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Vrrrooom! What does it take to build a car?
Ever wonder how a car is made? Today we visit a manufacturing plant to learn the first steps. Part 1 of two.
By Text by Steven Ellis | Staffand Photos by Mary Knox Merrill | Staff
from the June 19, 2007 edition
Page 1 of 3
Belvidere, Ill. - By the time you finish reading this article, seven more Dodge Calibers will be built at the Chrysler Assembly Plant in Belvidere. That's one completed every 42 seconds. Not bad considering that just 19 hours earlier, each car was little more than steel and roughly 1,800 different parts.
The Caliber is one of three models of automobile produced by the Chrysler Group at the massive facility, which is the size of about 77 football fields.
Every day more than 3,400 people and 900 robots work in three shifts around the clock to transform those parts into nearly 1,450 Dodge Calibers, Jeep Patriots, and Jeep Compasses.
Those automobiles travel some 11 miles of track along the assembly line, a series of automated lifts and conveyor belts that carry them to and from workstations, where the cars are put together.
Teams of workers and robots cut, mold, shape, weld, sand, wipe, paint, attach, move, wire, polish, and inspect the cars at various stages of the process.
If all goes well, the line doesn't stop except for a few scheduled breaks and when workers take a brief lunch. Every man, woman, and machine must work fast. That's because in order to build a car, teamwork is essential. If one aspect of the assembly process breaks down, production usually stops in other areas of the plant as well.
The workers depend on one another – and on the machines that help them build the automobiles. Each person's role is important, just like the role teammates play on a sports team.
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