When you click on links to various merchants on this site and make a purchase, this can result in this site earning a commission. Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to, the eBay Partner Network.
I was pondering just how big the C2 Assembly line was. I am ex service who worked in ship building in my latter years so am somewhat familiar with Schedules composed of tasks that lead to specific milestones.
Logistically its not difficult to comprehend how an assembly line is accomplished from start to finish but most people see this as a "one of" function with magic happening elsewhere. IE, frame done, engine transmission put in, and concentration on one vehicle from start to finish occurs, whereas the magic is how you get the engine, transmission there "just in time" etc.
I always wondered what the engine shop looked like? Not the side view pictures you see but the overhead of where the heads were received, crank turned etc etc What did the test facility looked like and most importantly what happened to the engine that would not start? Was the engine started before it went into the car? Where did the car go, if it would not start later? When you see the number of cars they produced per day visions of a cattle ranch appear with a herd of good cattle sitting in the parking lot and various deficiency cattle scattered elsewhere. Must have been organized chaos at best
I doubt if anyone will be able to give us the dimensions of building but using data from the print of the St Louis plant, I think I can get an estimate of the size. I'll work on this. It's interesting that all of the components, frame, engine and body were numbered at the beginning of each items start down their individual lines. (called a job number) When each component met, the same job number would match the other components.
Don’t know about GM/Corvette, but in 67 I toured the Ford Hapeville (Atlanta) plant. Cars that did not start near the final dyno test were pushed out the door to a repair lot. The line did not stop.
I doubt if anyone will be able to give us the dimensions of building but using data from the print of the St Louis plant, I think I can get an estimate of the size. I'll work on this. It's interesting that all of the components, frame, engine and body were numbered at the beginning of each items start down their individual lines. (called a job number) When each component met, the same job number would match the other components.
So, if for instance a 300HP was built I would presume the F code + Date +RD or whatever it was , was stamped on it.
Then when it entered the car assembly building and was placed on the frame, it got the VIN Code stamped
But what I was getting at, was the build of the engine, was it started before leaving the plant? If so, you have build time, then move the jig to the startup facility and run in the engine because they would have to break in the cam, or was that done when the car left the assembly line?
What if it didn't start? With this many engines produced per day, still think each one of these sections or plants must have been cattle yards within themselves because there were no computers, just pieces of paper or tags attached to each unit.
So, if for instance a 300HP was built I would presume the F code + Date +RD or whatever it was , was stamped on it.
Then when it entered the car assembly building and was placed on the frame, it got the VIN Code stamped
But what I was getting at, was the build of the engine, was it started before leaving the plant? If so, you have build time, then move the jig to the startup facility and run in the engine because they would have to break in the cam, or was that done when the car left the assembly line?
What if it didn't start? With this many engines produced per day, still think each one of these sections or plants must have been cattle yards within themselves because there were no computers, just pieces of paper or tags attached to each unit.
John Hinckley would be able to answer that because he was at the Flint engine plant for a while. I think the engines were test fired at Flint using natural gas so that would pretty much (but not completely) eliminate no start engine issues at the Corvette plant. When engines left the Flint plant, the engine code would be hand written (or labeled) on the end of a cylinder head (or valve cover) so St Louis plant workers knew what each engine was. The engine code and assy date would also have been stamped on the ID pad. The partial VIN would be stamped as the engine traveled down the engine dress line at the St Louis plane. There were big racks of engines inside the STL plant and they would be picked off the rack and hung on the engine dress line in a specific order that matched the job number of the other components coming together from other lines.
Last edited by Critter1; Apr 27, 2020 at 11:26 PM.
I think John has enumerated the process more than once:
Not the process I am pondering. I have read this before. What I meant by terms like "one of" and magic is an assembly line is a line of ready components. When GM wants to put a bumper on a car, they reach over and grab a bumper. The logistical cattle yard is not the assembly line, its the buildings and plants that support the line. Its why the actual line is composed of robots now. It was seen early on that "Paul the bumper guy did the same thing over and over again and did it the same way. There are parts of tasks within a milestone that are also robotic but most of the support tasks is where the organized chaos is felt.
