Ferrari Mailing List: Re: Ferrari factory tour (2009 vs 2016)

[Peter Rychel (dino308gt4]

Excellent Michel, thank you for all of that (plus the photos you sent earlier in the week of the prototypes... Interesting).

I'm still debating whether to go and do a factory tour. Somehow, I can't come to grips with the modern era of car construction. Many, many years ago, my sister gave to me as a Christmas present, Michael Dregni's book about the Ferrari factory, which featured the factory up to the time of publication (so, 1990). This was shortly after the old man's passing and when the factory was not that much different from when he started it back in '47. As much as there were modern CNC machines and other tools in use, there was still OLD-WORLD craftsmanship going on. That is what I would have wanted to see.

Not much left of that I'd imagine. I guess I'm too nostalgic.

Peter

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From: Ferrari <ferrari-bounces+dino308gt4=hotmail.com [at] ferrarilist.com> on behalf of Michel Savard <mysavard [at] videotron.ca>
Sent: July 23, 2016 2:59 PM
To: PeterGT4
Cc: The FerrariList
Subject: [Ferrari] Ferrari factory tour (2009 vs 2016)

 

Just got back from Europe last week. I sorted out the souvenirs, pictures, etc. But mostly, I sorted out the notes I took during the factory tour I took on july 15th at 14h30. I decided to compare some of the notes I also took on july 15th 2009 also at 14h30.

I took those notes very quickly as the guide was talking. Unfortunately, some visitors decided to show up 30 minutes late. So we ended up doing a 2 hour tour (officially it’s 2h30 but I don’t count the free Museum visit at the end as Factory Tour) in 90 minutes. I wrote my notes very quickly. Basically here it is:

Started at engine/foundry dept. Very very noisy. Open 24h/day, 3 shifts/day, 50 employees each shift. It is very noisy. We saw Romeo & Juliette computers/arms. They work 23 hours a day. 1 hour for maintenance. 90% of the engine is made by Ferrari.
2009: 70 engines (70 employees were there).
2009: 35 days to built crankshaft, 2016 -16 days. Crankshaft is made in Torino. That number looks strange.
2009: Also made Maserati engines (40), same in 2016 (don’t have the number).
2009: 30 engines V-12 (25%), V-8 (75%), pretty much the same today.
2016 visited the brand new engine assembly line where all V-12 and V-8 are put together.

2009: Saw the paint shop, not in 2016.
2009: 45% Rosso Corsa, the black, silver, white, yellow. 2016: 60% red (THEY ACTUALLY HAVE 16 KINDS OF RED, I made the guide repeat that number), then yellow and white (white is very popular in u.s. market).
2009: Saw the old assembly line, not in 2016.

V-12 engines (6 a day) are assembled by 6 guys. That’s all they do. They each assemble one V-12 on an 8-hour shift. Then the next day, they assemble another one.
V-12 weighs  320 kg, V-8 weighs 180 kg.
3 days to finish one car on assembly line of 50 stations (45 in 2009). 3 men per station, they work 17 minutes then stop for 2 minutes and on and on.
15% assembly line workers are women.

Leather 75% by hand by mostly women, 3 to 4 animals for one car.
Each car is tested about 60 miles. They have 10 test drivers.

2009: 900 employees for F1 only, 2016: down to 600 employees. Don’t forget that’s for 2 cars. Since march 2016, they have a brand new building for Formula 1 only. It is situated where the old cafeteria used to be across the street from the original entrance or behind Ristorante Cavallino. Maybe the big move is the reason why they are not getting any better yet this year.
Maybe next year, they’ll get it all together.

Production cars employees 2000. Or was it 3000 total of employees ?????

We saw only part of it (the new F1 building). The Formula 1 cars the mechanics were working on, were just old F1 Clienti cars. Today’s F1 are hidden behind walls with the simulator. We could see a whole bunch of people working on their computers. But that’s it.

F1 Corse Clienti: About 8 F1 cars (2 extra ones are built too, don’t know why) are sold to special clients each year. Only Ferrari decides who gets them. The F1 cars stay in Maranello all the time. They have 15 events a year and the clients pay for the maintenance and transport around the world. They are limited to 500 hp. I think, really not sure, the guide said only after 2 years if the driver proved to be good enough they will increase the hp. They must keep the original stickers on at all times.

The Philip Morris 3-seater cars I saw in 2009 were there again. They are used only for that company every now and then.

We saw  599 FXX cars, and the La Ferrari FXXK. A lot of those compared to 2009. I think there were about 30. Same deal as the F1 Corse Clienti

CLASSICHE CARS to be redone have to be at least 20 years old.

The CALIFORNIA is so popular that they built one a day on the V-12 assembly line, even though it is a V-8. But since the engine is in front as the V-12, then it’s not that complicated.

They close 3 weeks in august and 2 weeks in december.

Tours are in 8 languages. 1 in the morning and 1 in the afternoon. From 2009 notes: March to july and september to november.

Well I think that’s it. I hope you enjoyed it. That’s my longest post ever.

Michael Savard (1981 308 GTSi)
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