Ear on Chicago; Assembly Line

Today, we've taken our microphones into the Ford Assembly plant at a hundred twenty -six hundred south torrents avenue in Chicago. But we're about to witness the only exhibition of automotive assembly in the Chicago area. We'll tour the plant from the time the material arrives until the moment when a finished automobile product leaves the plant. And this is really a tremendous operation. The engine block starts its journey down the motor assembly line, an hour and thirty -eight minutes before it's driven off the end of the final line. It drops onto the chassis seventy minutes before it drives off. And on this final line, which we'll tell you about, which stretches about 1130 feet across near the end of the floor, it takes just eighty -seven minutes to turn the chassis into the finished car which drives off. And then following final inspection, the car is turned over to a dealer and to the eventual customer. So now, let's begin this tour, one of the most modern automotive assembly plants in the nation, the Ford plant on torrents avenue in Chicago. Our

microphone is now set up in what is best described as the nerve center of this tremendous Ford assembly plant. And our guide, as we begin our tour of the plant, will be Mr. Bill Downing of the Industrial Relations Department. Mr. Downing, I think we describe this best as a nerve center, do we not? This is the nerve center of the Chicago assembly plant. As every order received at this plant is transmitted from here to each of eighteen locations throughout the plant. I better describe this room, it's about ten by ten, and one side of it has a battery of color type machines, and the other side are racked with many designations for each slot in the rack colors and types of cars, and so on. Now typical orders are passing through here, are they not Mr. Downing? That is right. Here's a man typing out an order now, perhaps you can tell us what all those numbers mean. Three seven seven is the line up number, the AT is automatic transmission, the motor number is also included, and the figure seven A,

seventy A, designates the body type. I see. And these cards, from which the cut -of -type operator gets this information, are typical IBM cards. They are IBM cards that are received from our sales department, giving us the order of the customer. And these orders come in from an area surrounding Chicago and some others say they have eight separate states in which we supply units. Now getting back to this nerve -setter teletype room, from here, the teletype operator puts down the designations in this number code, and they go out to the various parts of the assembly line, to eighteen separate parts of the assembly plant. What happens, for example, when the teletype operator at the, shall we say, the fender section receives his order? What does he do? He reads the teletype and hangs the right or the correct fender on the line together with the belt rail.

So in other words, everybody is pre -alerted to the type of product, the type of car they're going to be turning out. That is correct. Well suppose we begin our tour of the Ford Assembly Plant, Mr. Donnie, where do you suggest we begin? I would suggest that we start where the parts arrive at the plant. And now we begin our tour, and happily by coincidence, a train is arriving at the receiving section of the Ford Assembly Plant, and Mr. Donnie, what is this train bringing in? This train brings in stock from various vendors throughout the country, and we unload from 50 to 60 box cars, and 65 to 100 trucks daily, about how many different items come into this assembly

plant? We have approximately 5 ,000 different items that come into this assembly plant every day. Now this must be quite a problem to arrange to have all those parts arrive at the right time and the right quantity. That is all controlled by our production control personnel who have forwarding on each and every item, and they are called into the plant as needed. Well now I see this tremendous warehouse over to the right hand side with the tracks on the left hand side. When this train comes to a halt, it will unload, and all of its material will be put of course over on the right hand storage section, I suppose. All cars are spotted as close to our operations as is humanly possible. You can spot a number of cars in the plant. I'm going to count these as they go past about how many can you bring in. There is approximately 31 cars to attract. Well now actually Mr. Donnie there are two assembly lines operating here, are they not? That is right. The body line and the final

assembly line, and of course the two lines operate simultaneously, but for our purposes we will have to take them one at a time, which you suggest we start with. I would suggest that we start at the chassis line. We're at the beginning of the chassis line now, and the weird sounds you're hearing are being made by a weird looking device with a weird name octopus. And Bill Donnie, tell us about this line and the octopus, will you? This is the final passenger frame line, which is the beginning of the final assembly. The octopus positions the front suspension and checks the caster and camber for the front axles and wheels. Now this octopus is a machine with so many different controls, so many different operations what you say it does. This does

approximately 15 separate operations. And each time that you hear that weird humming sound, that means that the front suspension of one chassis has been completed. I notice also that your rear axles are being put on here too. The rear axle is put on. That determines the gear ratio, whether the car is a Fordomatic or a standard transmission. And those springs look familiar. Where they go on these springs, all under, on all the parts under the frame are assembled on this line. As we progress down the line, the frame will be turned over and put on the final line. We're following our chassis along the line, and now what's happening here, Bill? This is what we call the engine deck operation.