The best way to explain it, is the bumper guy reached into a box and brought out the appropriate bolt to secure the bumper. His job was likely not to ensure the bolt bin was filled. Just notification it was getting low. The person filling the bin got the bolts from Person B who had an inventory of Bolts. That person got those bolts from Person C who was in shipping and receiving. No where in that scenario does the company that built the bolts play a part in the construction of the car, until, there are no bolts. So my ponderance is the logistical support from the many manufacturers who provided their product and the organized chaos within those companies, divisions, etc , and, without one computer managed to make it all work. I think it was amazing. Its a wonder there were very few assembly line shutdowns.
So my ponderance is the logistical support from the many manufacturers who provided their product and the organized chaos within those companies, divisions, etc , and, without one computer managed to make it all work. I think it was amazing. Its a wonder there were very few assembly line shutdowns.
I don't know about the term "organized chaos".
Material on hand used to be counted frequently. More frequently as balance out time approached for model change. Often, the material on hand was padded as a float to prevent shortages and shutdowns due to lack of material. Sometimes, the count or records were not accurate and parts had to be air freighted in at a premium shipping cost penalty.
Not a Corvette plant but the plant I worked at balanced out the 1978 model and had 5000 cars in the yard needing parts while we started building the 1979 model.
All of our engines were run on a hot test stand at the engine assembly plant before being installed in built vehicles at our assembly plant. There are many reasons a new car won't start at the end of the line. A defective engine (which was rare) was only one of them. The ones that didn't start were pushed to the side. A repairman fixed the problem and the car was on it's way.
Stop the line back then and you could look for another job or a cut in rank/pay.
Today, most all vendor plants ship parts to assembly on "just in time" schedules. Some things like tire mounting/balancing, seats and fully assembled instrument panels are built to schedule in another facility, sometimes 30-40 miles away and arrive just in time to get in the scheduled build rotation.
Sounds like your question could be best answered by studying how Henry operatied the Rouge Plant 100 years ago. Raw materials for a whole car in the back door and built cars out the front door. All self contained.
Its a wonder there were very few assembly line shutdowns.
There were plenty of shutdowns at St Louis not related to logistics. It was a very militant plant and wildcat strikes happened. My 67 built in October 1966 was built during a strike.
This book has some good info too. Normal disclaimer I'm not related to the book at all....
Reading thru old messages and the comments about bolts for bumpers reminded me of how we managed parts that were ordered from suppliers. One thing that outside observes do not know is that we had annual and periodic part number & component inventory audits. Most of the time when the line was not running of course. Weekends, holidays or the long model changes back then. This was all done by hand count. Fasteners we would weigh part bins to determine quantity. With Corvette it was more critical than with high volume assembly lines. With the low jobs per hour and limited builds for the Corvette many suppliers could manufacture our components for the whole year in a short time cycle. Educated guesses on scrap, reworks in the plants were common. Remember many of the components were made by numerous GM divisions. AC, Delco, Packard electric, Inland Fischer Guide, Powertrain engines & trans, on and on.
St. Louis was a truly militant plant compared to many others. Yes, there were strikes, local & national. Labor issues were there. As a supervisor which I was for years was definitely a daily challenge. Many days it was like a football player banging his head against a locker prior to starting the game and hitting the field. Sometimes I felt like banging my head against the office door before hitting the floor. Absenteeism, employee job restrictions, plant conditions, on and on. Day shift vs night shift was big. Who left the other shift guy in the hole. Hunting season with many wanting off, holidays with people wanting off, A book could be written on just the daily life in the Corvette plant. Corvette was so much different than the high-volume passenger 57 jph. and truck line 36 jph. Corvette with approx. 6 jph. made jobs very long cycle and complex to perform. If someone was absent which was daily, you may have to replace that person with 2 or 3 people because they did not always know the job. Hopefully the inspectors would catch errors going down the line. Yes, we had ARO, absentee replacement operators, made it difficult to control product quality. Life in the Corvette plant.
Before robots were used in the assembly plant we called them articulating arms, or assists. Welders, paint sprayers, on and on were reliant on a person to control. There was some technology like conveyors with limit switches. It also took some highly intelligent engineers to calculate the line rates and supporting lines that mated up to the main conveyor line.
Assembly line throughput
