During the tumultuous days
leading up to the sale of the Rover Group in May 2000, the manufacturing and
logistics staff at Longbridge were suddenly given 48 hours to answer the most
extraordinary question they had ever been asked.
"Can we move Rover 75 production from Oxford to Longbridge?"
The subsidiary questions being:
" If so, can sales be sustained during the changeover, and can product quality
of at least the high level already achieved at Oxford be assured from
Longbridge?"
A further factor to consider was that in parallel with the Rover 75 moving to
Longbridge, the build facilities for the new Mini, (then in the early
commissioning stages at Longbridge), would have to be transferred the other way
to Oxford.
No group of people in the world motor industry were better qualified, by
experience and motivation, to answer such
vital questions in such short time. Longbridge, over the years, has achieved
some remarkable feats of new model introduction under difficult circumstances, a
fairly recent example being the 1995 production launches of the Rover 200, 400
and MGF models in a single year. Nevertheless, such previous exercises
had at least been planned over many months. This ‘bolt from the blue’ proposal
would mean that the massively complex process would have to start from scratch
literally within hours of the deal being signed. The production engineers would
have been fully justified in quoting that familiar phrase: "The impossible we
achieve today; miracles take a little longer". But they didn’t say that. In
their view, all they had to do in 48 hours was to establish that it wasn’t
actually impossible. Having committed themselves to a ‘yes’, they reasoned, they
could then get down to working out the best way to successfully achieve the huge
task.
Following the creation of MG
Rover Group Ltd, an independent and medium sized British business, immediate
steps had to be taken to protect the continuity of Rover 75 supply during the
changeover period. It was calculated that the minimum possible gap between
production stopping at Oxford and the first cars coming off a Longbridge
assembly line was 11 weeks. Transfer and re-commissioning of the extensive and
complex bodyshell production equipment would inevitably take several weeks
longer. Oxford and all the Rover 75 suppliers were therefore asked to begin
working at full capacity to build up buffer stocks of complete cars and
electro-primed bodyshells. The stock of bodyshells would enable paint, trim and
final assembly to begin at Longbridge well in advance of re-starting bodyshell
production there; the built-up cars would keep the UK and export sales networks
working during the period covering the transfer and the careful ramp-up of
production at Longbridge.
Within a week of the deal, deliveries of bodyshells to
Longbridge began. In those few days, special transit/storage frames had been
designed, and the first batch made, to allow bodyshells to be transported six at
a time on flat bed trucks. During those early days, huge amounts of
brainstorming and lateral thinking went on at Longbridge to thrash out the
optimum plan for the entire MG Rover supply chain. For it was well understood
that any serious disruptions to production of any
of the models had serious implications not only for the new business, but also
for suppliers and dealers, world-wide.
The ‘easy’ way out would have been to establish the Rover 75 assembly line in
the newly expanded and re-built CAB 2 (Car Assembly Building), which had been
under preparation for new Mini production. This would have allowed existing
production facilities in CAB 1 to carry on building the Rover 25, Rover 45,
Classic Mini and MGF with little disruption during the transfer. However
attractive this route may have seemed in the short term, it was rejected
immediately on the grounds that the new CAB 2 capacity was too high for a
medium-volume car like the Rover 75. Even more importantly, MG Rover needed the
new high-volume CAB 2 facility as a centre-plank of its future model strategy. A
further, immediate benefit of keeping CAB 2 empty at this stage was that it
provided a large amount of the covered storage space needed for the temporary
buffer stock of Rover 75 bodyshells. While the bodyshell steel was well
protected by the phosphate pre-treatment and cathodic electrocoat primer applied
at Oxford, it was important to protect the primer coat itself from degradation
by UV rays. Special UV- filter plastic film was therefore used to wrap the
shells, like large sweets.
Having
established that Rover 75 would be assembled in CAB 1,
evaluation of various ways of doing this was carried out with
some urgency. The starting point was that the Rover 25 and the
45 each had their own dedicated tracks, while a single
mixed-build track produced the MGF and Classic Mini.
Because Longbridge had for decades been designated as a small
and medium car plant, no-one had remotely considered a
contingency plan for building an executive size car.
But one contingency that had
already been proven in outline was the possibility of running the 45 and the 25
together on the 25 track, should this ever have been necessary for capacity
reasons. Now there was a very different reason for doing this – and the
foreknowledge that it was feasible, saved vital planning time.
In itself, the transfer of the
Rover 45 to the Rover 25 line was a major engineering, logistics and employee
training exercise, and it had to be accepted that some loss of production would
be inevitable while it took place. The firm deadline for completing this first
stage of the project was the beginning of the summer shutdown, which was
extended from two to three weeks to accommodate the really heavy work of
installing a Rover 75 assembly line where the Rover 45 line had once been.
