Apr 21/23
What Are the Main Types of Production Lines in Automotive Manufacturing?
Did you know that the very first assembly line in the automotive industry dates all the way back to 1901? Olds Motor Works, now known as Oldsmobile, used this assembly line to mass-produce its brand-new Curved Dash. It was a huge success.
That year, the automaker was able to sell more than 600 Curved Dashes. Within just 3 years, that number increased to over 5,000 Curved Dashes due in large part to the success of the assembly lines the company used.
Other automakers like Ford soon followed suit, and before long, they were using them to mass-produce way more vehicles than they could previously. These automotive production lines helped make vehicles as popular as they would become.
Car production lines are still used for vehicle manufacturing, too. Here are the main types of modern car production lines.
Classic
The average vehicle has about 30,000 parts in it. In a classic production line, many of these individual parts are added to a car one by one as it works its way down an assembly line.
Classic production lines are the kinds of production lines that were used by automakers like Olds and Ford. They’ve been around since the beginning of vehicle manufacturing. They feature individual employees putting together vehicles piece by piece with each of them responsible for working on a specific part of a car.
Automated
Automated production lines are a lot like classic production lines in that they call for different components of vehicles to be added to them as they move down the assembly. But there is one key difference that sets them apart from classic production lines.
These lines still have some human workers working on them. But they’re mostly made up of machines that come together to create cars, trucks, and SUVs.
These machines actually work in the same way that humans would in many ways when they’re working on production lines. But there is less room for error when machines are used. Machines are also able to handle hazardous materials without companies having to worry about what might happen to them.
Lean Production Lines
There was one major problem that surfaced when assembly lines started to pop up more than a century ago. Some workers would face physical and even mental challenges as a result of tackling the same exact tasks over and over and over again each day.
Lean production lines aimed to solve that problem. Rather than assigning one worker to work in the same spot on an assembly line each day, there is a team of workers put at each station. These team members tackle tasks together and move around to do different tasks at different times.
These lines keep workers stay fresher when they’re working on production lines. They also keep things moving along more efficiently.
Assembly Lines Continue to Evolve All the Time
Each of these three types has impacted the automotive industry in a different way. They’ve also continued to evolve over time as vehicle manufacturing has changed.
As a global Tier 1 automotive supplier, Mayco International can help your company to keep evolving. We produce some of the best parts in the auto industry for automakers.
Contact us today to learn more about our services.