Germany trip part 2, the Porsche factory

[Scott=John=Mockry%Mktg%TM@banyan.bv.tek.com]

Hello, Germany trip part 2

Tuesday was a National Holiday so I was unable to visit the Mercedes 
museum or the factory in Stuttgart but on Wed. morning I visited the 
Porsche Factory. The tour had around 8 people in each group,one english 
and one german speaking. It lasted around 1 1/2 hours. One gentlemen from 
the U.S showed up without a reservation for the tour but was allowed to 
attend. The tour guide made a point of saying they normally don't allow 
people without a reservation. One couple in my group was picking up a new 
Porsche. I took some notes during the tour and here is what I wrote down.

Production quantity per day 
80 of the 911  model six cylinder  cars (The  new 993 model) 
8 of the 968 model four cylinder cars
2 of the 928 model eight cylinder  cars
12 of the Audi S4 Avant (station wagon) with modified five cylinder 315 HP 
engines and Porsche brake system.(There was a nice blue one parked nearby)
12 of the 500E modified Mercedes sedans

The tour guide in his heavy German accent mentioned that Porsche has built 
over 1 million cars since the first car built in 1948. He said "If someone 
tries to sell you a Porsche older than 1948, don't buy it". He commented 
there are approximately 850 thousand Porsches still around with 600 
thousand being  driven on a daily basis. 

Porsche has recently revamped their production facility with the help of a 
japanese consultant incorporating the japanese kanban (just in time) 
system which reduced the 911 assembly time from 120 hours to around 80 
hours. The entrance to the factory has a display with a engine block, 
crankshaft, rods and pistons for the 968 , 911, and 928 with graphs 
showing the HP and Torque outputs for each engine. The guide made a point 
of boasting about how large the 4 cylinder displacement is and how the new 
engines have more HP and are more fuel efficient etc.  The 911 engine 
assembly line is U shaped with a slow moving conveyor system that moves 
the engine past many assembly stations. The moving conveyor  holds the 
engine during assembly and has two moving racks next to each engine that 
hold all the larger pieces required to assemble the engine. Previously the 
engine assembly person worked from a fixed position and had to walk back 
and forth to a parts bin and select each part. The engine assembly workers 
are rotated around to each assembly station and every worker is capably of 
assembling the complete engine from start to finish. It takes 2 hours to 
build the 4 cylinder engine, 3 hours to build the six cylinder 911 engine, 
and 4 hours to build the 8 cylinder 928 engine. They mentioned that each 
crankshaft journal is color coded and has several different size bearings 
available to blueprint the engine clearances (similar to the Honda 
engines). Each engine is tested on a dyno for a total of 32 minutes. Our 
group was able to see one of the 911 engines being tested on the dyno. The 
engine is warmed up for 20 minutes and checked for leaks or abnormal 
noises and then run at 5000 RPM to check the torque output and then raised 
to 6100 RPM to check the horsepower output. The engine is inside a small 
room and the operator works behind a glass panel and he has a large lever 
that controls the throttle.  The horsepower output must be within 2% on 
the lower range (270 horsepower nominal) or the engine is  checked to find 
the reason for the low horsepower. They indicated that the average output 
is closer to 280 HP.  They have 15 engine test beds (dynos) to handle the 
different engines they produce. It was amazing seeing so many 911, 928 and 
968 engines in various stages of assembly. The amount of $$ in that one 
area was staggering. We then headed for the final assembly area. 

The final assembly area is located in a different building and is not very 
large with two rows of 911 vehicles passing by us at chest height on 
conveyor. He pointed out the subtle differences between the U.S. versions 
and cars for Germany and other countries (center mounted brake light U.S. 
and side marker lights for Europe etc). We walked past racks of various 
vehicle parts, painted brake calipers etc. The vehicle final assembly 
process is done by a 6 person team.  The completed engine and transmission 
assembly (engine, transmission and front differential on 911 C4 vehicles) 
is installed as one unit in under 5 minutes. Porsche makes available an 
option which has buttons mounted in the steering wheel to control shifting 
with  their optional Tip-tronic semi-automatic gear box. The guide 
mentioned that Porsche allows the customer to select custom colors for  
both the interior and exterior of the car, (for an extra fee of course). 
So if you want to purchase a car that matches your wife's finger nail 
polish you can bring in a sample and Porsche will take care of the rest.  
There are over 2000 colors available with this system. It takes 2-3 days 
to paint the car, with the color spraying of the car still being done by 
hand without the aid of a robot. Only the primer and undercoating is done 
by a robot. This allows the paint to sprayed in different proportions in 
certain areas of the car that need it.  After the car is built it is test 
driven by professional drivers on public roads for 60-80 Km to ensure 
every system is working correctly. This is done all year round even when 
there is snow and ice on the roads. The tour guide pointed out that the 
911 car does 0-200 Km (~125 MPH) in 20 seconds and 200 to 0 under braking 
in 5.7 seconds. The brakes have 5 times the power output of the engine! He 
said "You must be very careful when following a Porsche on the Autobahn 
because of the superior braking system. Most Porsche drivers are 
rear-ended by cars with inferior brakes". That's all for now. Next episode 
I will describe the Audi and BMW factories.