1967 Camaro assembly line

[Keith Seymore]

One other thought relative to moving all these vehicles around:

For those of you familiar with the UAW and the plant structure you know there are multiple jobs and job classifications. For example, there is an "assembler" classification with an associated rate of pay, and then maybe a "utility assembler" classification for a few pennies more an hour, on up through repair and skilled trades. Advancement through these non-skilled designations is based solely upon seniority.

One of those classifications is "driver". So - there are a particular set of people (and pay rate) whose sole function is to drive the vehicle off the end of the line, perform the roll test, shuttle the vehicle to the various short repair lines inside the building, and/or shuttle vehicle between locations outside the plant.

The assembly line would be scheduled to run a particular time period in advance (say 8 hours, or 10 hours, or 11 hours) but could spontaneously be increased (or decreased) to meet the immediate need. For example, final might go "8.0" but trim might go "8.2" or "8.5" in order to re-fill any buffers that had been depleted throughout the shift. Cab shop might go "9.0" that day for the same reason. The change would be communicated through shouts up and down the line, often before the foreman would receive the official news by phone.

After running all day teams would be assigned to work overtime, after the line shut down, to work the repair down. Often times it felt like a punitive measure, especially if it had been a tough day with a lot of repair. Hourly volunteers would be solicited to drive out back, for overtime pay and at the (typically higher) driver pay rate, and foremen would take turns in an attempt to spread the load out.

I say all this to say: you might work a scheduled 11 hour day, then get tapped to work another hour or two out back working repair. Then go home, sleep, and come back in the next day to do it all again.

K

[Keith Seymore]

Originally Posted by Keith Seymore

The assembly line would be scheduled to run a particular time period in advance (say 8 hours, or 10 hours, or 11 hours) but could spontaneously be increased (or decreased) to meet the immediate need. For example, final might go "8.0" but trim might go "8.2" or "8.5" in order to re-fill any buffers that had been depleted throughout the shift. Cab shop might go "9.0" that day for the same reason. The change would be communicated through shouts up and down the line, often before the foreman would receive the official news by phone.

One tenth of an hour = 6 minutes. Everything was done in 6 minute increments.

Line 1 first shift would eat lunch from 10:12 to 10:42 am.

Line 2 first shift would eat lunch from 10:54 to 11:24.

Meanwhile, these days, I cannot remember if I ate lunch or not.

K

[Mr70]

Originally Posted by Keith Seymore

Meanwhile, these days, I cannot remember if I ate lunch or not.

Keith,First,thanks for all your knowledge & details about this process.
Second,What could one do if you didn't want to eat Lunch in that 30 Min period back then?
Could you drive to a FF restaurant nearby,or read the Newspaper in an open area outside to pass the time,or did you have to stay inside?

[Too Many Projects]

Can't speak for Keith's situation, but the Ford plant allowed us to go out of the building and off the grounds, as long as we were "on station" when the line started. MANY of the jobs could be worked ahead and that happened nearly every day, as the entire plant shut down for 30 minutes, EXACTLY. The line workers would start working back down the line about 2 cars before they entered that persons designated area and it seemed half the plant was mobbing the exit doors 3 minutes before the line even stopped. When the people got back, if the next car they needed to work on was in the next station, they would start a few minutes before the line and get caught up.
As an aside, there were 3 bars conveniently located immediately across the street that served "lunch"... and cashed the patrons pay checks right inside the door on Friday's. Checks were always distributed before lunch. I went over there for a quick burger a few times and it was a chore to get there, wolf down food and run back 1/4 mile thru the huge parking lot to the plant and sometimes another 1/4 mile to my station. The bar I went to had a large, horseshoe shaped serving area and most of the chairs were "owned" by an employee that had sat there every day for years and there would be 2 drinks of that persons choice sitting in front of those chairs....every day. None of them had beer bottles set up... The bartender, servers and cooks knew exactly what and how much to make for those people and they would sit down, slam the first drink and a plate was dropped in front of them. Some drank the second while eating and the tender would have a 3rd waiting for when they got done. Then, they got up and left and we plebes could sit for about 5-6 minutes. I never saw them pay and later learned they ran a weekly tab that was deducted from their cash at the window on Friday. The whole place ran as efficiently as the assembly line.

