Nancy and I spent three weeks in
the UK last month. One of the highlights was a day trip we made from
London to the Home of the Legend in Solihull for a factory tour. Here is
a write-up of the experience.
Wednesday, April 25. We took the train from London to Birmingham
International Airport and then a taxi to the Land Rover Experience
facility. We arrived early and were treated to lattes and cookies while
we browsed the gift shop. I was a little disappointed in the selection
and variety of merchandise available but I wound up with a new polar
fleece jacket anyway.
At 13:00 our our tour guide, Malcom, met us and we had a chance to chat
for a bit and get acquainted. Malcom was a long term Land Rover
employee. He started with the company when he was 16 and retired as a
senior design engineer only a couple years ago. He comes back two days a
week now to give tours through the plant and driving experiences around
their test tracks. After a short while, we were prepped for our trip to
the factory floor. We weren't allowed to take anything with us. We also
donned smocks and covered all jewelery and watches with protective
coverings to guard against damaging one of the new vehicles. We were
issued protective eye wear and ear plugs. This was going to be an up
close and personal tour! I should mention that Nancy and I were the only
guests on the tour schedule this afternoon making it even more
personalized. Usually the group size is eight or so.
Properly outfitted, we piled into a new Discovery 3 TDV6 for the short
drive to our first stop. The plant at Solihull produces all Land Rover
vehicles except for the new Freelander 2. Your new Land Rover starts
life as a stack of flat sheets of steel and aluminum and comes out the
other end a few days later the gleaming beauty that it is. In those few
days it goes through four different plant facilities: body panel
manufacture, body assembly, paint and final assembly. Our first stop was
the stamping facility which makes all the body panels for all the models
built in Solihull.
The body panel facility consists of a large single building containing a
huge five stage sheet metal press which was installed during the time
BMW owned Land Rover. It is a fully automated machine into which flows
flat sheet metal cut to the appropriate size and shape and out of which
flows the completed body panels ready for welding. There about 350
different body panel parts that go into a current Range Rover. The press
operated on a three shift basis and turns out all the panels for all the
models needed for one day's production. It's a noisy place even with the
ear plugs in! This is also where the first quality control inspections
are done. Panels are randomly selected for inspection for alignment,
surface finish and other quality indicators. Minor adjustments to the
press can be made on the fly or if a problem develops with one of the
dies, the system is shut down and corrective action taken immediately.
All non-conforming parts as well as scrap from the process is recycled
to the metal supplier.
Our next stop was the body assembly facility for Discovery 3 and Range
Rover Sport which share many of the same body panel stampings. This
building contained two complete assembly lines consisting of a large
number of robotic spot welders which while they are operating look like
a bunch of T-Rex monsters munching on an unfortunate mastodon. Much of
the assembly line is automated but there are still technicians who
handle the placement of smaller body parts prior to welding. The floor
pans are built up first and then the sides and tops are built up and
welded on. The interesting thing was that both models are produced at
the same time on the same line. Therefore we saw a couple of Discos
followed by a Sport and then more Discos, Sports, etc. It's all done to
the master work schedule for the day. There were quality checks included
all along the assembly line. The bodies are measured using lasers at
several stages. A record is kept of the pedigree of each car so
engineers can trace backwards to the body panel production lot if a
quality problem is encountered. They also test the quality of the spot
welds with acoustic methods as well as using destructive testing on a
sample basis. The end result of this line is a car body, complete with
doors, ready for the paint facility which we didn't tour.
Our last stop was at the Range Rover and Defender final assembly
building. It is located in the original building at the Solihull plant
built in 1937. We toured in detail the Range Rover final line where we
saw the bodies coming in from the paint facility being loaded with
seats, headliner, electronics, glass, carpets, etc, etc. The doors which
come with the chassis from the paint shop are separated and go through
their own assembly line and then meet up with their vehicle later down
the line. Finally the completed body is mated with the drive train,
fluids are added, a complete electronic system check done and then they
are started for the first time. Then a few more running checks are made
including the squeak check where the car is run over a washboard strip.
At the end of the line the cars are moved out quickly to a staging area
and then on to their final destinations.
The factory tour was a fascinating three hour experience. I came away
with the feeling that Land Rover is doing things right and that they
have a bright future. For Home of the Legend information and tour
booking check out:
http://www.landrover.com/experien/en/Experience/Adventure_Days/HOTL.htm
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