duckhntva
Member
Hey Everyone...long time lurker, first post! Figured i would wait till i felt i could contribute something interesting to the conversation before jumping in.
So i have a screw 802A Magnetic with tailgate step ordered 2/13 with status currently clean unscheduled. I had business that took me to Novi Michigan this week, so I HAD to go to make the trip to the plant and pretend to watch my truck go down the line.
It was interesting. I spent about 2hours watching the F150 line. On the day i was there they were building SCREW trucks. There were no other truck body formats mixed in on the line mixed in, only SCREW. When they build, it is one format as it pertains to door config. They did have moonroof and no moonroof trucks mixed together though. They also had raptors mixed in with FX4, Platinums, etc...all levels of trucks are mixed together on the line. As a matter of fact you cant tell one apart from the other early on the assembly line...Only way you can tell a raptor is starting is they put an orange what looks like a big magnant or drop piece on the front quarter panel. There was a raptor mixed in about every 15-20 trucks i would say on average. But again, they looked exactly the same and were handled exactly the same down the line as a regular f150, which i found kind of interesting. Every raptor i saw during the 2hr period had the moonroof option, which i found interesting as well. Dont know if there is a reason for that or not, just found it a little odd there were no solid roof raptors. Also the interior packages appeared to be all the same at that station. I saw no CF at all. The cab is all built on one side of the floor and the tailgate assembly is on the other...they both are built separate and finished separate and then married up toward the very end. They had FX4, Platinum, Raptor back halves all mixed together and stickered toward the end of the line. The truck sits on a wooden like floor and the floor moves like the walking escalator in the airport and the floor serpentines with the bodies making basically u-turns as they progress down the line. Any station has the ability to stop the line if they get behind. They have a big scoreboard counter showing how many trucks they are at for the shift. The average is around 600 per shift depending on how often the line is stopped they were working 400-500 when i was there... Robots do the main aluminum structure and windshield, backwindows. The moonroofs are put in by hand, 4 guys actually. That station and the interior roof station had the most people. I was not able to see the engine or transmission install from the tour floor, but was able to see the main garage floor where they roll off and are started for the first time. You know the type of car washes where it goes through the auto wash and then there is a convoy of 20 teenagers that grab your car and do the final detail...it looks like that, the trucks come popping out and it gets filled with fluids at a multi port filling station that looked like a gas station (7gal gas, all fluids, etc)...in horizontal fashion, like a multi lane toll both looks when you pull up on the highway..then it gets started and goes through a final inspection with that guy..then gets delivered out or parked, just like the car wash analogy. If it gets parked there is something found wrong, and a team of specialists are working on tweaking whatever is wrong. I will say no where does a vehicle sit for long. Hundreds of vehicles and even ones with issue never sat more than 5 minutes.
Anyway, just thought i would share to give you guys a bit of a visual. Any specific questions that i might be able to answer feel free to ask. They were **** about pictures and even cell phones being out with people watching to make sure you weren't taking any...so didnt risk that.
Two big things i learned...One, I have a 2014 platinum now..and when i was going through the option process and they asked if i wanted a double moonroof i said no..thinking that the single would be fine (like my platinum). I assumed that would be standard on the 802A. When i didnt see any single sunroofs on the line i researched and realized mine is coming solid top. So debating on whether to mod the order confirmation at this point...LOL
Second was surprising...The Ford F-150 manufacturing line could have a "girls of ford calendar" that would rival sports illustrated. I have only seen hotter women as cheerleaders. Nothing better than a good looking woman that can work her ass off and this place had 25 of them...
So i have a screw 802A Magnetic with tailgate step ordered 2/13 with status currently clean unscheduled. I had business that took me to Novi Michigan this week, so I HAD to go to make the trip to the plant and pretend to watch my truck go down the line.
It was interesting. I spent about 2hours watching the F150 line. On the day i was there they were building SCREW trucks. There were no other truck body formats mixed in on the line mixed in, only SCREW. When they build, it is one format as it pertains to door config. They did have moonroof and no moonroof trucks mixed together though. They also had raptors mixed in with FX4, Platinums, etc...all levels of trucks are mixed together on the line. As a matter of fact you cant tell one apart from the other early on the assembly line...Only way you can tell a raptor is starting is they put an orange what looks like a big magnant or drop piece on the front quarter panel. There was a raptor mixed in about every 15-20 trucks i would say on average. But again, they looked exactly the same and were handled exactly the same down the line as a regular f150, which i found kind of interesting. Every raptor i saw during the 2hr period had the moonroof option, which i found interesting as well. Dont know if there is a reason for that or not, just found it a little odd there were no solid roof raptors. Also the interior packages appeared to be all the same at that station. I saw no CF at all. The cab is all built on one side of the floor and the tailgate assembly is on the other...they both are built separate and finished separate and then married up toward the very end. They had FX4, Platinum, Raptor back halves all mixed together and stickered toward the end of the line. The truck sits on a wooden like floor and the floor moves like the walking escalator in the airport and the floor serpentines with the bodies making basically u-turns as they progress down the line. Any station has the ability to stop the line if they get behind. They have a big scoreboard counter showing how many trucks they are at for the shift. The average is around 600 per shift depending on how often the line is stopped they were working 400-500 when i was there... Robots do the main aluminum structure and windshield, backwindows. The moonroofs are put in by hand, 4 guys actually. That station and the interior roof station had the most people. I was not able to see the engine or transmission install from the tour floor, but was able to see the main garage floor where they roll off and are started for the first time. You know the type of car washes where it goes through the auto wash and then there is a convoy of 20 teenagers that grab your car and do the final detail...it looks like that, the trucks come popping out and it gets filled with fluids at a multi port filling station that looked like a gas station (7gal gas, all fluids, etc)...in horizontal fashion, like a multi lane toll both looks when you pull up on the highway..then it gets started and goes through a final inspection with that guy..then gets delivered out or parked, just like the car wash analogy. If it gets parked there is something found wrong, and a team of specialists are working on tweaking whatever is wrong. I will say no where does a vehicle sit for long. Hundreds of vehicles and even ones with issue never sat more than 5 minutes.
Anyway, just thought i would share to give you guys a bit of a visual. Any specific questions that i might be able to answer feel free to ask. They were **** about pictures and even cell phones being out with people watching to make sure you weren't taking any...so didnt risk that.
Two big things i learned...One, I have a 2014 platinum now..and when i was going through the option process and they asked if i wanted a double moonroof i said no..thinking that the single would be fine (like my platinum). I assumed that would be standard on the 802A. When i didnt see any single sunroofs on the line i researched and realized mine is coming solid top. So debating on whether to mod the order confirmation at this point...LOL
Second was surprising...The Ford F-150 manufacturing line could have a "girls of ford calendar" that would rival sports illustrated. I have only seen hotter women as cheerleaders. Nothing better than a good looking woman that can work her ass off and this place had 25 of them...
