Human Bees.

[Dishmop]

http://www.dump.com/2011/07/15/fascinating-1936-footage-of-car-assembly-line-video/

H&S
Repetitive Strain Injury.
Boredom.

 

[Finman]

.
A few decades later

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1-J_EzKm_70[/ame]

 

[Dishmop]

and no men standing between moving machines putting bolts into holes..

 

[theeggman]

In a previous life I worked for Pressed Steel Fisher/British Leyland in Swindon building MGB bodies. Late 70's, still all hand built, CO2 + spotwelds,(transformers hanging over your shoulder).
The jigs were so old old that further down the line where the doors were fitted there was a ram that pushed the door down so that it would close.
Equipment breakdowns were timed to the second and the relevant number of bodies were reduced from the days output.
When I started we were on "Measured Day work"which meant that we had X bodies to produce that shift. However the rest of the crew were ex piece work and therefore only worked at one speed.
We finished our total by lunch time and I became an expert in darts and cribbage for the afternoon
We did suggest that we would produce 100% (without allowing for breakdowns) but the powers that be said if we produced 100% Abingdon/Cowley couldn't cope!!!

Is this why we don't have a BRITISH car industry?

Tim

 

[AnotherNewBee]

However the rest of the crew were ex piece work and therefore only worked at one speed.
Tim

I'm sure I recall piece-workers having two speeds.

Fast, for when there was no management about.

Slow, for when the Time and Motion guy had his stopwatch out.

 

[theeggman]

I joined B.L. after the time & motion bodies had been around.
We had xx number of cars to produce in the 8hrs.
Most of the guys on the line were ex piece work 'operatives' and we had to work at their speed.
In the real world if I had a spot welder that 'failed'.Fred further down the line would cover what I'd missed .Failing that we had Bodies on the end of the line to pick up any errors. If we had a problem we had a blue felt-tip pen and we would flag -up issues so that the man on the end of the line would rectify them.

Tim

 

[oliver90owner]

Tim,

Changed your name since then, Bob? While the Japanese were using robots to make cars, it was the in-joke that BL used Roberts instead. Probably even a TV skit on it somewhere

 

[theeggman]

I was there in the era of Red Robbo.
You never knew when you went into work if you were going to be sent home as another plant had gone on strike and our production wasn't required.
In some instances bodies that we produced that couldn't go anywhere were lined around the factory roads for weeks. Bare steel with a very thin spray of oil, instant rust particularly inside box sections.

 

[For want of a better word]

Have you seen the sea of newly imported cars as you drive up the motorway past Bristol...?
Year on year it never seems to shrink... but given the poor state of our economy where are all those Roarorbotically engineered cars going?

I thought the W number plate stood for Westcountry... but lately I have seen cars coming in from up the line with strange.. letters.. two numbers and three letters on their registration plates... what is that all about?

 

[drstitson]

"Probably even a TV skit on it somewhere"

early series of NTNOCN.

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FU-tuY0Z7nQ[/ame]

 

[For want of a better word]

"probably even a tv skit on it somewhere"

early series of ntnocn.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fu-tuy0z7nq

!que?

 

[For want of a better word]

http://www.youtube.com/user/TheCornishBeeMan?feature=watch

Forget the robots !

 

[Finman]

.
Hand made?

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sk9EVIGw5XI&feature=related[/ame]

 

[madasafish]

Hello Eggman
I worked in Longbridge in the mid 1970s... your posts take me back a LONG time...

How not to run a business...