Up went the sheeting to seal off
and protect the production areas either side of the construction site and in
came the drills and excavators. Laying on civil engineering capacity of this
magnitude at short notice was by no means easy, as the summer months are always
the busiest times for such work, and in addition, considerable capacity was
already tied up in major projects in the industry. Nevertheless, all the
gigantic holes needed for the major items of new plant, (such as the robotic
glazing station and the two dynamic suspension alignment stations) were duly
dug, equipped with the necessary framing and services and concreted ready to
accept the transferred machinery, all within the tight timescale.
An excellent working
relationship was maintained with the BMW Oxford plant in co-ordinating the
wholesale ‘swap’ of production facilities. As a matter of deliberate policy,
Longbridge engineers carried out the dismantling work on the Rover 75 facilities
at Oxford as part of the process of learning how the entire ‘jigsaw puzzle’ went
together, and to build their sense of ownership of the new plant.
Among the equipment transferred
to Longbridge were 40 assistors – machines which carry the weight of heavier
components such as seats as they are positioned for assembly - and all the
advanced electronic testing stations for the sophisticated multiplex systems of
the Rover 75.
In establishing Rover 75 trim and assembly at Longbridge,
several changes were made to the build process to suit the new
location and to meet the new requirements of MG Rover in terms
of cost control and efficiency. At Oxford, there had been
extensive use of inter-process buffer stations, and a
BMW-influenced approach to manufacture, where the car is built
first and then ‘finessed’ or rectified. The Longbridge people
wanted to develop the philosophy they had established when
working with Honda, which was to put the emphasis,
Japanese-style, on ‘Right First Time’. This is an inherently
more efficient, lower cost route that ultimately delivers better
quality, because it involves less handling and re-working of the
product. Advantage was taken of the quality learning that had
already been achieved during the first year’s volume production
at Oxford, and special attention was paid to feedback received
from customer satisfaction issues from vehicles in service, so
that the re-born facility could start on the best possible
quality platform.
People outside the industry might be surprised to hear that several senior
members of the Longbridge Rover 75 team spent some time with their opposite
numbers in the Jaguar S type factory at Castle Bromwich, studying the build
processes used there. Such co-operation between rival car companies is quite
normal.
In parallel with the
re-organisation of CAB 1, changes had to be made to the painting facilities to
accommodate the new car. First the Rover 45 bodyshells were transferred from the
No. 2 Paint Shop to No. 3. This cleared the No.2 Shop for conversion to Rover 75
painting, and it was shut down for eight weeks for the work to be carried out.
Although this didn’t involve the kind of deep excavations that were needed in
CAB 1, it was still a major re-tooling programme with modifications being
carried out to body slings and conveyors, and re-programming of robotic
sprayers, plus changes to the paint colour ranges and the addition of a new
anti-corrosion waxing booth.
While all this was going on, the
people who normally painted cars in the No 2 shop were given useful employment
preparing and painting their own workplace, so that it would be a lighter,
cleaner working environment in which to produce the highest standards of finish
on Rover 75s. The intensive effort was rewarded when the first Rover 75
bodyshells came out of the updated paint shop clean and gleaming.
Transferring
a production line isn’t just about civil engineering and production hardware -
it is also very much about the people who will operate and maintain it. Many
Longbridge people had already worked on the Rover 75 at Oxford following the run-out
of the Rover 100 Series, and wherever possible, this experience was fed into the
new assembly line project. Over 400 people who had been working on the previous
Rover 45 line underwent a nine-week training programme, which included a three
week spell for each of them working on the Rover 75 line at Oxford before it
shut down. A core group of 25 skills trainers were themselves trained at Oxford
so that they could then run training sessions at Longbridge.
A ‘pilot production’ facility in the Longbridge Methods Build department was
used for intensive five-day ‘hands-on’ training modules. These included a full
strip-down and re-build of a Rover 75, familiarising each employee with the
advanced components, processes and tools used to build the car. Broader issues
were also covered, with safety, housekeeping and quality given special emphasis.
The importance of customer focus was stressed throughout, with presentations of
data from warranty analysis and consumer surveys such as those run by J D Power.
MG Rover’s business needs were explained – quality levels at least as high as
those established at Oxford, with higher levels of efficiency based on ‘Right
First Time’. The new assembly line features the ‘Andon’ system, whereby anyone
who is unhappy with the operation they have carried out, or who spots a problem
with a previous operation, can stop the track for the item to be resolved before
it goes any further. This system, as can be imagined, creates a high-pressure
discipline for effective problem resolution – it was essential that all involved
understood their role in using and responding to it.
