Bengt Kjellén is a graduate engineer (electrotechnics) and has
been in technical journalism, at present on a free lance basis,
since 1970.

From Chaplin's Modern Times down to our own, the assembly line has been par excellence the symbol of modern industry, the epitome of efficiency and progress or of a hectic working pace and intolerable conditions, according to the eye of the beholder.

If the truth be known, monotonous serial work is more
typical of industry as a whole than the assembly line.
But in the vehicle manufacturing industry, where a host
of parts have to be put together to form the end product,
the assembly line is a reality and a source of disagree-
ment between firms and their workers. Following the
establishment of new forms of industrial partnership
as a result of the discussions which have taken place
concerning industrial democracy and joint influence for
employees, the question has also arisen of new departures
in the context of production techniques.

For some time now the Swedish vehicle manufacturing conpanies Saab-Scania and Volvo have been trying out new forms of job rotation and job expansion. Particularly interesting, however, are the new factories for the assembly of cars and engines, where an attempt has been made to dispense with the assembly line.

Saab-Scania first in the world.

In 1969, Saab-Soania decided to transfer the manufacture of engines for the Saab 99 from England to a new factory in Södertälje. This factory was opened during the autumn of 1972 to become the largest in the

world without an assembly line. At present some 300 engines are produced daily on a two-shift basis and capacity will ultimately rise to about 500 engines per day.

The factory receives finished parts and blanks for cylinder blocks, cylinder heads, crankshafts and connecting rods. (Fig. 1). These blanks are processed in what are termed transfer machines, i.e. machines perforaing several consecutive operations, the only manual work involved being to provide them with blanks and change tools. Job rotation is practised here, the timetable for alternation between the different machines being determined by the workers themselves.

After some of its parts have been pre-assembled, the motor is lifted over to a trolley which is driven forward by a conveyor in the floor and steered by a cotter system. The trolleys follow a loop past the working areas of the various teams which are seven in number, and are shunted in to wherever there is a place vacant. During the actual assembly process the trolley remains stationary and is passed round within the team by the various fitters (Fig. 2). Parts for the engine are conveyed to the different work areas by fork lift truck.

Each team assembles a complete engine from beginning to end, apart from the pre-assembly mentioned earlier. The members of a team are free to allocate the different tasks as they please. The commonest arrangement is for an engine to be shared between three men or else for one man to assemble a complete engine on his own. The adoption of team assembly has led to an appreciable increase in work content. The maximum work cycle is now approximately 30 minutes (the time taken to assemble one engine) as against roughly 2 minutes with the assembly line system.

Of course the work cycle must not be allowed to become too long either. About 30 minutes seems to be the optimum figure. With longer periods difficulties arise in learning and remembering the different operations and the speed of assembly declines.

Preconceived opinions the greatest obstacle

Almost the greatest problem when introducing the new assembly system was to overcome the preconceived opinions which existed on the subject, says Börje Andersson, production engineer at the factory. There had to be an assembly line, anything else was out of the question. But experience has shown that the new system worked very well.

There is one great advantage to team assembly: it reduces the problems of production planning. We do not have to have reliefs round the corner or change our production because one or more people are absent. And it is easy to change the production rate by removing or adding a working team. Again, each team can work at its own pace without disturbing the others. The last-mentioned of these advantages is very important when you are training new workers. With the assembly line system an inexperienced worker has to have somebody helping him, otherwise a bottleneck will develop in the production line. Now we can use one of the team work places for training purposes. An instructor is stationed there the first time, after which training proceeds with the aid of a cassette recorder and

headphones. Another advantage here is that you can particularly emphasize operations which are crucial to the quality of the finished engine. On the debit side of the team assembly system we have somewhat greater investment costs, because this method requires more floor space than the assembly line system. Tooling costs are also higher because you have to have several sets of everything. On the other hand you can use simpler types of tools.

Less absenteeism and better quality?

The credit items which were expected to accrue from the projection of the factory include reduced absenteeism and better engine quality. It is hard to say whether these expectations have been justified by events, because there are no directly comparable groups in the factory.

