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tambuja assembly plant
Page 15
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Not content with renewing its range of Corsa-based vans, GM has also corn?led the $120m (185m), two-year revamp of the Azambuja assembly plant, near ;bon. Flexibility is now the keyword, with the plant able to produce a number of dy types simultaneously. During our visit, production of Corsa cars was being 'Lind down to make room for the beginning of production of the Combo passenger rsion (not destined for the UK at present).
Around half a million parts from more than 570 suppliers arrive at Azambuja ich day on 45 trucks and one train; they are assembled to produce 304 complete hides. As well as the familiar Vauxhall and Opel brands, Azambuja's output is so badged Holden and Chevrolet as 95% is exported to no less than 54 different ■ untries; the UK being the largest customer.
The plant, originally built to assemble Bedford trucks in 1963, now has nearly 0,000m2 under cover, including a new paint shop fed by a 10-storey 120-body lifer store. The body and final assembly areas have been totally overhauled and elude what is known as a Framing II Gate work station, where six robots ;semble the main body components with 286 welds in two minutes—the first time is system has been used on lower cost vehicles.
Overall, increased use of robotics, particularly on the more ergonomically iallenging tasks, means that the number of automated operations has risen om 22% to 50%. Many more sub-assemblies, such as dashboards and bumpers, ,e now built off-line.