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

[Charles Perry (charles]

On my visits in 97 and 99 you were not allowed to see the Foundry area. You 
could see engine final assembly, but nothing related to casting or finishing 
parts. That seems different now from your description?



-----Original Message-----
From: Ferrari [mailto:ferrari-bounces+charles=carolina-sound.com [at] 
ferrarilist.com] On Behalf Of Michel Savard
Sent: Saturday, July 23, 2016 6:00 PM
To: Charles Perry
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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