Thin Metal Sheets to a Complete Car - My Experience at a Car Manufacturing Plant

 

Hello ladies & gentlemen!

This week we are going to have a look at some basic processes of how a car is made from a single metal sheet. Now, this is my personal experience which I had more than 6 years back. I worked as an intern (HR & GA-Safety) with Renault Nissan and had a fabulous opportunity of going around the plant and observing their process. 

The plant was located at Oragadam, which is more than 50 km away from the Chennai city. The plant doesn't allow any person to bring smartphones or cameras inside but you take your basic mobile phones. This is done to protect their privacy and future plans. Being inside the plant I was able to witness certain new cars that did not even exist in the market. Nissan being a Japanese firm and having a major share at the plant had a motto that said "zero accidents" inside the plant.

So let's see how good my memory is by starting with the basic structure of the plant that had totally 5 different shops,

1. Stamping

This is the start of the process where the rolled sheets used to make the car, arrives from the outside suppliers and is kept ready. There are different types of metal sheets used in this process. The rolled sheets are made flat and then cleaned which is later picked up by forklifts and vacuum robots, to the die to make the corresponding shapes. After that it is trimmed, drilled, and smooth finishing is given, to ensure the entire skeletal structure of the car frame is ready to go.

2. Body Shop

This is the process of assembling all the parts of the car frame into a single car frame. The entire skeleton of the car is brought together with the help of welding process. Each and every part is carefully welded and all the workers here have to be careful as there are very strong and powerful sparks coming from everywhere and it is mandatory for all to wear the PPE's.

3. Paint Shop

After the entire skeletal structure of the car is made, then it is brought into the paint shop where the robots take care of the painting. The entire car structure is mixed with different color combinations to get the right color. This is the only shop were no outside people are allowed as it is a completely closed space. A nicely painted car frame comes out of this shop

4. Trim & Chasis

This is the place where the final assembly of the entire car takes place. The windshield, dashboard, seats, stereos, lamps, wheels etc., all are attached here along with the chassis to the skeletal structure of the car. Also, the most important part of the car which is the engine comes from the power train to this shop and gets assembled to the car. All the tests are done at the end of this shop.

5. Power Train

This is the most important shop, as the entire engine parts are assembled here, starting from bolts & nuts to the entire cylinder block. There are lot of sub sections in this shop, as the entire engine is created here with the help of casting and moulding. Once the engine block is created it is sent to other sub sections where small parts like spark plug, fuel injectors, piston, inlet and exhaust valves, crank shaft, connecting rod, clutch, and gearbox are assembled into the engine.

For quality control, they use Kaizen and 6 sigma processes, as they are partly Japanese the focus is more towards quality. They also have small and long test tracks, to test out their finished cars. Helmet, goggles, ear plugs, safety shoes and arm sleeves are compulsory for all safety workers. Almost 80% of the cars produced were exported to other countries. So both left handed and right handed cars were manufactured in this plant. Now in 6 years a lot could have changed but the basic process would remain the same.

So that's it folks for this week, will see you again next week with another hopefully interesting topic. Until then Adios, Amigo! 

- Varadharaju R