Confessions from quality control - The Frontera factory
Discussion
Pothole said:
Morale is dreadful at Solihull from what I saw, albeit only for a few months on the XE line (BiW) and they employ gormless idiots...at most levels, given their stated policy of promoting from within. Their policy of indirect employment through Manpower (and other agencies for the dirty, menial jobs) creates a heirarchical, us and them atmosphere which hs toxic to any idea of real team work...("you can't sit there, that's a JLR seat and you're agency" in the break room etc) the way middle managers treated line workers was disgusting, frankly, so it was hardly surprise to find that most of those line workers were not interested in doing a great job, just getting away with the bare minimum to survive.
f
king hell. I can't imagine working in such a place.Used to know an old boy (long gone now) who was put on the quality control section for the then new metro at Longbridge.
He was impressed that the tolerances for bodyshells were plus or minus 1mm. Not so impressed that 80% were rejected (apparently there is a hill at Longbridge that is mainly rejected body landfill.
After a year he told me rejection levels had gone down from 80% to less than 5%. Nothing to do with the robots improving; his tolerances had been increased to 20mm!
Couldn't make it up.
NB. Fugures might not be exactly right, it was a long time ago. But sentiment is true
He was impressed that the tolerances for bodyshells were plus or minus 1mm. Not so impressed that 80% were rejected (apparently there is a hill at Longbridge that is mainly rejected body landfill.
After a year he told me rejection levels had gone down from 80% to less than 5%. Nothing to do with the robots improving; his tolerances had been increased to 20mm!
Couldn't make it up.
NB. Fugures might not be exactly right, it was a long time ago. But sentiment is true
Patrick Bateman said:
Pothole said:
Morale is dreadful at Solihull from what I saw, albeit only for a few months on the XE line (BiW) and they employ gormless idiots...at most levels, given their stated policy of promoting from within. Their policy of indirect employment through Manpower (and other agencies for the dirty, menial jobs) creates a heirarchical, us and them atmosphere which hs toxic to any idea of real team work...("you can't sit there, that's a JLR seat and you're agency" in the break room etc) the way middle managers treated line workers was disgusting, frankly, so it was hardly surprise to find that most of those line workers were not interested in doing a great job, just getting away with the bare minimum to survive.
fking hell. I can't imagine working in such a place.ks and perhaps because I'm 50 and reasonably articulate I didn't have any trouble.I can still remember many years back when I was a salesman for Fiat and later Alfa a couple of stories.
I always used to check my own cars off the transporter having got sick early on of cars coming to me to hand over with damage or missing parts and never being able to pin it down to a department and sort out, if it arrived damaged we could claim from the transporter straight away and had time to rectify it before hand over, if it was checked over fine and got damaged subsequently we could hammer the service or valet bay and consequently they knew to make sure the arrived "right", it was something that shouldn't be necessary but sadly was.
Anyway one day I checked a Punto off the transporter, it was an active from memory so I checked the exterior, engine bay, boot area looking for missing or damage, I used to do a really thorough check for everything from scratches and chips to missing keys/bookpacks/spare wheels/tools, then finally interior, the front of the interior had grey active seats/doorcards but the rear had been fitted with dynamic blue seats and doorcards, I can only imagine it was going down the line and they didn't have the right interior for the rear so just threw in what they had to get it away, it must have missed QC as nothing was missing, or being Italy if it was after lunch the QC guy was probably drunk.
A couple of years later I checked a 147 off that had been a special order, we usually just ordered from stock, give Alfa their due generally they built good stock cars in good colours and spec so was always easy to sell one of those to a customer wanting a new car, it was only when they started to run a model out and offered huge percentages across them that you had to scrape the barrel and try to sell JRG base models with the biggest engine available, but anyway this special order car came in that I had been waiting around 2-3 months for from memory, checked it over got to the boot and sat on top of the spare wheel is a ciabatta with a sliced beef tomato in it, I can only imagine some poor guy was working on it on the line while eating his lunch, put it down turned round and when he turned back the car was gone!
No-one outside the industry would believe these things happen, but they are surprisingly common, it really is an industry of cowboys (like the salesman who ordered a 3 door instead of a 5 door and at hand over told the elderly owners who noticed his error he had already ordered the rear doors and they would arrive in parts in about 2 weeks, 1 week after he left of course).
Good times though I look back at them fondly.
I always used to check my own cars off the transporter having got sick early on of cars coming to me to hand over with damage or missing parts and never being able to pin it down to a department and sort out, if it arrived damaged we could claim from the transporter straight away and had time to rectify it before hand over, if it was checked over fine and got damaged subsequently we could hammer the service or valet bay and consequently they knew to make sure the arrived "right", it was something that shouldn't be necessary but sadly was.