You'll notice that the red engines are passenger units and the yellow engines are truck units. They come along the conveyor on a predetermined schedule from our nerve center. I notice that right now a truck chassis is passing us, and interestingly enough a truck engine is ready to be dropped into place. This is all the result of that tremendous pre -planning. That is correct, and it all comes out of our nerve center. Now the man who is dropping those engines into place seems to be a very skilled operator with that hoist. Does he ever miss? I have never known him to miss. He comes close, but has never missed. Well, about how fast is this line moving? The line at the present time is moving approximately 18 feet a minute. There goes the man dropping another engine into place. He has a helper who guides certain sections of it, and there it is, another perfect match. And then up ahead,

the man with various pneumatic tools are, what are they doing, Bill? They are used for tightening up the motor, putting on the drive shaft, putting oil in the unit. We're now not too far from the spot where the two assembly lines join. You'll know as I mentioned, that we start out with a body line and a chassis line. And now in just a few seconds, the chassis will meet the body and will proceed as one assembly line. Shall we go down there, Bill? I suggest that we start in the body line, or the body line actually starts, and then we'll join the two lines. Then we'll join where the body line meets the final assembly. Let's go. We're now at the start of the body assembly line. The sound to hear the background is the sound of three huge pieces of metal already pressed into some preliminary form, and they placed into a link welder machine. What does this tremendous machine do, Bill? This machine

welds the under bottom, or the floor pan to the dash, and forms 147 welds at one time. Well, now after these welds are completed, I notice the complete piece of metal sliding all over to the left. What does it go then? It slides on to the under bottom conveyor and is carried to the framing fixtures, where the sides pop, and wood shield are welded together, and then it is pulled from what we call the back fixture to the front fixture, where the under bottom is welded to the side and the windshield. So now we've actually got the body of the car started, and over on the other line the chassis is pulling along, and very shortly they're going to be joined, huh? That is right. We'll move from here to finish the unit in white to the painting car's parts.

The sounds you were hearing now are the sounds of a number of spray guns in the paint booth at the Ford Assembly plant. And Bill, this looks like a complicated and fast -pooling process, applying the innumerable colors that Americans have come to expect in their motor cars to the cars you're turning out here. What's involved in this process? In this process the sprayers are too toning the units, according to the dealer's order. The units pass through here in blocks, that is we paint so many units the same colors. Then we change colors, and that is all free determined from our nerve center. Of course, color has become as important in the sale of automobile, the purchase of automobile, as it has in the women's hats, actually, that is right. We spray various combinations

of colors according to the dealer's order. Now, I was watching those cars move through that spray booth. This is where the paint is applied, and then there's a drying process, too. After the unit leaves this spray booth, it is put into the oven for drying, that's right for customers here, as if it's a rule that is radiating all this heat. That is correct, and it takes approximately two hours to pass through the spray booth. We have now reached the point where our two assembly lines are about to come together. I would guess that I'm standing in about the center of this assembly plant, and on my right comes the line carrying the chassis, which now has its engine in place, the bumpers have been added, and to my left come the bodies, and they begin to look like finished automobile bodies. And directly ahead of me, a crew is placing the body on the chassis. And Bill, this is where we actually have a car, isn't it? This is where the completed body meets the final

chassis. From here, the body is pulled up to the frame, the wheels are added, the water is put in, gas, cushions, everything is complete to the automobile, and then, more to reach the end of the line, they scratch the engine, and leave for the dealers to move or drive outdoors. I think there are a couple of things that I'd like to be able to tell you about here, which you could see them. Some fascinating wrenches, tools, for example, the putting on of the wheels just fascinates me because there's a device here which tightens five lugs at once. Is that a pneumatic device though? That is an air tool that puts on the five nuts to the wheel to hold the wheel on at one time, and does it about as fast as I can snap my fingers? There, where at the present time assembling approximately 64 units per hour, and he must put on two wheels on each side,

and then now we see the steering wheel going on and the gear shift, and this is of course the, these are the two devices that the eventual owner of this car will probably have his closest acquaintance with, isn't that right? That is right. The sounds you were hearing now come from a very busy operation on the Ford assembly plant. This is called the instrument panel assembly line, for a great number of people using all sorts of automatic screwdrivers, various tools, are putting together that section of the automobile that you and I as car owners and car drivers perhaps see most often the instrument panel, with its speedometer, its clock, its radio, its various dials and gauges. They're passing in front of me now, and about the same rate as the assembly line for the body and the chassis. Bill, tell me, you have any idea of how many operations are involved here, quite a number, huh? On this line, pay all the instruments that go on the instrument panel or the dash, as is commonly known,

