If your design is to be manufactured by continuous production (sometimes called LINE production) the factory / production line will operate continuously day and night. In this way thousands of your product can be manufactured. All machines are arranged on the factory floor so that the product is passed from machine to machine.

CASE STUDY - CAR BODY CONTINUOUS PRODUCTION

Take time to look at the body of a car. It is a complex piece of engineering. It is designed to be strong, light and to prevent rust even in the worst weather.

THE CAR BODY IS DESIGNED.

A design team will take months to design a car body. Prototypes will be made and tested to ensure that they can withstand extreme conditions like rough roads and to ensure that they will not rust.

ZINC COATING OF STEEL SHEET.

A car body is made from steel sheet. To help prevent it rust it is coated with zinc. Rolled steel sheet is ‘dipped’ into a number of zinc plating cells after it has been cleaned. This is a continuous process.

CAR PANELS ARE PRESSED TO SHAPE.

Once coated with zinc, the steel is pressed into panel shapes for various parts of a car body. The ‘press’ is very powerful and is kept behind safety cages so that people cannot get close. When a sheet of steel is pressed into a shape it is automatically moved out of the way.

PANEL PARTS ARE JOINED TOGETHER.

Panels are usually made up of two sides. They are joined by glue and then pressed together.

THE PANELS ARE WELDED TOGETHER FORMING A CAR BODY

Robots are used to weld all the panels together. This is done with great precision and can be carried out twenty four hours a day. The robots do not get tired and only need maintenance occasionally.

‘BODY IN WHITE’ IS CLEANED.

The car body is cleaned very carefully before it can be painted. At this stage the body is called ‘the body in white’. Without careful cleaning the paint will not take to the steel body properly and it will have a poor finish.

THE CAR BODY IS SEALED.

The underneath of the car body is sealed with a PVC sealant. This will prevent water getting into areas where it will eventually cause rust. Eventually, the entire underneath of the car is sealed. This helps prevent stones from the road causing damage.

CAR BODY SPRAYED

The car body is now ready for painting. The paint is applied with special sprays which coat the steel several times with primer paint, coloured paint and a clear finish.

WAX IS INJECTED INTO HOLES AND PANELS

Wax is injected into cavities which could hold rain water. The wax stops water entering and so the car body will not rust for many years

QUALITY CONTROL PROTOTYPE TESTING.

New models of car are tested on the test track. The aim is to make the car body rust. The test results of the tests are used by designers to improve the design so that rust will eventually be a thing of the past.