Page 59 - Australasian Paint & Panel Magazine Sep-Oct 2018

OEM FOCUS
Over in the assembly line there’s a lot more flesh and blood with just 35 robots and 8,000 people working three shifts. It’s unlikely that robots could replace people here for some time. Each car on the assembly line has been ordered to a different specification and it would be too costly to reprogram robots – hooray, us humans are more adaptable. Seeing the ‘marriage’, as they call it, of the drivetrain with the body was pretty impressive and a robot-only process.
Also impressive is seeing the ‘just in
time’ delivery of all of the
components to the factory workers
for each car, delivered by robots but
fitted by humans. Each team has its
own funky alarm sound if someone
needs to leave the assembly line and
be replaced. Timing is everyting as
each station has exactly 80 seconds
per car to perform its duties, such as
fitting a seat, before the car is moved
to the next station.
is car inspected in a light tunnel and has a short test drive. The final factory checks take around 40 minutes and the entire construction takes just 34 hours.
With about 400,000 visitors per year, Ingolstadt is a popular attraction for people in the region and visitors from all over the world, as well as for people picking up their new cars. You can see why booking is essential for the tours of which there are a
variety. Mine was around two and half hours but you can book tours which last the whole day. Sadly my tour didn’t include the paint factory but that is an option – all the tours are very reasonably priced too.
If you find yourself if Germany, I highly recommend it. Definitely a fascinating day out.
WORLD CLASS SURFACE FINISHING
Hi-Performance & Professional
I loved that because it’s Germany when they take a break – as long as they aren’t involved in test driving – they can have a beer.
At the end of the production line everything electrical is checked. The
www.paintandpanel.com.au
September / October 2018 PAINT&PANEL 59
StorkAWD Pty Ltd 03-95606060 www.storkawd.com.au
FOUR RING FACTS
• Auto Union GmbH was founded in 1949, and Ingolstadt has been home since
• Vorsprung Durch Technik, means “Advancement through Technology”
• 15,000 Ingolstadt employees in technical development
• The Ingolstadt factory built 538,103 cars in 2017, 28% of the full year’s Audi production.