the speedometer cluster, the clock, the radio, the door, club compartment door, the choke rods, lights, all items that are on your dashboard are installed on this line. And as you describe these items, Bill, it would seem to me that they're being added to the instrument panel. Down to one end of the line, we start out with a blank piece of metal with the various holes and so on, pressed in it. At the other end of the line, a completed instrument panel comes off, and all of these people working on two sides of this conveyor are performing the various operations, adding the clusters of wires and instruments and so on, doing some rapid soldering and bolt tightening and so on. Each operator is assigned a definite part to put on to the instrument panel. The girl we saw is the line -up girl who receives the type of

instrument panel over the telotograph that we saw previously, huh? Now we're standing at the moment, right near two chaps, so our, well, let's see, one man is adding the ash tray to the instrument panel and he performs that operation by two automatic riveting jobs and now let's move down a little bit and let me see if I can figure out what's going on, Bill. We'll move down here and I see speedometers now being added and here's a young lady who's hooking up wires to one of the instruments. I believe that's an oil gauge that she's hooking up the lines to right now. And most of the, I haven't seen a hand screwdriver in this whole shop, Bill, are all your instruments, all of our tools are nomadic or electrically. And here's a man putting a clock together, he does that on about three different movements. Now over here, this is the sound of an automatic screwdriver, is that right? That's all hydraulic, all hydraulic

and in about 15 seconds he's tightened all the bolts and your instrument panel. Now, here's a man, let's see what he's doing. The radio and case of radio happens to be ordered with a particular car going through, has now been installed and now as we reach the end of the line, all of the loose wires and cables are being aligned in the position they should be in. I presume on the rear of your instrument panel and just a few feet away from here, the instrument panel will be taken off and in a few seconds will be installed and on the wheel nuts about it, isn't it? That's his right, he's installed from this line, it is put on the final trim line and installed to the unit. Let's move over to that final trim line now, shall we? Here is the final trim line, this man to my right is now picking up the instrument panels. They don't look to be too heavy with all those things added, what would you say about 15 or 20 pounds? About 20 pounds. Put the instrument panel in the car, which is now moving past us. And what about this trim line,

Bill, let's see, we'll look at all the things that have happened to this car body since we looked at it last. I notice now that I call it the roof lining, it's been added, what do you call it? The headliner is installed, all inside trim is installed on this line, door panels, headliner, windows, window risers, all things that are on the inside of the unit are installed on this line. When shields are in, when shields backlight, which is your rear window, it's all installed with chrome and we should, even the sun visors have now been added. Sun visors, everything on the inside of the unit. I want to move back up a little bit and take a look at the installation of this headliners, that would you call it? The headliners. And also the fixing devices, which I suppose these clips will hold the chrome trim strip on the side of the unit. Now passing is right now, this particular automobile has its designation on too, Clubs

and An. That is the type of car being produced. Each car now has its keys in the door and let's see, in this car as it moves along, there are one, two, three people involved. They operate as a team. They operate as a team and each one has his designated job to do. And this is where the windshields are installed. The windshields are installed, your molding around the windshield is installed both inside and out. Now, as this car passes us, you can hear this hammering and pounding. This is a team just about finishing its job. One boy is just stepping out. Right now, time is installing a backlight or rear window. Now, there goes a test of the deck lid, is that what you call it? The trunk lid, the deck lid, that's the installation, believe it or not, of the rear window and it can certainly take punishment. And now the team steps out and there goes the car ready for its next operation

and in the car immediately following another team is doing the finishing work on the headliner, the windshield, the rear window and so on. What's our next step now, Bill? I think we should move over to our passenger merry -go -round where we install the front fenders to the radiator for installation to the final unit. Let's do that. We're now on the midst of one of the most fascinating operations in the entire automotive assembly process, at least it was so for me. It's called a passenger merry -go -round or what do you people in automobile manufacturing call it, Bill? Billed up. And what's actually happening here is that a jig starts out there and fenders are added, then a radiator is added, then the front grill, the headlights, some wiring and actually the whole front end of the car is completed here, isn't it? That's right, then it goes around in a sort of a circular court

