A tight budget basically destroyed a 100hp rotary screw compressor of ours due to a lack of PM with food grade oil and it's short lifespan. Not cool when our process is completely dependent on air and vacuum.


My current project is developing a CMMS (computerized maintenance management system). In two days I've written 2500 lines of database "My fingers hurt...."