V1955GM4
I left Mary, Julia and Monica at our home in Mission KS
and headed west in our 1951 Oldsmobile, destination South Gate CA and an
unknown future.
Driving in the night across desert country with Barstow my
next stop it seemed I’d never get there. I arrived about 11:00 pm, checked into
a motel and was soon asleep. The next
morning headed from Riverside to the LA area, again I thought I would never
reach my destination as I encountered a never ending string of cities with
names unknown to me such as Anaheim. I
again checked into a motel and reported in at the plant the next day. My what a change from the huge former North
American B-25 plant in KC KS taken over by GM.
The South Gate plant was an old one built a prior automotive assembly
tradition. The market for
Buick-Oldsmobile-Pontiac cars was booming and they added a second shift. I was told I was to be on the second shift,
and asked to report back at the start of that shift.
I
spent the remaining part of the day looking about, and finding a place to
stay. There was a room for rent in near
by town of Vernon, which was another of the string of towns from down town LA
to Long Beach by the sea. I looked it
over and moved my stuff in. It was the
home of a retired couple, the man was in poor health and the lady of the house
was the one I spoke with. She was a
nice lady and the home very neat, it reminded me of a 1930’s homes with it’s
nice but out dated furniture decorated with home made coverings.
Reporting
to work I knew things would be much different, when I drove into the designated
parking lot. My but it was tiny, on the
east side of the main office, I had to wiggle my car into a place, there were
no parking place designation. This lack
of order, alerted my subconscious.
There was a front office area, and behind it a large
covered production area and behind that a back lot used as need be to complete
autos if something had been missed. The
first thing I noticed was the floor – similar to what I’d seen in Grand Rapids
Michigan. It looked as if they had cut
telephone poles, treated with creosote, and planted them like bricks filled in
with asphalt, I was told this was so metal parts would not be damaged if they
fell on the floor. It was awkward
moving carts over this irregular floor.
I was assigned to work with Joe Grainger who took me out
and showed me the plant as he went about his job. Joe was near retirement age, very competent, never complained –
but I was to find always fearful he would be laid off before eligible to
collect his retirement benefits – automotive process engineers did not belong
to a union.
The plant was laid out is build up areas like for bodies,
chassis and engines. The chassis fed in
first toward the main assembly line, then engines were swung from engine build
up in a sweeping arch by an operator skilled at manipulating the remote
controlled hoist. The engines were
lowered down and dropped into place just a we bit in advance of the body’s
coming down from a second floor level.
When the chassis, engine, body had mated the assembly passed the new
wheel tire supply. Front and rear
wheels were mounted and the spare put in the trunk. The assembly, which now looked like a car, rolled on it’s wheels
over a long pit from which workers attached parts from down below. From there the line snaked about coming down
another line where body and hood fitters made contours match and bumpers were
added. All this was very dynamic, with
people and parts in constant motion, with sounds of pounding mixed with the
whirr of air-motor powered tools. It
all seemed very efficient until you knew enough to see or anticipate
problems. It became my job to respond
to request from workers, directions from Joe or his supervisor.
Body
Fitters: A fellow fitting fenders to bodies showed me his badly bent bar
and said I need a new one, one that will not bend. I went to the tool room and asked if they had any 4130 chrome-molly
steel bar. The guy looked at me,
surprised at the specific request and use of metallurgy nomenclature. He got some hex bar from some stock and said
and what do you want done with this? I
said I’d be back with a sample of for a pattern, and returned with the bent up
bar which had a point on one end and a 90 degree bent flat piece with a slot in
it. The craftsman immediately
recognized it and said we usually make these from 1020 steel, so they will bend
before doing damage to a car. I said yeah,
that’s what the guy on the line told me, but he specifically wants something
that would not bend. I then smiled at
the craftsman and said why don’t we give him what he says he needs for the
job? The craftsman smile back and said
I’ll make it if you say so. I told the
fellow, when I brought the new bar to him; I’m depending on you to use this
properly, because if miss used it can do damage. He said I know but this is what we need to get the job done. While the bar was being made I had watched
how they were using such bars – I could then well understand their need. They designed body parts in a very clever
way so they could be made to fit. For
example as a final step in fitting front fenders to body a diagonal strap was
welded to the inside of the fender and front of the fire wall. After the engine was in and body attached,
the “fitter” would drop the hoe like flat piece with slot in the hoe, and place
it so the slot fit over the strap. Then
using the long pole for leverage would pull the finder into alignment with the
body. There were other places where the
pointed end could fit in a hole and similarly move parts to fit. The parts being bent were stiff, to
withstand normal pushing and shoving forces without changing the fit. Thus the need for a bar that would not
bend. “Body fitting” was a kind of art
form.
Mounting
Tires: Prior to my arrival tires were still used inner-tubes and a ferris wheel had been
rigged up to inflate the tires. The tire and tube were mounted on a wheel by
conventional means then rolled on to the ferris wheel. Air was applied to inflate the inner tube
during it’s time delay going up then down to be disconnected on the other side,
fully inflated ready to mount. Just
before I arrived they changed to tubeless tires and a new inflating mounting
machine installed. The stem was first
mounted in the wheel, then the tire on the wheel. The mounted tire was then pushed under a press. A pipe would come down and press the tire
sidewall away from the wheel, then Swoosh, air came in around the bead, the
pipe lifted from the instantly inflated tire.
