Car manufacturing

[myglaren]

Just been watching this - it is like magic



Apologies fro BMW content

[NewcastleFalcon]

Yes, your thread title Steve allows this to be bang on topic, and a revival from the archives.

Now only the most determined will be able to watch the whole lot of this, and overcome the narration which is totally in French, so the link just jumps to a point in the film where there is a bit of molten metal, and casting of cylinder blocks, all in the same factory, not arriving sanitised and "just in time" from half the globe away!

Yes this is how the french used to do it at "L'USINE PEUGEOT DE SOCHAUX EN 1954"

This film makes you appreciate just what it takes to construct a car. I can't imaging Nissan at Sunderland or Tesla in the US having an on-site foundry, with molten metal all over the place. I liked the forging of the con rods, and the casting of the engine blocks, with the team of workers with the minimal protective clothing, with a nice touch being the "Skimmer" pushing back the crud as his workmate poured the metal into the mould.

This is the bit of the film I mean, if you haven't watched the entire film. Berets seemed compulsory when dealing with hot metal!

https://youtu.be/atP0kFM-Xko?t=613

and the end product this the Peugeot 403

regards Neil

[white exec]

re: the BMW
Wow!
Surprised to see the bits being done manually...
ABB doing well on the robotics.
And Michelin tyres!
Fascinating.

[Gibbo2286]

Those 'workers' can't be found sleeping under the bench on the night shift or sitting in the lavvy for half an hour reading the Daily Mirror or gathering out in the car park with hands in the air shouting "One out all out!"

[white exec]

Also missing from the are the guys with the hammers 'aligning' doors and body panels, a common sight on Leyland assembly lines. BMW seem to do it with a polishing cloth!

Did like the robotic tack-gluing of the body shell parts, and the robot arm that opened a door before spraying inside. We had a tom cat that used to do that . . .

[GiveMeABreak]

All tin foil and plastic these days and I notice how thin the 'foil' is from the wobbling at the beginning of the video - it's like tissue paper. So glad to see that BMW is no different in that video - I see they have a few token pensioners kept on for feeling the cars at 7:36 - nothing too taxing!

But as this is a French Car Forum, I'm putting up some video links to the C5 X7 production. The Rennes factory where they were all made of course, which might be of more interest to X7 owners. Bear in mind this would be 11 years ago now....

At least here you can see Madame Meunier with drill in hand giving it her all! But she does get a de-merit mark, as she obviously did not check my alloys properly for 'bubbling'.
.
I haven't yet managed to locate the individual responsible for the diabolical steering racks they fitted yet, but still searching....

Part 1



Part 2



Part 3