Excellent manufacturing video.
 

Enjoy.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YcJtotektL4

Thank you, dreamwonder.

Looks pretty straightforward for DIYers. :burnrubber:

It looks like they dyno-ed the car toward the end. It would be nice if they left a print out of it in the glove box for the GR models.

They don’t dyno for power it’s part of quality control. That would be a really bad idea to do a pull without it being strapped down lol.

This was AMAZING! I kind of can't believe they let them record that much.

It's interesting that there's no such thing as a slick trunk lid - you have to have at least the small lip.

It's interesting how they have different models coming down the assembly line instead of grouping them by the same model.

They put a digital copy into the instrument cluster :D

I've always dreamed of visiting this assembly line.

And forcing the workers to install a WRX 6MT drivetrain into a Levorg body at gunpoint.

There's a great video on Amazon where James May visits the Mini factory (James May's Build a Car in 24 Hours). It goes into much more detail than this does. For those that don't know, Mini's are primarily built to order, so its amazing watching all the parts coming together at just the right time. It also deals a little with the JIT processing used with vendors, etc. Definitely worth the time to watch.

This^
If you watch closely you will see hat the rollers are spinning the wheels nit the wheels spinning the rollers. They are checking for sensor operation, alignment and basic operation.

I have been in a dozen different assembly plants over the last 30 years and they are all about the same so no secrets to hide. From BMW to Ford they all use the same methods now. In fact the Gunma plant where this was videoed is still pretty old school with a lot of work still done by hand. There were a pile of ergonomic issues in that video that just would not fly today even in the oldest of the North American assembly plants.

All of the major components arrive at the line just as they are needed. As the video shows they have just the right coloured panels at the proper place for the vehicle. This is done by the KANBAN system of having only what you need when and where you need it. Using this system it doesn't matter if the next car is a BRZ, Forester or WRX. This saves valuable line down time that would be needed to change over from one model to the next if the line was tooled just for one model at a time.

I know you are joking but that dream would be impossible. They are assembly workers not mechanics. Many will go their whole career doing one part and wouldn't even know how to do another without training. Any deviations from the norm and they will stand there with a blank look until somebody comes and fixes it for them. Since changing a drivetrain is more than just bolting in different parts you would not have a gun big enough to force them to do anything.

When I was production manager at our facility our purchasing manager at the time used to say things like "you think they stop at Toyota for a hole drilled in the wrong place, they just drill it and go."

I'd just look at him like............


https://i.imgur.com/b0mi55D.jpg

Yep that would be the small shop process.
In any assembly plant if ere is a hole in the wrong place it is going to involve somebody from quality, engineering , purchasing EHS and manufacturing to resolve the issue. Probably more than one person from each actually. In a Union shop it could also involve a Steward because it would mean a change in the job. The actual assembler would have zero say in the matter and most certainly would not be drilling a new hole on their own. Well, at least not after they were caught doing it at any rate.
The structure and hierarchy of assembly plants is very rigid. It is the only way they can stay efficient enough to make money.

Coming from a small company watching videos of large manufacturing is always really impressive. People talk about athletes when discussing efficiency of motion. I think of modern automotive production plants :D

I had the dubious honour of being a lead in building a new sub assembly plant from scratch. It was the front and rear suspension modules for a vehicle that nobody on this forum owns. Pretty much 8:24 to 10:50 in the video. The whole units were prebuilt on an assembly line that was just a mini version of the car one. The planning was intense and actions were measured down to fractions of seconds.

Was pretty much an updated version of the one in this video (on Youtube so I guess is safe to show) but not doing BMW! I spent some time in the plant shown to work out how the new one could be even more efficient. Biggest difference is we went with robotic carts instead of the fixed conveyor shown. We also have more robots handing the assemblies than they have. That plant is actually pretty oldschool.
We do the same "just in sequence" that he talks about. Each unit is built to a specific VIN and goes on that vehicle. It is literally built an hour before it gets bolted on the vehicle. People get this idea that there are big warehouses of parts built and ready to go but almost nothing are sitting around the assembly plants waiting to be put on. Even things such as the nuts and bolts don't show up until the scheduled build.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=75W0jjU_iKg