Our friends in Ingolstadt

[KAM]

I've noticed a few references in other threads to the elves in Ingolstadt (and other descriptions) so I thought I'd chip in a few pfennigs-worth on the subject itself.

The company I work for supplies equipment to a number of industrial manufacturers including Audi. A couple of years back I was at an internal company meeting in Germany and my colleagues and hosts announced they'd made arrangements with Audi for the entire party of us to have a behind-the-scenes visit to Ingolstadt that evening.

The site is vast. At that time there were about 30,000 employees on that one site! Of course with that population it also had the infrastructure needed to support the workforce: canteens, restaurants, churches, shops, supermarkets etc - it was genuinely Audi-town. The other fact I remember being quoted is the plant area of something like 2.5 million sq.m.

Of course, on that scale we couldn't possible see everything in one visit. Our international group was split in to a number of smaller parties and each one was led off to see various parts of the factory and process. My party was taken to two areas: the press shop , and the final assembly area.

Although a press-shop doesn't sound very dramatic or interesting it was really brilliant to watch flat sheets of mild-steel or aluminium alloy being turned in to door skins or boot lids. Our Audi host was so proud of the serial pressing processes they used. He said that with cheaper cars (non-Audis) manufacturers would often produce a door in a single operation. Flat steel sheet, loaded in to the machine, WHOOOMP!!, the hydraulic press with the former (the mould with the shape and profile) comes thudding down, and hey presto you unload a door from the machine. Next sheet ... and so on.
Audi's view was that trying to impose a shape with several complex 3-D curvatures and ridges on a metal sheet in one operation caused too much stress. Ultimately this would lead to long-term weakness and possibly corrosion points. So to make a door they maybe had 7 presses working on the same sheet one after the other. Each press operation would introduce a new curvature on the previous metal form, and the door had a chance to relax as it was unloaded from one press and loaded in to the next.
Press shops in any industry are traditionally dark grubby dangerous areas. This one was carpeted! Not exactly Axminster, but you get the idea. Cleanliness and precision were emphasised throughout and automatic handling and safety systems were everywhere. Really impressive.

As we walked to the final assembly area (only a couple of km away!) we passed some of the robotic welding stations. Wow that was scary! How about an entire empty A4 body-shell being casually plucked up off a carousel by a robot, turned upside down, a floor pan being held in place by another robot, and the whole thing being pounced on by 6 others welding the floor-pan in to place? And then everyone but the first machine retracts their heads while the finished chassis is ever-so-gently placed on a carriage to transport it to transmission and suspension stations. Then the next body-shell is plucked ...
I'll be honest, watching all this near-silent power made me think that SkyNet is real and happening already!

Final assembly was the human part of the job. I don't think we've yet got robots who can coax wiring loms through door panels, or adjust upholstery, carpeting, roof-linings etc. And the cars by now are nose-to-tail on continuously moving platforms moving past each group of workers on a steady stream. Right from the outset every chassis is tagged with a work-plan and unique RFID identity that travel throughout the plant with it. Every work-station automatically gets a corresponding download of the options to be enabled, fitted, removed etc for that vehicle as it passes their area. Chrome tailpipes? Model badge fitted or absent? And of course you have all the delivery protection skins and padding being added at the end.

So what didn't I see? Oh, engines, transmissions, suspensions, paint-shops, electric assembly etc. But others in our group saw these and we all exchanged news when we re-grouped a few hours later.

Overall it was a really great evening that in no way influenced my decision to select an Audi for myself. Yeah, right! :) :)

[Timothy Nathan]

All my illusions shattered. Robot-elves!:biglaugh:

Thank you for that interesting insight.

It would be interesting to compare with BM, Merc, Volvo, RangeRover and Lexus, and again with the next rank up - Porsche, Ferrari, RR etc.

[MFGF]

I visited the Bentley factory in Crewe a couple of months ago, and the final assembly line there is exactly as you describe at Ingolstadt. Bentley do not manufacture the bodyshells in-house like Audi do, so they basically start with the bare bodyshell and do the rest. They invite new owners to see the point at which their new car is "born" - this is the point on the assembly line where the engine/transaxle and the bodyshell are mated. The guy heading up our tour told us of the time when a very (very) important client from the Middle East had indicated a desire to see their car "born" but had got delayed by bad weather and had missed a connecting flight. The client was so important that they actually stopped the assembly line for a couple of hours to preserve the magic moment for that one car!! The leather and wood shops there are awesome! The hides are checked and marked by hand to denote flawed and/or unusable sections, then a clever robot maps out the remaining space on each hide (between the coloured marks) and figures out how/where to cut the appropriate shapes making best use of the available leather. The attention to detail is exceptional, and the smell is just amazing!!!

MF.

[KAM]

Final assembly was the human part of the job. I didn't mean this was the only spot with humans. This was really just the area with the most apparent absence of automation.
The press shop had humans but they operated semi-automatic equipment for loading and unloading, and helped position the sheets. Then stand well clear!
The welding area was significantly clear of humans. I think for a lot of industry, even with sophisticated sensors and safety systems, the simple recipe is 'humans and robots don't mix well'.

I don't think anything I saw at Ingolstadt was unique - I'd fully expect BMW, Merc etc to be using similar equipment and processes. From what I know of the automotive industry I believe the Hondas, Nissans, Fords and other high-volume makers will usually be the leading-edge of many assembly processes & techniques. They're in a market with much lower margins so shaving every Euro/yen/dollar off manufacturing costs really matters to them.

[Timothy Nathan]

My wife would disagree with me, but I am surprised at the relatively small price differential between, say, a Mondeo and an A6. The Audi was about 1/3 more again than a similarly specced Ford, but the difference in quality and service is much greater.