Everyone had a great day out and the at evening before was a good pub evening meal with plenty of crack together with some good food and drink :wink:
Here are some pics:-




From nearest to farthest:-
Dougs detailed 2.5 SE X type,Mine,Daytonas 3.0 estate,Allan Lowes 3.0 estate,Phil's X Type,Erics (from the JEC) XJR....

Inside the reception at Halewood was the only place at the factory we could use our cameras





Briefly,after the photo, we donned our Hi-Viz jackets and earpieces for the tour commentary and were given safety glasses.The factory which used to make Ford Escorts is on a 356 acre site with over 2 miles of conveyors transporting parts and partly built cars to specific areas at specific times with the help of barcodes on every car.On the day of the visit the X Type production had been ramped up to 4:1 (4 Land Rover Freelanders to each X type) as the month before it had been 12:1.Every now and again I was sure I could hear kiddies nursery rhyme music.Turned out that each area has its own music which sounds if there is a problem that needs to be addressed quickly.
All X types are made to order (no batch production of say one colour or another).
The tour started in the Press Shop where the panels are pressed are gigantic presses weighing 100s of tons.
The next area was the body assembly area which again is mostly automated (especially with Kawasaki robots) with robots lifting panels applying sealants,welding panels,etc.Testing is paramount and includes non destructive testing (eg placing gel onto a weld which can determine quality from the density if I remember).The next area is the paint shop where we werent allowed (Health and Safety).The next area is the trim and final area.Here I saw the X Type body being mated up with its 2.2 Diesel Automatic engine and chassis.Once all assembled cars go for programming depending on where in the world they are going to and other tests including running the cars in a sound booth and water testing.
Also beside the factory are some suppliers including Johnsons Controls for the seats,Pirelli for the tyres, etc.

 

Fantastic snaps! Looks like you had great fun! I wonder when all will be finalized regarding the India move?

NV

 

Nice write up as always Buck c/w some great pics too
K, c'mon give???............How'd you get the ariel shot?
Nice to see 6 Jags all lined up too


Jim

 

It's like you're viewing one of the most beautiful scenes in the world

 

When you said the X-type factory I was expecting this

 

Wait, that's next year [8D]

 

That looked like a great day...wish we had something like that over here! I wonder what is involved with the 'water testing'! lol

I appreciate taking pictures for us to see and describing the day. I feel like I was there...in spirit.

 

I used to workfor Daimler Chrysler at a localassembly plant and they had the same musical themeonce arip chord was tugged on. If justpulled briefly the music would play and alert team leaders and management. Ifit stayed pulled the line would stop and EVERYONE would come running!!

I was just reading in my recent PCAPorsche club magazine on how evenuntil the 1990's Porsche stillwheeled on hand pushed carts the cars around to different work stations for a team ofcraftsmen to work.They had an assembly line of sorts butit would stop and start.It was not until theearly 1990's whenthey sought consultation from Toyota and started to employ Just-in-Time logisiticshence streamlining inventory andusing automated assembly linepractices. Back in the late 1970's Porsche could make 65 Porsche 911's on a 'good' day.

Here are some pics of their Zuffenhausen plant in 1977.

[IMG]local://upfiles/2536/C990A25F28DB48FCB67EE5E6090DABB6.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG]local://upfiles/2536/94BB5175A6BA4B2B90ADFE4C078050FD.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG]local://upfiles/2536/FBDCCB2B0B01431C97C1B449F33B184E.jpg[/IMG]

 

more pics

[IMG]local://upfiles/2536/76429B0D29CB41E6A77975B7FE7EEDAB.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG]local://upfiles/2536/475704691A754873AFAAFAE5B766A62A.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG]local://upfiles/2536/835C32DF140C40548AE707D652B87DD7.jpg[/IMG]

 

This made me laugh!

Do we really know when the last x will be made though? I heard they probably will continue through 2010 to sell in canada and in europe? Could be wrong though...

 

I wonder what the replacment For the Xtype will be.

Hey buck,

Thank you for sharing all the picks and the play-by-play. I wish i could have went there with you, i would five finger dicount some parts