This business of manufacturing cars has a definite order that is always followed. Each car is purchased before it is made. Ford takes sales orders from dealerships then submits that to their Scheduling Dept. Cars are immediately identified in the Body Shop at the Bucks (an articulating fixture that positively locates and puts strategic spot welds on a 'toy-tabbed' body to hold it together for later re-spot welding).
Simply put, if a body was constructed in the Body Shop, it got a VIN number from the Scheduling Dept. That number is NEVER re-issued or reused. All VIN numbers and all units are accounted for whether they are destroyed, scrapped, used in-company or sold.
Ford only sells cars through dealerships. Holman was a Ford dealership and as such, would have first crack, through the Scheduling Dept., at rejected bodies that were destined for the crusher. I'm sure they got a very attractive price for each one but they all had VIN numbers and a binding agreement with Ford for the off-road use of those bodies.
Ford randomly pulls a body off the line for Quality Control's weld checks. They completely tear down and separate all the spot welded parts and mark each weld so they can be counted and matched against a 'standard'. In the case of Squarebirds, believe me, Ford's QC department did this in Wixom and generated reports, aside from any testing Budd did in Detroit.
Testing happens every day. When it does, the Scheduling Department MUST be notified so the forecast can be changed. Conversely, sometimes a body is pulled later in the line, then it is REentered BACK into the line. This is rare but it does happen. Again, the forecast must be changed for all the subsequent operations otherwise colors will be mismatched and options will be wrong on many cars.
Sometimes, a customer is notified that his car build was re-scheduled. This can happen because; the paint ovens were too hot (over 250-degrees F), the car was left in an oven too long which ruined the sealant and baked the paint into a different color, they used that random body for the QC salt-corrosion test, it was torn down, etc. Ford simply assigns a different VIN number to that customer's order.
Notice here, where every aspect is closely controlled by World Headquarters including Sales, Production Scheduling, Manpower and vehicle delivery. Assembly plants co-ordinate line speeds with manpower and each department is interdependent on the others to satisfy World Headquarter requirements. Nobody hides the weenie.
Assembly plants usually have ~1,000 cars in-process, spread out over all the departments. I've seen times when we simply lost power and nothing can be done about it. All the conveyors stopped, the plant went dark and everyone was sent home. After ten minutes, no more compressed air and the whole place is eerily quiet and lifeless.
The Paint Dept., doesn't have one oven, they have one for Primer/Sealer Deck, another after Basecoat/Clearcoat and the Driveaway Garage has a repair oven. Except for 'repair' each holds about 20 cars on moving conveyors. All the cars in those ovens would literally be warped toast if baked too long from a power failure and under-cured if 'under baked'. When power resumes, production cannot restart until all services are up and the ovens normalize, which takes time. We go through a scheduled shutdown procedure at the end and a startup of production every day.
Some cars are kept in-company, never to be sold to the public. Even so, they all go through a dealership. This happens with many pool cars. In The Rouge which is 2-1/2 sq. miles, many departments have F-150 trucks that never get a license plate because they spend their life inside Ford Motor Company for various maintenance departments such as railroad maintenance, powerhouse maintenance & construction, Grounds, inter-steel operations, etc. Ford self-insures these vehicles and yes, they do get destroyed every day from heavy/industrial use.
So, this business of manufacturing vehicles is precise and well-managed from the top to the bottom to keep tight control over cost, quality and liability. It's unusual, Ford used Budd to manufacture Thunderbird bodies for a very short time before Ford brought the Body Shop back home. - Dave
EDIT: I am including the VIN locations in the following picture. The 1960 Squarebird has one of its VINs stamped inside the cowltop. That had to be done before spot welding. Other locations could be done at Wixom but have much easier access before the body was fully assembled.
Simply put, if a body was constructed in the Body Shop, it got a VIN number from the Scheduling Dept. That number is NEVER re-issued or reused. All VIN numbers and all units are accounted for whether they are destroyed, scrapped, used in-company or sold.
Ford only sells cars through dealerships. Holman was a Ford dealership and as such, would have first crack, through the Scheduling Dept., at rejected bodies that were destined for the crusher. I'm sure they got a very attractive price for each one but they all had VIN numbers and a binding agreement with Ford for the off-road use of those bodies.
Ford randomly pulls a body off the line for Quality Control's weld checks. They completely tear down and separate all the spot welded parts and mark each weld so they can be counted and matched against a 'standard'. In the case of Squarebirds, believe me, Ford's QC department did this in Wixom and generated reports, aside from any testing Budd did in Detroit.
Testing happens every day. When it does, the Scheduling Department MUST be notified so the forecast can be changed. Conversely, sometimes a body is pulled later in the line, then it is REentered BACK into the line. This is rare but it does happen. Again, the forecast must be changed for all the subsequent operations otherwise colors will be mismatched and options will be wrong on many cars.
Sometimes, a customer is notified that his car build was re-scheduled. This can happen because; the paint ovens were too hot (over 250-degrees F), the car was left in an oven too long which ruined the sealant and baked the paint into a different color, they used that random body for the QC salt-corrosion test, it was torn down, etc. Ford simply assigns a different VIN number to that customer's order.
Notice here, where every aspect is closely controlled by World Headquarters including Sales, Production Scheduling, Manpower and vehicle delivery. Assembly plants co-ordinate line speeds with manpower and each department is interdependent on the others to satisfy World Headquarter requirements. Nobody hides the weenie.
Assembly plants usually have ~1,000 cars in-process, spread out over all the departments. I've seen times when we simply lost power and nothing can be done about it. All the conveyors stopped, the plant went dark and everyone was sent home. After ten minutes, no more compressed air and the whole place is eerily quiet and lifeless.
The Paint Dept., doesn't have one oven, they have one for Primer/Sealer Deck, another after Basecoat/Clearcoat and the Driveaway Garage has a repair oven. Except for 'repair' each holds about 20 cars on moving conveyors. All the cars in those ovens would literally be warped toast if baked too long from a power failure and under-cured if 'under baked'. When power resumes, production cannot restart until all services are up and the ovens normalize, which takes time. We go through a scheduled shutdown procedure at the end and a startup of production every day.
Some cars are kept in-company, never to be sold to the public. Even so, they all go through a dealership. This happens with many pool cars. In The Rouge which is 2-1/2 sq. miles, many departments have F-150 trucks that never get a license plate because they spend their life inside Ford Motor Company for various maintenance departments such as railroad maintenance, powerhouse maintenance & construction, Grounds, inter-steel operations, etc. Ford self-insures these vehicles and yes, they do get destroyed every day from heavy/industrial use.
So, this business of manufacturing vehicles is precise and well-managed from the top to the bottom to keep tight control over cost, quality and liability. It's unusual, Ford used Budd to manufacture Thunderbird bodies for a very short time before Ford brought the Body Shop back home. - Dave
EDIT: I am including the VIN locations in the following picture. The 1960 Squarebird has one of its VINs stamped inside the cowltop. That had to be done before spot welding. Other locations could be done at Wixom but have much easier access before the body was fully assembled.
Comment