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HOW THEY DO IT AT KEW

22nd January 1960
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Page 92, 22nd January 1960 — HOW THEY DO IT AT KEW
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DODGE trucks have been built at the Kew, Surrey, factory of Dodge Brothers (Britain) Ltd., since 1930 when they became associated with Chrysler Motors Limited. Three years later the first British Dodge chassis, a petrol-engined 5 tonner, made its debut. Today a comprehensive range of trucks

designed to meet the exacting requirements of British transport operators isproduced there, British in conception, entirely British in content and built throughout by British labour. By their performance in service, Dodge trucks have established for themselves an enviable reputation for dependability and durability amongst road transport users who are nowhere more critical than they are in Great Britain. Since the end of hostilities in 1945, this reputation has spread abroad and become world-wide. Kew-built trucks are now exported, either as complete vehicles or in knocked down form ready for subsequent assembly at their destination, to more than 50 other countries, sometimes under the names De Soto and Fargo as well as Dodge. Indeed for several years, the company's contribution to the British export drive has probably been proportionally greater than the majority of other British truck manufacturers. " In 1957, for instance, 86 per cent of the production of the Kew plant was shipped overseas. For Dodge this is by no means an exceptional achievement. The Company's export record over the years has, in fact, been an outstandingly • fine one of which it has every reason to be proud.

;ut the position has not been allowed to lain static in any• sense either from the ign or manufacturing pointsof view. gress has continued in many different :ctions. Year by year the demand for. dge vehicles both from the home market I from abroad has increased steadily and 1956 to meet the situation the company barked on a considerable programme of ansioo. The factory premises were ended and the manufacturing facilities arged and modernized the extensions ludiag the provision of a new adminative office block, a completely new and Isiderably bigger stores, from which spare. is are supplied, and an improved exiledntal department. Another important Edon was that of completely new machine assembly lines devoted to the production the Dodge six-cylinder petrol engine, ncipally for shipment to Australia. To 'et the demand for increased quantities of terials and other supplies a new Goods vards was also built.

3utput practically doubled

In all the covered floor area of the 14 acre a at Kew has been practically doubled and tell new plant and machinery installed. Klay the oatput of Dodge vehicles is aning at twice the rate it was a year or so D, while the quality of the finished product, iich has played such an important Part in anding and preserving its reputation for lability and overall economy, has never en higher.

The mirin artery of the production system the power drivenconVeyor line on Wliith, tge Jay stage, chassis are progressively iembled as they are .moved forward , wards ultimate completion. , As part of the pension Of the manufacturing . facilities is vehicle assembly line has been extended length. At the same time the closely: rioCiated sub4siernIaly lines from which it fed with parts and components have been Organized, the outcome being the achieve

ment of a smoother and more efficient flow of the production' process as a whole and the increase in productive capacity referred to earlier.

Particularly impressive are those of the subassembly sections concerned with the construction of the modern all-steel driver's cab structuresand with the preparation and treatment to which they and the other pressed steel components of Dodge vehicles are sUbjected.. The equipment provided and the methods employed reflect in a most convincing manner one aspect of the great . care; " taken ,throughout the production process to. ensure the durability of the finished product.. Here it may he interjected. that although. production Is. in many respects., highly mechania:ed, the individual skill of the trained craftsnian is retained and utilized to its fullest extent; bodge vehicles can thus justly be described :as. hand-built in the best sense of the term. Two patterns of Gib for Dodge trucks are in current production; the nonnal control and the forward control models. Both structures are manufactured from pressed steel panels welded together in accordance with accepted modern practice. Electric and gas welding are employed in the process and the work of fabrication is carried out with the aid of accurately prepared jigs and fixtures to ensure uniformity and interchangeability, individual sets of assembly jigs being installed for each of the two types of cab. In each instance the various prefabricated parts of the cab structure are appropriately located in relation to one another on the jig frameworks and firmly clamped in position ready for the welders to proceed. At this stage of the construction, portable electric welding apparatus is largely emplOyed as being the most suitable and effective. Subsequently, however, skilled gas welders complete the structures and attend to those portions which are otherwise inaccessible to ensure that no joint is overlooked and satisfactory completion of all sections of the assembly is attained. Then after further examination and appropriate preparation the cab structures are passed to a continuously moving conveyor where doors are hung and the assembly of the shells is completed.

Cab conveyor line

On the cab conveyor line, the steelwork is then throughly degreased, and the structures are moved steadily along through a series of processes. First they pass through a drying oven, then through an enclosed booth where all surfaces are sprayed with a priming coat of paint. It should be noted, as another example of individual treatment, that the paint spray is applied by hand so as to eliminate any chance of any portion receiving insufficient coverage. The speed of the conveyor is such as to give. the operator ample time to complete the work thoroughly. Finally having received the spray treatment, the cabs are taken by the conveyor through ovens maintained at the correct temperature to ensure proper baking of the priming coat. The result is that the cab emerges with the steehlvork adequately covered with a hard

protective coating which is so essential to guard it against subsequent damage and corrosive influences. By its nature thc priming coat also forms, of course, a good basic key for the application of the final finishing coats of paint.

Full protective treatment

Associated with the cab structure treatment line is a second continuously moving conveyor. On this the detachable sections which are required to complete the cab assembly and other sheet metal parts go through a course of treatment similarly progressive and thorough in character. The items concerned include front panels, bonnet tops and sides as well as valances and wings. They are suspended from the conveyor track and passed successively through degreasing, washing, drying and spray painting processes and finally through a 90 ft. stoving oven to give the protective coating its requisite hard surface.

Chassis frames, springs. and, axles also • receive basic treatment against corrosive , damage at-one stage during the assetnbly of the vehicles, the chassis conveyor line passing through a booth where a heavy protective coating is applied by spray. The same care taken to-prolong the life of the product in

service can be seen in the treatment of the timber bodies which are constructed in another department of the factory. A range of dropsided truck bodies and tipper bodies of standard sizes is manufactured at Kew and the timber is thoroughly protected against the effects of moisture and the metal work against rust wherever necessary to achieve durability of the finished product.

Export packing

If a reminder were needed of the magnitude of the part played by the Dodge organization in the vital sphere of export, it is supplied by the K.D. packing department. The initials

K.D., of course, denote knocked down, the established term to describe the disassembled condition in which chassis are packed for export ready for assembly at their destination. Not all Dodge vehicles for export are despatched in this manner, but a large proportion are and in particular those destined for the more distant countries. The continuous activity in this department and the varied names of the destinations stencilled on the completed packing cases afford impressive visual evidence of the extent of

the Dodge export business. Place liana: range from those as far apart as the Argentin and Singapore.

A highly specialized organization i evident in the K.D. packing department The regular routine of collecting mgethe complete sets of parts and sub-assembli checking them, protecting them agains damage in transit and then fitting them, I& the parts of a jig-saw puzzle, into the appropriate wooden cases in lots of three o six, demands special skill and experience.

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Organisations: Federal Government
Locations: Surrey

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