where it is finally reversed and added to the main body of the car, huh? It is the sets of the main body before it leaves here where we move down to the body drop. That's where the body meets the chassis, and that we saw just a short time ago. That's right. So this is a very vital spot, more, shall we say, small part. I put together here and added to the car, and perhaps anywhere else in the plant. For example, right ahead of us, a man is putting together the two pieces of the familiar Ford front grill. Over to my left, the man is assembling headlights with a number of very small parts involved. Over to the left, other parts are being assembled. And by the time the front ends of these automobiles complete this sort of a merry -go -round, perhaps 50 feet in diameter, the familiar front end of the Ford automobiles has been completed. And now very shortly, we'll be able to see the complete car, won't we? I think we should move over now and follow the unit to completion. Before we leave here,

Bill, isn't it true that you also have a merry -go -round of this sort for trucks? We have a merry -go -round of the same thing for our truck production. I should explain, too, however, that insofar as the regular bodies and regular chassis are concerned, they proceed on the same line. Do they not? If we'll see it on the final chassis line, one behind the other. In other words, passenger cars, four doors, two doors, and verticals and fucks, all a little long on the same line with the exception of this particular area where the front end is assembled. That is right. Now let's put down and see the cars of which is completion. Well, here we are now on the final assembly line, where all these pieces of metal, all of this skill is beginning to take the final form of the automobile we see on the American road. Now this final section of the assembly line is raised up a couple of feet from the regular deck of the plant. You call that the escalator section, Bill? That's right. And the first thing I see is the

addition of the tires and wheels to the car. And I was fascinated with the way this chap over here is able to blow up those tires and what about a second or something? Two seconds. He puts the tubeless tire on the wheel and applies the air in two seconds. It's a complete wheel and on the car. And then a few feet later, the pulse -free, the seats are being brought in. And then the man claws in the car and fixes them as they move down. And almost directly in front of me now, gasoline is being supplied to these automobiles. How much gas does each car get? Each car is given ten gallons of gas and it's dispensed automatically. And now just a little bit down to our left further down the line. A man is what's he doing, checking lights, Bill? He is checking lights for focus and all of our inspection underneath the unit is done on this escalator. And all the final adjusting is being done here now to the body, men with rubber hammers checking the door locks and so

on, the fitting of the metal trim. And on below, inspectors are going over the cars as they pass by. Other inspectors are inside. And these are supposed to be real experts in this assembly line operation. They are the eyes and ears of our quality. All of these cars now as they come down off the raised section of the ramp, the so -called escalator section we were talking about, roll down the key is finally turned on. And they all start, too, don't they, Bill? They all start. And then directly ahead of me, a speed test is being made. You told me that this machine, which checks the speed of this car, takes the place of the road test that you used to put on some years ago and you took the cars off random or on a track. That is correct. And you'll notice by these mirrors there, the quality control inspectors can see whether the tail lights are lit and whether the turn indicators operate properly from the rear end. Now, over to my left, I notice the car is making a final circle.

When they leave that particular section, they're all set to go to the dealer and from the dealer to the eventual customer and out onto the American highway. That is right. Well, Bill, in order to bring this story to a close, can you tell me, during the hours we've been with you this afternoon and this morning, approximately how many cars with this planet produced? 384 units. This, I think, describes better than anything more I can say. The progress, the tremendous mechanical and manufacturing and production skill involved in the modern automobile plant has demonstrated in the Ford Assembly Plant in Chicago. And now that we have concluded our tour of the plant facilities, we're in the office of Mr. S. L. Simmons, manager of the plant. And Mr. Simmons, could you sum up our tour today with a few statistics about this unique organization? Chicago Assembly Plant opened in March 1924 in the intervening 30 years the state's only automobile assembly plant has produced well over 2

million Ford vehicles. The plant contribution to the area in which it operates can be measured by the fact that its 1954 average employment was 2300 persons whose wages and salaries amounted to more than $12 ,400 ,000. And in the same year, local purchases in Chicago area alone amounted to 82 ,500 ,000 dollars. A moment ago, Bill Downey, our guide told us that in the few hours we've been here, some 380 units have rolled off the line. Mr. Simmons, could you give us some production figures? We're building approximately one unit every 57 seconds or approximately 565 vehicles daily in 9 -hour day. To date, in the model year, we have built so far a total of 131 ,966

vehicles. In conclusion, Fahey, I'd like to thank you for making this tour and also remind all listeners that the plant is open to the public for them to come to the plant at their convenience and see what we have here in Chicago assembly plant.