Material Handling in the Pontiac Assembly Plant 290072
CONVEYORS and handling systems often are planned and installed after a building is erected. The Pontiac plant, described in this paper, is an exception because it was designed without limitations as to space and for a definite production program.
With the aid of photographs and floor plans on which the positions from which the photographs were taken are indicated, the complete production line of the plant is shown in detail. The order of assembly and the points at which various units are applied to the chassis are shown; also the locations of the storage spaces for many of the parts and the provisions for transporting them to the assembly line.
Among the striking features of the chassis-assembly line is a hump, midway of the length of the building, which raises the chassis to the mezzanine level to allow passage underneath. Features of the handling system are the simple gravity-conveyors that carry the storage batteries under the floor and up beside the assembly line, a chain conveyor for transferring completed cars to the storage building, and gravity-roll conveyors on which export boxing is done.
Discussion of the paper centers on the problem of scheduling wheels, fenders and other parts of various colors and forms to meet corresponding bodies in the assembly line.