[Keith Seymore]

Originally Posted by Too Many Projects

Can't speak for Keith's situation, but the Ford plant allowed us to go out of the building and off the grounds, as long as we were "on station" when the line started. MANY of the jobs could be worked ahead and that happened nearly every day, as the entire plant shut down for 30 minutes, EXACTLY. The line workers would start working back down the line about 2 cars before they entered that persons designated area and it seemed half the plant was mobbing the exit doors 3 minutes before the line even stopped. When the people got back, if the next car they needed to work on was in the next station, they would start a few minutes before the line and get caught up.
As an aside, there were 3 bars conveniently located immediately across the street that served "lunch"... and cashed the patrons pay checks right inside the door on Friday's. Checks were always distributed before lunch. I went over there for a quick burger a few times and it was a chore to get there, wolf down food and run back 1/4 mile thru the huge parking lot to the plant and sometimes another 1/4 mile to my station. The bar I went to had a large, horseshoe shaped serving area and most of the chairs were "owned" by an employee that had sat there every day for years and there would be 2 drinks of that persons choice sitting in front of those chairs....every day. None of them had beer bottles set up... The bartender, servers and cooks knew exactly what and how much to make for those people and they would sit down, slam the first drink and a plate was dropped in front of them. Some drank the second while eating and the tender would have a 3rd waiting for when they got done. Then, they got up and left and we plebes could sit for about 5-6 minutes. I never saw them pay and later learned they ran a weekly tab that was deducted from their cash at the window on Friday. The whole place ran as efficiently as the assembly line.

This is absolutely correct. There was always a little shop bar across the street from any assembly plant.

If you didn't want to eat during your designated lunch time you could snack while you worked. There was usually enough time between vehicles to take a bite, read a bit of the newspaper and then get the next one. There were some guys that ate nonstop.

There was always a picnic table in the area so you could spread out, or for meetings with the shop committeeman.

K

[Keith Seymore]

Originally Posted by Too Many Projects

Can't speak for Keith's situation, but the Ford plant allowed us to go out of the building and off the grounds, as long as we were "on station" when the line started. MANY of the jobs could be worked ahead and that happened nearly every day, as the entire plant shut down for 30 minutes, EXACTLY. The line workers would start working back down the line about 2 cars before they entered that persons designated area and it seemed half the plant was mobbing the exit doors 3 minutes before the line even stopped. When the people got back, if the next car they needed to work on was in the next station, they would start a few minutes before the line and get caught up.

It was like that at the beginning of the shift, too.

It can be pretty lonely standing there at 5:58 am with just you, your quality man and one or two of your best guys hanging around. But - if you are patient - the line will chug at 6:00 am and move about one job length before someone else chickens out and shuts 'er down. By then you can see the rest of your workers, quick stepping down the aisle, tying their aprons and putting their gloves on while in motion. They can catch the job they missed, the one in front of them, and the next job, and be sitting reading the newpaper before the line starts back up in earnest.

Having said all that: I honestly don't think I ever pushed the button myself to shut the line down, even as a "wet behind the ears" 19 yr old production supervisor. Somebody else would always shut it down first.

K

[Kurt S]

Originally Posted by Keith Seymore

Fortunately - you don't have to keep them all inside!

Here's a picture of Flint Assembly's back yard. These are all vehicles awaiting repair of some kind or to be driven over to the shipping yard.

Most plants these days don't want repairs waiting. Build it once. But that depends on management and has changed over the years. JohnZ's book talks about 6000 cars outside of Lordstown, waiting on repairs.
JohnZ's book - The Automobile Business - from the Bottom Up

Not sure if you remember the Ford Expedition seat shortage. One of the top $ makers for Ford and no rear seats. So they just built them and stored them anywhere they could lease within 10 miles of the plant. They were literally everywhere around Wayne MI. Can't imagine the logistics of keys and moving vehicles and people around.

[67since67]

Originally Posted by Keith Seymore

I know of trucks that were built Chevy on one side and GMC on the other, that made it past several on line inspectors, a couple post line inspectors, shipping and receiving, dealer prep and into customer hands. That's a whole lotta people not paying very good attention to what they were supposed to be doing.

K

A friend ordered a '73 GMC short/wide, 454 with pretty much every option.
It was delivered to him with interior door panels Sierra Grande drivers side and Cheyenne Super pass side.

[67since67]

Originally Posted by Keith Seymore

Most frequent would be fenders/hoods that get painted wrong (either wrong color or two tone wrong)

You guys have heard the story of the C3 Corvette painted blue on one side and green on the other??....

[dykstra]

Originally Posted by 67since67

You guys have heard the story of the C3 Corvette painted blue on one side and green on the other??....

No. Due tell please!!