Production

There are only a few reports about the production at ROVER, therefore we do not want to withhold this report from the "Export Trader", issue January-February 1947. The post-war P2 is built in the new Solihull plant, since the Helen Street plant was destroyed during the war and later sold. Solihull is a former "shadow factory" run by ROVER during the war.

Modern Plant for Rover Cars
Quality Production on Latest Lines in New Factory
by R. H. Thomas

Quality has always been a feature for which British workmanship has been famed throughout the world. In the slower moving days of past centuries the skill of the worker set a standard of craftmanship still to be seen in many exquisite examples remaining to-day.

Quantity allied with quality is to be found in the products of the British motor car manufacturers to-day, external grace combining with internal finish and a high degree of mechanical perfection.

Achievement of this high orer is the direct result od careful planning and attention to detail at every step in production, from the inception of the car on the drawing board to the time when it is passed from final test for delivery to the motoring public.

During the war the labour force for the manufacture of cars was dispersed on war effort and many of the factories were destroyed or damaged through enemy action. Machinery was laid aside or worked to the limit during this period and some manufacturers were faced at the cessation of war production with the task of finding new accommodation, installing new plant and overhauling some of the old, together with getting assembled a labour force to operate the plant.

Such was the task which faced the Rover Company Ltd. at Meteor Works in Solihull, Birmingham, and to-day the Solihull factory is completely engaged on the production of cars, the quality of which is widely known. As it now stands, the new Rover works is a fine example of modern planning for modern production. Craftmanship remains but the methods embody the best of 20th century practice.

At Coventry, the old Rover factory was heavily damaged during the war and at the cessation of hostilities a new factory war required for body building and chassis erection, and it was decided to occupy the No. 2 shadow factory at Solihull. In May, 1945, production of aero engines was still in progress in the works, which also housed some thousands of machine tools. A start was made by Machine Tool Control selling machines off the site, after which they had to be removed and the internal air raid shelter for 6,000 people demolished. June, 1945, saw the commencement of factory alterations, and in December of that same year the first post-war Rover cars came off the lines. Despite the speed with which the work was accomplished, the arrangement of the factory is a fine example of lay-out for the modern production.

Throughout assembly, the lines and the feed of materials are perfectly synchronized, all floor tracks for body fabrication, body paint, first and second trim lines, chassis line, first and second mounting lines and first and second polishing lines being driven off a common shaft.

Left: The engines are taken from the central warehouse and placed on delivery vans. Right: The front and rear windows and side windows delivered to separate workstations are checked and minor damage is polished.

Assemblies such as engines and rear axles are manufactured at another Rover factory, and these and all outside supplies are delivered to the various stores. All incoming stores are subjected to thorough examination before issue to the assembly lines. In one corner there is a small plant for polishing out any blemishes on window and screen glasses.

Engines are stored on a specially designed ramp and are gravity fed to an unloading stacker. Removal of a unit by the stacker releases a catch and the line of power units moves down until the next engine is in position for removal.

With the exception of such items as bolts and nuts, which are issued in bulk to the lines, all material is fed to assembly by a system of schedule issue trucks which move separately but in synchronization with the chassis assembly line. Two trucks, linked together, carry all the necessary material for assembly and at the end of the line they pass to the trim shop stores and there feed up the trim line and back into the assembly line stores. By this utilization of the trucks both time and space are conserved.

At the commencement of the chassis assembly line the frames are mounted on trollies, a jig is lowered into place and all necessary holes drilled. Near the finish of the line, eadiator and wings are fitted, and on completion the chassis is transferred to the body mounting line.

One of the body - welding stations

The body parts are added from the outside and are assembled and welded in a fixture. Above the line is a cabin in which the body is checked for rust. The bodies are carefully plastered, filled and all openings are individually protected against corrosion.

Body panels come in from outside sources and are assembled in a jig and welded. Over the line at one part is a booth in which the body is rustproofed. Body shells are carefully smoothed down, filled and all openings individually rustproofed.

Running up one side of the factory is a very modern paint shop. Bodies are degreased, dried off and then given their first filling and priming coat. All file marks are filled by hand, rubbed down and the body shell passed through the second and largest oven after receiving the second priming coat. Altogether there are five colour spray booths and each coat is well dried, which, together with the preliminary work, gives an excellent and lasting finish.

Bonnet sides, tops and wings are dealt with separately, all detail parts being bonderized, enamelled and then spray painted in special shops.

After painting, the bodies are trimmed on the first and second trim lines then married to the chassis on the first of the two mounting lines. After leaving the second mounting line the car goes on test and back into the test rectification department and from there to the finishing lines.

At all phases inspection is keen. Compared to scheduled output the factory is not too large, but by careful planning every use has been made of the floor area available and due to this it can be said fairly that in the Rover factory quality and quantity have been skilfully united.