The economic results from this system have been wonderful, as will be shown in some of the departments yet to be described. It saves floor space, and eliminates congestion due to trucking, as large quantities of material are piled along each side of the conveyor, and the unit in process of assembling is moved to the stock, rather than each individual piece of the assembly being distributed at different places.
After the rear axle has been completely assembled, it is immersed in a tank containing enamel, and is hung on a special trolley which runs by gravity along an I-beam track. This trolley carries the axle to an elevator, which lifts it to a conveyor baking oven, located in a section of the roof. The axles are continually moving through this oven, and at the expiration of about forty-five minutes emerge from the far end completely baked. They are automatically dropped onto another elevator which lowers them to the point near where they are used in the final assembly. All material and unit assemblies move in one direction—that is, toward the final assembly.
Motor Assembly
Beyond the rear axle section is the department that makes the magnets for the magneto, and also that in which the transmission is assembled on a conveyor track, ending in an automatic elevator which transports the completed transmission to the motor assembly line.
In the rear of the transmission department is the motor assembly. This assembly begins at the point where the cylinder machine shop ends, so that the movement of the cylinder from the time it arrives in the machine shop until it goes into the finished motor, is continuous. In the machining of the cylinder castings, and the operation of assembling the motor, close inspection of the work is noticeable. By the use of the assembling line, better inspection is possible, than where one or two men assemble the entire motor. In addition to the inspection in the assembly, there are three points of trial, or working or testing, which show up any defects in the motor.
The final operation in the motor assembly line is the block test, where the motor is inspected and tested before being assembled into the chassis. On the block test, the motor is driven by an electric motor for the final O. K. and tryout before being installed in this chassis.
At the end of this testing period, if no defect has developed, the motor is approved, placed upon a special truck and wheeled to the final assembling line.
The motor department just described furnishes an interesting illustration of the economy of the moving assembling system. Before the present system was installed about 1,100 employees were required in this department, working a nine-hour day to build 1,000 motors. Today, as a direct result of the new methods of assembling, and the efficiency gained through the profit-sharing with employees, about 1,000 men are assembling more than 2,000 motors in an eight-hour day.
The assembling of the front axle, dash and radiator are fully as interesting as the unit just described, but space will not permit a detailed explanation of them.