He took us on a high speed tour of the area on our way to the restaurant we ate at while at the same time demonstrating the abilities of the RX-8. We arrived at a small but very nice Italian restaurant and sat down to discuss the smart.
Keshyathree is a long time employee of smart, that has been with them since the beginning. He works on making sure that quality is strictly followed by suppliers and his job requires him to inspect the quality of the parts manufactured by original suppliers. His job is to make sure that all the parts are made to the highest standards with quality and safety in mind.
He spoke of how the goal of smart was not to make a cheap car, but to make a small city car with all the luxury of a limousine.
Over lunch we spoke of all the challenges faced with manufacturing an automobile such as meeting the needs of all the different markets. For example, in Spain it is illegal to manufacture cars requiring a radio transmitter remote control; it must be done by infrared red, some sort of a new requirement as a result of terrorism in Europe. He said smart was very happy with US sales, but it was difficult to bring the car to the market. There were more modifications to be made for the USA car than for the changed necessary to bring the car into the UK market which meant moving the steering wheel to the other side of the car. They were required to have at least one dealer in each state in addition to meeting all the USA standards.
The largest market has traditionally been Germany, averaging about 20% of smart sales, but at this moment, the biggest market is Italy.
He said that the US is becoming a big market for the car, but the problem will be to keep up with demand. He said they delivered between January and July of 2008, over 19,000 cars, but during this same time period, they had more than 30,000 orders. So the question gets to be, what can you do to meet the demand.
There has been talk of increasing production. They basically have three options in doing this, build a new factory, expand the current facility, or increase production at the current plant. Problem is, they cannot go to 24 hour a day production, as there are many machines at the plant that need to be recalibrated and verified while production is not taking place. At this time they have only two shifts operating producing about 600 cars a day. So a car drives out of the plant about every 1.5 minutes. It takes about 3 hours to completely assemble the car.
Last edited by 2smartArizona; 11-02-2008 at 10:26 AM.
We entered the plant going through a security post where Thorsten and I left our passports and got name tags.
Union members passed out some political information to us as we entered. Unfortunately, I had to leave the Nikon behind too. I would have blown out the camera in there anyway. It is truly unfortunate that I cannot share my own pictures of what goes on in there, but this will just contribute to the great mystery of what goes on in a factory. We will have to rely mostly on the press photos given to me in a press kit by Keshyathree such as the top one in this post. The others are still mine.
All the signs have the symbol of the four elements, wind , water, fire, earth....and so the factory is divided in that way too.
That is the security post where it says Porte 1.
Last edited by 2smartArizona; 11-02-2008 at 10:17 AM.
Great story, we love Europe in the fall, being from LA and Tucson we never get to see a real fall unless we go over there. Our favorite is Lombardy and Veneto when the leaves change, it's a bit too cold for us north the alps by then.
BTW are you on the yahoo /2 list? I have just joined since I have started to re do my R50/68 hybrid in our Tucson place. Small world..... If you see a yellow and black cabrio up on the northeast side honk and wave! Maybe we can get some pizza @ Zona 78 and compare notes?
Great story, we love Europe in the fall, being from LA and Tucson we never get to see a real fall unless we go over there. Our favorite is Lombardy and Veneto when the leaves change, it's a bit too cold for us north the alps by then.
BTW are you on the yahoo /2 list? I have just joined since I have started to re do my R50/68 hybrid in our Tucson place. Small world..... If you see a yellow and black cabrio up on the northeast side honk and wave! Maybe we can get some pizza @ Zona 78 and compare notes?
Nope, not on the /2 list, but I will keep a look out for you, and my car BTW is going to be a Rally Red Cabrio, being made on November 10,, too bad a I was a couple weeks off on my visit. I would have loved to have been there when my car was being made.
I'll try and get this done soon too though.....thought it would have more action...but not too many people on the forum here I guess compared to ADVrider.
Wonderful story and photos. I was really hoping to see photos of the actual manufacturing process, but I understand their reasons for restrictions. Looks like you had an awesome trip!
Wonderful story and photos. I was really hoping to see photos of the actual manufacturing process, but I understand their reasons for restrictions. Looks like you had an awesome trip!
I do have some press photos I will include when I get to that part, but not nearly as much as I wish I could show you. I can tell you this though...it is an amazing place and a most incredible experience to see them made.
Last edited by 2smartArizona; 11-02-2008 at 07:14 PM.
Did you get to see the new "Rally Red" panels? Are they red red ?
Terrible to say, but I did not get a good look at the red panels. I saw not one set inside, and when I got outside, I could not get up close to one. Apparently, as red is one of the oldest colors offered, it is also one of the least popular. Here's the proof.
Currently they have two shifts working with a total of about 830 employees. Their partner suppliers also have about that many workers employed in the surrounding buildings. The employees have flexible time accounts which allow them to work more or less hours as needed. During my time inside the plant, I thought that the working conditions looked pretty good. There were no unusual smells or odors or any toxic smelling stuff around. The employees didn’t appear to be distressed or suffering from any signs of overwork. Music was playing, providing some diversion for them. I was pleased to hear the music too. French music. It brought me great pleasure to know that my car would be born with the sound of Voyage, Voyage by Desireless or a little Jean-Jacques Goldman playing in the background. Of course I consider the smart a French car because it is made in France and I love France. I am the only one I guess because even everyone I meet in France considers the car German. The working language of the factory is French though, although there are a few German employees, and of course all final decisions are made by the Germans at Mercedes-Benz.
They operate in two rotating shifts with a third shift performing maintenance. About 20% of the employees were women.
While in the plant, we got to see nearly every aspect of the production with the exception of the installation of the dashboard and the steering column.
The first thing my eyes were drawn to as we entered the main part of the factory were the tridion safety cells entering from above. They arrive completed and ready to go from supplier Magna Steyr. This company is well known for their automotive knowledge in Europe. I remember years ago you could buy a Chrysler Voyageur diesel in France that was assembled by them, and today you can see there handiwork right here in the USA today. They are the company that assembles all the X3 BMW’s here, as well as the E-Class 4Matic. They developed the 4Matic all wheel drive system and assemble all E-Class 4Matics.
Some photos are from the internet.
tridions being produced....
Powder Coating of the Tridion Safety Cell...
Then drying under the lights...
Completed cells are carried on these yellow racks to the assembly area.
The tridion safety cells travel into the plant and then enter one of the four wings of the plant to have the cockpit installed. This was the one part of the assembly that I did not get to see. The tridion safety cells entered, and then came back toward the center of the plant with the complete dash board, steering column and wiring harnesses installed
There are more than 5000 different possibilities when assembling the dashboard as there are different models, countries of destination (left or right hand drive) and options ordered. This job is completed by Continental. They are more than just a tire company now. Continental AG took over Siemens VDO last December, and now they do the entire cockpit for smart. The completed unit exited the Continental wing of the plant above our heads and then headed to the next wing.
Last edited by 2smartArizona; 11-04-2008 at 11:46 PM.
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