The fascinating world of automobile assembly
What makes the Phaeton assembly process so extraordinary, is not simply that it enables craftsmanship to be experienced at close hand.
What strikes onlookers first and foremost is the atmosphere of calm and orderliness that facilitates this excellence, recalling in some measure an operating theatre. The assembly workers are dressed in white overalls. Wearing gloves, they fit the vehicle parts placed in component baskets that glide across the parquet flooring on a driverless transport system.
Fish-scale conveyors transport the body shells noiselessly through the various assembly stages. Each “fish scale” contains a lifting turntable capable of moving the body to different positions and heights. The Phaeton also passes from one level to the next and through subsequent assembly stages without making a sound – in the arms of the electric suspension rail. The vehicle can be brought into the required position at the push of a button, an ergonomic solution that benefits the line staff and enables them to apply their full concentration and exactitude to their work.
Robots are only used where they relieve the strain on the workers, for example to fit the windows or install the spare wheel well. One impressive feat of precision and engineering skill is the “marriage”, the stage during vehicle assembly when the chassis and the body are joined together. Attired in a white lab coat, customers and prospective buyers can watch at close range as this thrilling process takes place. Visitors can also experience the plant from the Nockenturm, which affords a view of the suspended bodies passing by and the fish-scale assembly line.
Print article ›