The inflated tire was pushed through to drop into a guided path where it
rolled to ward the car assembly line.
Each wheel with tire rolled over a treadle bar with a switch which
operated a gate that sent two tires to the near side and three tires to the far
side of the assembly line. Operators
on each side would swing a tire onto an axel, then using a gang of five
rotating sockets each holding a nut would swing the cable suspended driver in
line to connect all lug nuts at once.
This was a remarkable process to watch and hear. I was told that when they set up the
inflating machine they had the plant manager and office help out there “man
handling” the flow of tires while they adjusted the mechanism and welded
together the delivery track and gate system.
It was not predesigned, they just built it on the spot while the line
kept moving. This had been done just
before my arrival and one of my first assignments was to come up with a treadle
bar switch that would alternately count two then three tires. Joe Granger helped me find a switch
mechanism in stock to do the counting and I started drawing up a design for how
to install it. I went to the shop
foreman to tell him what needed to be done.
I soon found he and his crew didn’t need drawings on what to build, once
they knew what you wanted done, they just came in when the shift ended and
built it. The shop craftsmen were very capable people.
Do-it-yourself: At the GM KC
aircraft operation if you wanted to make a copy of a drawing you took it to a
window, handed it to someone and in moments you had a copy. At South Gate you went to a big copy machine and made your own copy. No money was wasted on “help”, you were on
your own, I was glad the blue print machine worked when I pressed buttons. If you wanted the shop to build something
you discussed it with them, and they did it in accordance with the urgency of
your need. There were no “written
orders”, a back of an envelope kind of sketch was provided if it was necessary
to define size or dimensions. If there was
a need to buy some part or tool you went into a library like room which
contained and assortment of catalogs and searched for what you wanted. These catalogs cover things like industrial
piping and fittings, air motors and hoists.
It was a totally new kind of industry to me. This was a place where experience and practical innovation
counted – you did not need an engineering degree, though it was a help.
Production
line speed, set by the plant manager: A foreman in the shop took a liking to me
and took time to show and tell me things not obvious to every one. He told me the plant manager personally set
the speed of the production line. There
were 7 BOP assembly plants in the USA and their production rate was counted at
body drop – when a body dropped onto a chassis it was then considered to be a
car. This explained all kinds of things
to me. This preset rate is what caused
workmen to sometimes simply not complete a job because the car moved beyond the
reach of his tool or he just plain couldn’t keep up. That explained why a crew of the best worker went to the back lot
at the end of their shift rather than go home.
They were being paid over time to finish things that didn’t get
done.
Neglected
Plant Maintenance: Plant maintenance money was being spent to
pay for back lot overtime. The toilet
facilities were not properly cleaned, toilet paper missing. There were a lot more short cuts than me
having to operate the blue print machine on my own.
One
of Seven Plant Managers was replaced each year: The plant
manager with the lowest production rate as determined at “body drop” knew he
would be replaced. I then understood
why the plant manager was so intense when he made his trips though out the
plant, he was constantly figuring how to stay in the race..
Air
Motor Battle: They were constantly in need of Air Motors
on the assembly line, Someone was
always taking one in order to keep up, leaving someone short. Joe Granger took me in a special room to
which he was the only one with a key – it was full of brand new air motors
!! I said my gosh Joe why are these
here and not out on the assembly line.
Joe said these are like gold, very costly and I have to account to the plant
manager any time I take one from here.
That’s when I understood why Joe was spending so much of his time
chasing down misplaced air motors.
Fixed
location, moving need: The air driven motors were connected to an
over head air line with fixed length air hoses. If a bolt or nut moved past the length of the air hose it didn’t get
connected or someone had to take the air motor down the assembly line to
reconnect and finish. There was an air
motor tug of war between line foremen.
The
line never stopped or slowed down: The line moved unless stopped by the dead
man switch at the end of the under car trench – if someone got caught there was
an emergency stop button there. But I never knew of it being stopped.
Spare
Steering Columns: There was a rack of built up steering
columns on the side of the walkway pasted body drop. If there had been a mix up between chassis and body the person
checking what came together would call out the name of the correct steering
column needed. I’ve watched a 60 year
old man grab a heavy steering column run with it along side the line, dropping
down moving on his knees to fit it under the body coming down to put it in
place before the body closed the gap. A coworker had removed the old column as
the line moved to make room for the new.
Columns were placed in the chassis just before body drop,
Parts
coordination: A central place controlled the ordering of
parts by use of repeating pens writing on paper posted on structural columns
out through the plant. You could watch
the controller write the order for a new car.
Orders flowed in from car dealers on a first come first served
basis. Independent orders for Buick,
Pontiac and Oldsmobile could be in any sequence. It worked remarkably well – mix ups were rare.