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 NedCar 2003
The following text was written by Con W. Cathalina:
The Volvo 480 Belgium Team arranged a guided tour at the NedCar
production plant in Born (NL), and twenty-seven 480'ies and one
P1800 ES gathered at the carpark near Dr. Huub van Doorneweg 1 around
13.30 hrs on Thursday 13th of March 2003.
40 Belgian, Dutch, German and English enthousiasts seized the unique
opportunity to visit the place where NedCar produced the Volvo 480
between 1986 and 1995. Unique because, as I understand it, this was one of
the last guided tours in the current factory. Massive redesign and
subsequent modifications on the production facilities are started in
preparation of the production 3 entirely new models next year so these
guided tours will be discontinued shortly. For me it was a happy return
as I had the privilege to visit the same location some 11 years ago.
Many things have changed in those years:
- NedCar is now fully owned by Mitsubishi Motor Corporation (MCC) and
Daimler Chrysler has a 37.3 % stake in MCC
- The sparkling Swedish ASEA welding robots, once the backbone of the
production line and a showpiece for Dutch industralisation, are replaced
by Japanese Dengensha industrial robots. They are still in operation
though, but on a much lower profile.
- Kaizen and the Just in Time concept has fully been introduced on the
workfloor, e.g. blue collar workers can be identified by the color of
their clothing and the suppliers have e.g. a 3 hour leadtime between
receipt of an order and expected time of delivery.
- Two different makes & three different body styles in a countless
number of versions, all 'built to order' on one single production line.
NedCar claims that they are the only factory in the world of
carproducers who have mastered this feat.
What didn't change was my fascination to see how such a complicated
logistical puzzle falls into place over and over again.
Press shop, Body shop, Paint Shop, Final Assembly, Testing, 'Green
OK' status. We saw it all, except for the Paint Shop as that
operates under clean-room conditions. But that aspect was covered nicely
in the video presentation we saw before the guided tour.
Two things struck me most during the guided tour: How easily industrial
robots fit front seats into a car and how wheels are fitted fully
automated on each car.
It was very nice to meet all those enthousiasts in person and to see how
easily common ground was reached inspite of the often very different way
in which each and everyone uses his / her 480. From as standard as
possible to modded the max and from daily workhorse (2,000 miles each
month) to weekend cruiser. Dinner afterwards concluded a perfect day!
Con W. Cathalina
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Nedcar visit (Mar)
Chirton (Apr)
III Italy meet (May)
Ardennes (Jun)
Upland Treffen (Jun)
French meet (Aug)