Another facet covered in the Rover 75 training programme was multi-skilled
maintenance for the high technology production equipment. With the assistance of
Dudley College, an established training partner for Longbridge, NVQ-level
maintenance courses have been held on site.
Just as important as technical proficiency, in MG Rover’s view, is enthusiasm
and motivation. Every Rover 75 build employee participated in ride and drive
exercises with the 75 range of models, followed by static evaluations and
discussions from a customer viewpoint. Everyone could then understand what was
so special about the car, and be enthusiastic about building it with care and
commitment.
One of the most complex aspects
of the transfer was the re-organisation of the component supply logistics,
especially during the changeover period. Even the transfer of Rover 45 to a
common assembly line with Rover 25 involved an extensive logistics change
programme. At first sight, it would have been simpler to stop Rover 45
production while the Rover 75 started up, but it was quickly realised that many
suppliers to the Rover 45 could not have sustained such a gap in their revenue,
and a way had to be found to minimise loss of production and consequent impact
on suppliers. By dint of close teamwork between Longbridge and the suppliers,
this initial phase of the overall project was achieved with as few business
difficulties as possible.
The next stage was to replicate
the component supply arrangement that had been established for the Rover 75 at
Oxford. This was a huge task, involving some 2500 individual components or
sub-assemblies and 70 suppliers which were all entirely new to Longbridge. In
addition, the BOM (Bill of Material) used at Oxford, having been originated from
scratch for the Rover 75 had to be sourced to Longbridge, and there certainly
was not time or resource available to change the Longbridge systems during the
transfer. Further complications surrounded the suppliers who were actually based
on site at Oxford, carrying out late configuration work on sub-assemblies such
as bumpers, fascias and headlinings. Ways had to be found to locate these
operations on site at Longbridge and plan third-party component sequencing to
match component supply to vehicle build schedules.
At the shutdown of Rover 75
production at Oxford in July, arrangements had to be made for the collection and
storage of all the special containers (trolleys, stillages, racks etc.) used to
transport components to the assembly line, and the subsequent re-issuing of the
containers to the respective suppliers before Rover 75 production started at
Longbridge. Because of the lead time needed to refill the supply chain,
Longbridge logistics staff had to inform suppliers in June what the build
programme would be on start up in October. This was done via the Oxford order
system, controlled from Longbridge, while a similar co-operative exercise was
taking place to build up component orders for the new Mini at Oxford.
As the geography of Longbridge
is very different to that created for the Rover 75 at Oxford, changes had to be
made to the lineside delivery procedures, with in-plant lorry movements being
required to feed components to CAB 1 from interim distribution centres on site.
As far as possible, however, the Oxford-style trolley containers have been
retained for conveying parts within CAB 1, so that no fork lift truck work is
needed.
One vital aspect of this exercise was to convince all suppliers that Longbridge
would
achieve its ambitious timing for restart of Rover 75 production. Quite
understandably, many suppliers may have had their doubts. Over a two week
period, therefore, all suppliers were invited to attend a seminar at Longbridge,
at which the new supply strategies were presented and discussed. Suppliers were
very clearly instructed not to ‘second-guess’ the timing plan, as it would
obviously be jeopardised if any components were absent at the critical time.
By the early October deadline,
the first Longbridge-built Rover 75s started to roll off the assembly line.
There were still some interim working arrangements in place at this stage, as
some of the final facility installation work had been planned for the one-week
Autumn shutdown at the end of October, but the gradual build-up of production
volumes was under way, and on time.
Over in Longbridge West Works,
the bodyshell multiwelders and welding robots were being moved into place, with
the Body-in-White engineers working to a schedule that will see Rover 75
bodyshells going into volume production early in 2001. As with all the work at
Longbridge on this extraordinary project, provision is being made to accommodate
the Rover 75 Tourer model, planned for production in mid 2001.
Even the most battle-hardened manufacturing experts at
Longbridge admit that the past year has been completely unprecedented for the
sheer intensity and difficulty of the work they had to do. For most of them, it
has been a matter of seven day weeks and much midnight oil, but one theme comes
out loud and clear : they enjoyed taking on and mastering this massive challenge
as a team. They were refreshed by the empowerment that came from MG Rover’s
drastically-shortened lines of command. Although careful budgetary control of
the work was required as it progressed, the ‘what’ and ‘how’ decisions were
taken quickly and on the spot. Although no one has any illusions about the work
that lies ahead, there is a quiet confidence and determination at Longbridge,
and a willingness to go on working miracles.