Sven-Olof Lunio, who represents the petrol (gasoline) engine factory on the executive committee of the local trade union, is convinced that absenteeism is lower than it would have been with an assembly line.

"Stress at work may not have been reduced very much, since we have to come up to a guaranteed production rate for our wage, but team assembly is still a better way of working. For instance, it is easier to get away and have a break and it is a good thing having more parts to work with."

"We have not had any difficulties in co-operating with production engineers and management. Wage setting did present certain problems, but this is because the company uses MTM, it has nothing to do with the actual team assembly. Generally speaking I think Saab-Scania is a fairly reasonable company."

"So far we are treating this as an experiment, we do not know what it will be like when the factory is fully operative. Naturally we are in favour of the system being developed further."

Nothing needs changing

Why did people start talking about this form of production in 1964?

"I suppose the time was ripe for it," says Börje Andersson. "The pressure was on from people in the production line and from the mass media. And my personal opinion is that the company is keen to make working conditions as good as possible, so that when it came to projecting the new factory they took the chance of trying out new ideas when they were not tied down to a factory that already existed.

What would you like to change now in the light of one year's experience?

"There isn't really anything we would have done differently if we had been able to begin from the beginning. One important need that has not been provided for is that we need to be able to raise and lower the trolleys carrying the engines because some workers are taller than others. But we are still trying to find the right technical solution to this one."

Swedish vehicle factories

Discussions are now in progress concerning the use of some form of team assembly for diesel engines, but there are a number of problems here: the engines come in different sizes and the parts are bigger, which means that it may be difficult to find room for everything in a single work place.

New Volvo factories with team assembly

Volvo are also developing their production methods on an experimental basis. Most work places practise some form of job rotation and by the summer of 1974 two new factories will have come into operation in which the assembly line has been dispensed with.

The new petrol (gasoline) engine factory in Skövde will have a capacity of some 250,000 engines per annum. This factory includes a central portion containing assembly and control, from which four processing departments project like the teeth on a comb.

Production is based on a form of team assembly. The engine remains stationary during assembly and the worker moves it himself. Buffer stocks are positioned between the fitters and between the different working teams. It is possible for a single fitter to assemble an entire engine.

At the Kalmar works chassis are assembled into complete cars. The work is divided between different working teams, each of which is responsible for a particular section of the car, e.g. the electrical system or brakes and wheels. The members of each team - some 15-25 persons decide for themselves the allocation of their tasks and the arrangements for rotation.

The chassis are conveyed from one team to another by self-propelled trolleys with battery-driven electric motors. The trolleys are steered by means of magnetic loops set in the floor. A worker can choose between having the car stationary or in motion while he is working on it. Between the different working teams buffer stocks are positioned making it possible for them to vary their pace of work without disturbing each other.

Assembly operations are performed along the outer walls of the factory and the material stores are situated in the central part of the building. Departure from the conventional square factory layout has resulted in more wall space and, consequently, better – lighted premises, at the same time as the angular construction of the walls affords clearly defined areas for the different work teams, as well as separate entrances, changing rooms etc.

The capacity of the factory on a two-shift basis is approximately 60,000 care per annum. The factory cost approximately SKr 100 million* to build, which is roughly SKr 10 million more than a comparable conventional factory would have cost.

Revolution?

As will already have been realized, the new assembly methods do not constitute an absolute breach with the assembly line principle. Engines and

* 1 SKr (Swedish Krona) - US $ 0.24 or £ 0.09 (approx.)

cars have to be moved about somehow or other and it is impossible for all the workers to do everything. Hor can the new systems be said to have yielded any sensational profits. Additional experience from Södertälje and future results from Volvo's factories will not alter the picture in this respect.

At the same time there is no questioning the importance of the improvements that have been made. The changes were given an overwhelmingly favourable reception by the employees and the investments which firms are prepared to make show that they find these changes profitable in terms of production technology. One is therefore bound to conclude: no revolution, but a major step forward in the achievement of better conditions of work and production.

The author is solely responsible for the opinions expressed in this article.