Order status "Echoes Of Norwood"

[Mike S]

 This is definately a question (trim tag spray) to present to the line workers at next months gathering in Norwood.
It will be great if one of them actually was involved one way or another with this practice to give insight.

Mike

[festival]

Just confirmed that 1967 pilot car #10 will be displayed next month.... It is a factory 283 car.

[JohnZ]

Production output can vary as in the number of cars produced in a given period. Think about it, a batch of heavily RPO'd optioned cars should take more time to complete than lesser RPO option cars. Sure it can run constant as far as maintaining line worker efforts, but the net result will definitely vary as to how may cars per hour are produced even if planning is coordinated in an efficient way. Mike

Nope. Option workload/content/mix didn't affect output - the line ran at 57 per hour, every hour, every shift, with scheduling and manpower adjustments made to accommodate forecast variations. The line only stopped for mechanical breakdowns or emergencies.

 So what you are saying, John, is scheduling was done in such as away as to balance (if that is the right word) cars with different RPO's option levels to spread out across the lines to acheive a fairly constant CPH's per line?

Mike

See Mark's post #40. There was only ONE line on each side - Fisher set up their build schedule based on balancing manpower cycles for their high-content options, and built, painted, trimmed, and shipped the body to Chevrolet. Chevrolet set up their schedule in the body bank, and released units to meet their requirements for balancing manpower cycles; once the unit was released from the Body Bank, it was "locked in sequence" from that point all the way to the end of the Final Line, and the line ran continuously at 57 per hour. Fisher Body and Chevrolet, although they were on the same piece of property, were two separate GM divisions, and only communicated with each other at the Production Manager level; at the hourly worker level, they were two separate worlds.

[Mike S]

 John or Mark,
   What is confusing me is this past post about body banks which gives me a vision of parallel lines with cars coming off each one:  http://www.camaros.org/forum/index.php?topic=7175.0
Maybe I am mixing up line and banks? Are they the same or separate?

Thanks,
Mike

[bergy]

At the St. Louis Assembly Plant, the body bank looked like a series of about 4 parallel lines full of  bodies on fixtured car tops.  Bodies could be moved to the end of their respective line and then transferred sideways over to the conveyor line that allowed them to go through the wall.  The bank was located between Fisher and Chevrolet, but on the Fisher side of the wall. The hole in the wall was about wide enough to fit two cars through it side by side, so you could walk through the opening while a body was coming through.  I worked on the Chevrolet side as a co-op student - looked through the access door many times, but never really worked over on the Fisher side.  So I really don't know how the Fisher/Chevrolet production was coordinated.

[Mike S]

Hi Bergy,

    OK...like Jell-O, this is starting to Jell in my head. I'm looking at the book (page 91) and it matches what you had described. It's getting clearer now.
The parallel banks will release a body onto the conveyor, which is a single line, with the cars now in series for assembly completion?
I wish I were there to see this when it existed.

Thanks,
Mike

[bergy]

I don't have the book Mike (gotta get it).  At St. Louis,  when the bodies got on the Chevrolet side of the wall they were locked in sequence.  Seems like there were sometimes one or two bodies on car tops in the aisle there though - don't know  why or how how they got set aside. 

[festival78]

I really want to see that pilot car!. I was  in Boxborough Mass around maybe 1987 ish.. My buddie was looking for a Camaro and brought me to see this taken apart super rust free green convertible.. It had few options and at the time I thought the wrong motor.... Everything I new at the time from books etc was telling me that the date correct 283 did not belong to the car.. He never bought it.. SOMEBODY is sitting on that car!  I should try to guess what house we went to.. God forbid..

[JohnZ]

Hi Bergy,

    OK...like Jell-O, this is starting to Jell in my head. I'm looking at the book (page 91) and it matches what you had described. It's getting clearer now.
The parallel banks will release a body onto the conveyor, which is a single line, with the cars now in series for assembly completion?
I wish I were there to see this when it existed.

Thanks,
Mike

That's correct - that's how it worked in all of the Fisher/Chevrolet assembly plants - one line on the Fisher side, body schedule bank at Chevrolet, followed by one line through Chevrolet Trim-Chassis-Final to the end of the line.

[VINCE Z28]

I work in production for over 26 years under mangers you would not want your worst enemy working for. So when I heard a Portland, Oregon area chevy dealership received a 69 Camaro with a foul smell coming from inside, and found a half eating sandwich in the door. I can understand some of the things that went on at the GM factories.

[69Z28]

Back then, most managers I was aware of, including my dad, and a gentleman I became fond of after he retired where I used to work, all had what I called, as well as others I grew up with, baseball bat mentalities. Those guys were pretty tough cookies.

[Mike S]

Back then, most managers I was aware of, including my dad, and a gentleman I became fond of after he retired where I used to work, all had what I called, as well as others I grew up with, baseball bat mentalities. Those guys were pretty tough cookies.

  Sounds like people I grew up with from Brooklyn 

[JKZ27]

Picked up a copy here in Frederick this weekend. Thanks Phillip.

[festival]

The 2013 Norwood Gathering Showcase Exposition display was full..but I just had a two car last minute cancellation - so I have two spots that just opened up. PM Me or shoot me an E-mail if you want in. Breaking....Chevrolet (GM) just announced that they are attending!

The line up of cars for the showcase is just fantastic 67-70 Z/28's, and SS cars are well represented.

[ban617]

Pretty interesting reading about how the painting process evolved  ......