Anyway one day I checked a Punto off the transporter, it was an active from memory so I checked the exterior, engine bay, boot area looking for missing or damage, I used to do a really thorough check for everything from scratches and chips to missing keys/bookpacks/spare wheels/tools, then finally interior, the front of the interior had grey active seats/doorcards but the rear had been fitted with dynamic blue seats and doorcards, I can only imagine it was going down the line and they didn't have the right interior for the rear so just threw in what they had to get it away, it must have missed QC as nothing was missing, or being Italy if it was after lunch the QC guy was probably drunk.
A couple of years later I checked a 147 off that had been a special order, we usually just ordered from stock, give Alfa their due generally they built good stock cars in good colours and spec so was always easy to sell one of those to a customer wanting a new car, it was only when they started to run a model out and offered huge percentages across them that you had to scrape the barrel and try to sell JRG base models with the biggest engine available, but anyway this special order car came in that I had been waiting around 2-3 months for from memory, checked it over got to the boot and sat on top of the spare wheel is a ciabatta with a sliced beef tomato in it, I can only imagine some poor guy was working on it on the line while eating his lunch, put it down turned round and when he turned back the car was gone!
No-one outside the industry would believe these things happen, but they are surprisingly common, it really is an industry of cowboys (like the salesman who ordered a 3 door instead of a 5 door and at hand over told the elderly owners who noticed his error he had already ordered the rear doors and they would arrive in parts in about 2 weeks, 1 week after he left of course).
Good times though I look back at them fondly.
wildoliver said:
(like the salesman who ordered a 3 door instead of a 5 door and at hand over told the elderly owners who noticed his error he had already ordered the rear doors and they would arrive in parts in about 2 weeks, 1 week after he left of course).
There is no way that is true. Even the dumbest customer would see through that.InitialDave said:
kev b said:
There was a story years ago that VW Golfs were being delivered with chromed door handles on one side and black on the other, does anyone know if this was true?
Buster73 said:
A large car manafacturer in the NE of England fitted the wrong alloy wheels to a lot of cars due for export many moons ago.
A mate of mine went down to Teeside with a team of lads and the correct wheels and changed them over at the dockside.
OT. The same company where I heard a new car was being driven into the holding yard one winter morning and hit some ice.....bang bang bang bang bang bang into a row of other just built cars.A mate of mine went down to Teeside with a team of lads and the correct wheels and changed them over at the dockside.
I worked at the Toyota Burnaston plant for 8 years in QA and seen lots of accidents and mishaps highlights were a new starter who got in a vehicle on the end of line, put it in reverse and floored it! He hit the car behind him then that one rolled into the one behind in at so on.. Total 7 cars with bumper damage lol also saw a chap drive a car down into an alignment pit because he steered too much whilst driving on! Car was a write off and the wheel alignment equipment was kaput too..
Then moved to JLR in Speke for 2 years for the launch of the Evoque and highlights there were viewing a dealer rejected car for "soiling" upon viewing the car it looked like some blokes had a proper 8 hour session in the car, there were cans of beers stuffed under the seats fag burns and ash everywhere and even a half eaten pizza! The white leather interior was ruined.
Last post in automotive was at Aston Martin, Gaydon before I moved into aerospace but this facility was brilliant the production line was always very clean and the guys and girls on the line actually took pride in their work. Whilst you had your dinner you could the ogle the metal on display or take a mooch and look at the race cars on display which included a One-77. Pistonhead heaven
Then moved to JLR in Speke for 2 years for the launch of the Evoque and highlights there were viewing a dealer rejected car for "soiling" upon viewing the car it looked like some blokes had a proper 8 hour session in the car, there were cans of beers stuffed under the seats fag burns and ash everywhere and even a half eaten pizza! The white leather interior was ruined.
Last post in automotive was at Aston Martin, Gaydon before I moved into aerospace but this facility was brilliant the production line was always very clean and the guys and girls on the line actually took pride in their work. Whilst you had your dinner you could the ogle the metal on display or take a mooch and look at the race cars on display which included a One-77. Pistonhead heaven
I've worked in manufacturing all my days, albeit not automotive.
At the end of the day the factory producing the goods don't really give a feck about quality. It's all about the numbers and the profit margin. High volume plus low cost = win.
I've witnessed first hand many attempts to focus on quality but it always affects the numbers so it very quickly gets ignored.
At the end of the day the factory producing the goods don't really give a feck about quality. It's all about the numbers and the profit margin. High volume plus low cost = win.
I've witnessed first hand many attempts to focus on quality but it always affects the numbers so it very quickly gets ignored.
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