Confessions from quality control - The Frontera factory
Discussion
The Crack Fox said:
You're assuming that security aren't bribeable! These are usually minimum wage blokes in polyester uniforms, half asleep, reading bongo mags or doing word searches. I later worked at a component factory, big place, c.200 people with one gate with CCTV and two guards. We got cleared out once, not the components, but every PC in the place. One guard had called in sick and the other was "on the toilet with the s
ts all night" and didn't see anything. Cameras were accidentally switched off that night, too. What a co-incidence!
I ought to write up my experiences there, too!
Good point, I was overthinking it! I could tell you a tale about security but not on the internet ... ts all night" and didn't see anything. Cameras were accidentally switched off that night, too. What a co-incidence!I ought to write up my experiences there, too!
Many years ago when i was an apprentice the mechanic who i was working with told me that when he worked for a dealership selling British Leyland, he was doing a pdi on a Triumph ( think it was a TR7 maybe ) he was checking it over and it had a disc brake on one side and a drum brake on the other side !
TWOKWACKS said:
Many years ago when i was an apprentice the mechanic who i was working with told me that when he worked for a dealership selling British Leyland, he was doing a pdi on a Triumph ( think it was a TR7 maybe ) he was checking it over and it had a disc brake on one side and a drum brake on the other side !
Although all of us fully believe this anecdote, the level of surrealism is so great that one struggles to understand.
Something ill-fitted: yes. A bit of trim missing: perhaps. But the outright installation of two different brake systems is beyond egregious. It's insane.
unsprung said:
Although all of us fully believe this anecdote, the level of surrealism is so great that one struggles to understand.
Something ill-fitted: yes. A bit of trim missing: perhaps. But the outright installation of two different brake systems is beyond egregious. It's insane.
Surely drums and discs aren't that easily interchangeable?
I used to work in an Austin Rover dealers over the summer holidays when in sixth form, helping out valeting during the new reg rush in Aug.
Chap brought his new Black Montego Turbo in for its first service mid Aug having had it a few weeks, then called back in the afternoon to collect it.
Service reception told him it was still in the workshop, to which he replied no its not it's right outside! so off they trot and yep it's still in the workshop, so he drags them outside and yep it's out there as well !!!!!
The MD of the dealership also had an Aug 1st Black Montego Turbo demo, it was his outside but on exactly the same number plates as the one in the workshop.
The muppets at pdi had made up and fitted the same number plates to both cars and each had been running around for weeks none the wiser :-)
Chap brought his new Black Montego Turbo in for its first service mid Aug having had it a few weeks, then called back in the afternoon to collect it.
Service reception told him it was still in the workshop, to which he replied no its not it's right outside! so off they trot and yep it's still in the workshop, so he drags them outside and yep it's out there as well !!!!!
The MD of the dealership also had an Aug 1st Black Montego Turbo demo, it was his outside but on exactly the same number plates as the one in the workshop.
The muppets at pdi had made up and fitted the same number plates to both cars and each had been running around for weeks none the wiser :-)
Edited by PAUL500 on Monday 18th April 22:57
jogger1976 said:
I know a couple of blokes from the Ford AVO Club.
They went on a tour of the old plant at Aveley and some of the bodges, corner cutting and cock ups they got told about were unreal.
My own favourite was the fact that Ford thought it was a good idea to bring MK1 body shells down from Halewood on uncovered carriages in the middle of winter and then leave them in the yard for days on end to get rusty
Also, due to an ongoing supply issue, many of the Escorts had the wrong specs as the factory fitted them with what ever was available, so some Mexico's had bits meant for the RS1600, which had bits meant for the RS2000 and so on.
Not entirely unheard of nowadays. When my uncle ordered a BMW 1 Series he got a free alloy wheel upgrade because the factory had run out of the standard 16" alloys for the SE. Not the same as it turning up randomly as a M Sport though.They went on a tour of the old plant at Aveley and some of the bodges, corner cutting and cock ups they got told about were unreal.
My own favourite was the fact that Ford thought it was a good idea to bring MK1 body shells down from Halewood on uncovered carriages in the middle of winter and then leave them in the yard for days on end to get rusty
Also, due to an ongoing supply issue, many of the Escorts had the wrong specs as the factory fitted them with what ever was available, so some Mexico's had bits meant for the RS1600, which had bits meant for the RS2000 and so on.
PAUL500 said:
I used to work in an Austin Rover dealers over the summer holidays when in sixth form, helping out valeting during the new reg rush rush in Aug.
Chap brought his new Black Montego Turbo in for its first service mid Aug having had it a few weeks, then called back in the afternoon to collect it.
Service reception told him it was still in the workshop, to which he replied no its not it's right outside! so off they trot and yep it's still in the workshop, so he drags them outside and yep it's out there as well !!!!!
The MD of the dealership also had an Aug 1st Black Montego Turbo demo, it was his outside but on exactly the same number plates as the one in the workshop.
