Ferrari Mailing List: Re: I visited THE factory

Awesome! I'm sure they must be making more than 70 engines a year  

though ;)

Tom

Sent from my iPod

On Jul 17, 2009, at 12:12 PM, mysavard [at] videotron.ca wrote:

  July 15th  will always be a special anniversary for me. This is the

  date I visited THE factory. Below is a long account of my 3 hours  

and

  30 minutes visit. They gave us a notebook to write a few notes as  

the

  guide was talking and as we listened to the audio. I' m writing this
  as I'm reading my notes. No camera allowed.
  Here it is:
  Don't forget as you read my numbers that the factory has 1 8-hour

  shift. 5h00 pm comes and EVERYBODY leaves at the same time. No  

weekend

  shift and plenty of vacations for everybody.

  14h30 GALLERIA visit: I've been there 5 times now and they ALWAYS  

have

  something new. It's worth going in.
  15h15 ENGINE DEPARTMENT: 70 engines a year. 40 Maserati and 30

  Ferrari. Lots of plants and trees inside, temperature and humidity  

is

  computer controlled. 75 db, is a bit noisy though. 25% V-12 and 75%

  V-8. It takes 35 days to built 1 crankshaft. Place is amazingly  

clean.

  Only 70 people work here. Lots and lots of robots and computers.
  15h55 PAINT SHOP: 70 (40 Maseratis, 30 Ferraris) cars a day are

  painted. First by humans to make sure all the little holes and  

corners

  are done. Then the car moves forward and robot-arms do their job.  

When

  I was there, they were doing a black car (don't remember which  

model),

  and the very next one was a red California. They can switch paint  

with

  the same robot-arms just like that in a minute. 130 employes. Most

  popular colors are red 45%, black, silver, yellow and right now  

white

  is becoming very popular.

  HISTORICAL ASSEMBLY LINE (OLD PRODUCTION LINE): Before you get to  

the

  line, on the right they have the engine testing section. Each V-8 is
  tested for 40 minutes and the V-12 for 1 hour, Ferrari and Maserati
  engines. Of course they have modernized it. But it's a very tight
  place. As we walked along the line, it was fantastic to see the

  workers assembling the cars, the real stuff. A V-8 car takes 4  

days to

  assemble with the line moving forward every 40 minutes on 45  

stations,

  there is a clock that tells the employes how much time they have  

left

  to finish their job.U.S. market is 27%, Italy and Germany 11% each,
  they have 52 markets around the world. Employes might switch jobs

  (stations) 7-8 times a year. So, they don't do the same thing over  

and

  over again for a whole year. Each car is tested for 50 km, they have
  10 test drivers.
  UPHOLSTERY-LEATHER DEPT: 60 employes, 12 color options, 75% of work

  made by hand. Mostly women, we actually saw them stitching leather  

and

  putting leather on dashboards.

  NEW ASSEMBLY LINE: Absolutely very high-tech. Cars are hung in the  

air

  by some sort of a crank and lowered onto work stations that
  adjust themselves so the employes don't have to stretch and bend to

  work. As you walk the line, suddenly the whole floor (red) besides  

you

  moves forward every 30 minutes, 50 stations, 15 cars a day. 3
  days to complete a car. Containers on wheels are brought to the
  mechanics on the moving floor and when they are empty of parts,

  another one is brought in. 8-hour a day shift. Another section in  

the

  same dept. was for the assembling and testing of dashboards.
  AGV Automatic Guided Vehicle: There are lots of them. They are like
  giant inflated mattresses moving around following a laser under the
  floor. So you never see a human actually moving it. They use them to
  put the engine\transmission\driveshaft\4 corners, etc together and
  then that thing moves by itself to go under a car that's waiting on

  the next assembly line. It was 5h00 pm as we finished there, so we  

saw

  all the employes leaving at the same time with us.
  RACING DEPARTMENT: We walked through the engine assembly garage. A

  mechanic was actually putting a Formula 1 engine together. First  

thing

  I notice they are very small, 2.4 L V-8, 100 kg, 18000, 750hp.  

Ferrari

  has around 2,800 employes, F1 alone has 900 employes. That's  

basically

  900 people for 2 cars. They'll make about 100 engines for the year.
  They supply Torro Rosso and Force India.

  Next was the car assembly bays. Felippe Massa's car was there, he  

had

  finished 3rd in Germany. It had been dismantle a lot by the  

mechanics.

  No wheels, no A-arms, no wings, just the body. Same with Kimi's car.
  It takes about 3 days to assemble one F1. We saw lots of sidepods,
  wings. They'll built 6 to 8 cars in a season and will sell them to

  special clients after the season. At the end I saw a mechanic  

working

  on those wheel covers that all F1 teams have now. I finally figured
  how it was made. It was about 10 inches from me.
  17h30 F1 CLIENTI: It's just by the Fiorano track (3km long). Since
  1970, Ferrari has sold about 200 racing cars. Over 60 Formula 1 cars
  were in this garage. Awesome display. There were 3 3-seat Formula 1
  cars. Yes, that's right 3 seats on a F1. Normal position for the
  driver with 2 other seats where the sidepods are, just a bit behind

  the driver on each side. These are owned by Philip Morris and are  

used

  ONLY on the Fiorano track for their clients. One F1 had a sticker
  DUBAI STORE. All red, no publicity on it.
  17h45 FXX PROGRAM: There were 13 out of the 29 made in that garage.
  Michael Schumacher's #30 was there. I wonder if he paid for it. Now
  they have 860 hp.

  18h00 Finally, we finished at the FERRARI STORE where we all got a  

10%

  discount.
  Ferrari gets about 12,000 visitors a year, they can have 4 groups a
  day sometimes. Very busy between March and July, September to
  November. Owners visit, but also people from their sponsors

  We had a group of 18. I don't know why most people stay in Modena  

and

  even as far as Bologna. I've always stayed in Maranello itself.  

Plenty

  of good hotels, never had to make a reservation either. Right now  

I'm

  in a Best Western Hotel Domus in Piazza Liberta for 52 Euros a day.

  Plus, you live with the locals and all day long you meet real  

employes

  from the factory. Plenty of restaurants too. All day long you see

  Ferraris in an endless parade. Don't forget that you also see the  

ones

  been tested.

  Hope you enjoy this long reading!

  Michael Savard 1981 308 GTSi
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Re: I visited THE factory	<– Date –> <– Thread –>
From: Tom Corey (ferrariguyverizon.net)
Date: Fri, 17 Jul 2009 15:37:37 -0700 (PDT)