The muppets at pdi had made up and fitted the same number plates to both cars and each had been running around for weeks none the wiser :-)
The only time my Dad got an August 1st car was when he got a Rover. I remember the salesman telling us a similar story about two identical Metros. Chap brought his new Black Montego Turbo in for its first service mid Aug having had it a few weeks, then called back in the afternoon to collect it.
Service reception told him it was still in the workshop, to which he replied no its not it's right outside! so off they trot and yep it's still in the workshop, so he drags them outside and yep it's out there as well !!!!!
The MD of the dealership also had an Aug 1st Black Montego Turbo demo, it was his outside but on exactly the same number plates as the one in the workshop.
The muppets at pdi had made up and fitted the same number plates to both cars and each had been running around for weeks none the wiser :-)
It must have happened in garages up and down the land in August.
Countdown said:
Would it actually be possible? I'm just thinking of the drum mounting points on the wheel hub and all the components feeding into the brakes...
Surely drums and discs aren't that easily interchangeable?
Yep, easily believe it.Surely drums and discs aren't that easily interchangeable?
I swapped the rear subframe on our 205 for a rebuilt one a couple of years ago - the arms are the same for both, the difference is purely in the pressed-in stub axle and whether you bolt a caliper or a drum backplate onto the arm.
And there were the Ford Cortina(s) that got all the way to interior trim fitting before it was noticed that they had 1 door on the right side, and 2 doors on the left. Well spotted when the fitter guy jumped in the rear passenger side, and then tried to get out the drivers side. I heard they got sent to dealers for showroom use, showing the difference between the models !!!
And the work colleague whose new Cortina was noted as leaning to the left. Turned out it had an Estate rear spring on the left, and a GT one on the right !
And the work colleague whose new Cortina was noted as leaning to the left. Turned out it had an Estate rear spring on the left, and a GT one on the right !
robinessex said:
And there were the Ford Cortina(s) that got all the way to interior trim fitting before it was noticed that they had 1 door on the right side, and 2 doors on the left. Well spotted when the fitter guy jumped in the rear passenger side, and then tried to get out the drivers side. I heard they got sent to dealers for showroom use, showing the difference between the models !!!
And the work colleague whose new Cortina was noted as leaning to the left. Turned out it had an Estate rear spring on the left, and a GT one on the right !
Decades later BMW made a 'niche' market Mini based on the Cortina concept. And the work colleague whose new Cortina was noted as leaning to the left. Turned out it had an Estate rear spring on the left, and a GT one on the right !
:-)
Much more recently than that I was reflashing software into a module I was responsible for into cars on end of line. Each car had a fault with the adaptive dampers, possibly just that they hadn't been configured, but the warning message on the dash was "Adpative damper fault".
I must admit that I was scores of cars in before my colleague pointed it out, but when I pointed it out to the guy from the factory looking after us it seems it had previously gone unnoticed and soon there were more engineers and managers checking all the cars and shaking their heads.
I must admit that I was scores of cars in before my colleague pointed it out, but when I pointed it out to the guy from the factory looking after us it seems it had previously gone unnoticed and soon there were more engineers and managers checking all the cars and shaking their heads.
bern said:
5S is so last year, it's all about 6S now!
I work in manufacturing, not automotive, and have never seen it implemented properly despite millions being spent on training.
i doubt it can ever be implemented properly outside of japan . watched more than a few try and in the end it turns into a box tick exercise with the bits the senior person in charge of implementation does not like ignored completely.I work in manufacturing, not automotive, and have never seen it implemented properly despite millions being spent on training.
dudleybloke said:
Iv known a company make and send out scrap for 2 weeks because the management wouldn't shutdown things for an hour to swap out a defective tool.
The morons actually thought that sending rubbish was better than being 1% down on the numbers for the month.
Strangely they didn't stay in business for very long.
i know a company that manufactured a part with a 60% scrap ratio for over 1 year and kept the out of tolerance parts (just over 600,000 of them) in storage hoping an application that required wider tolerances would appear, i kid you not. american company and still one of the largest in the sector. i got my "american and engineer are a conflict of terms" attitude after sorting the problem with a tool redesign in a few weeks reducing the scrap rate to 1% over the next 6 months and 0.5 % the following year,very low numbers for the industry.The morons actually thought that sending rubbish was better than being 1% down on the numbers for the month.
Strangely they didn't stay in business for very long.
Worked at dagenham many years ago and remember them doing this - was quite a feat if I remember right as they had to hack into the process to get it to do this as at the time the system could only cope with 3 door or 5 door fiestas. the system couldnt do the welding assembly on a frame with two different body sides.
They were pretty proud of managing to do it - and it took a fair bit of work. Dont think it could happen by chance.
remember my boss telling me when they last has a 4 door produced in dagenham and it was years previous...
ruggedscotty said:
remember my boss telling me when they last has a 4 door produced in dagenham and it was years previous...
The Fiesta Urba concept was 1989.Wasn't the Sierra built at Dagenham up until 1990? Was the Sapphire not included in that? The MkV Cortina was built there until '82.
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