Ultimate Factory - Porsche - 986 Forum - The Community for Porsche Boxster & Cayman Owners

vath2001 · 03-18-2010, 04:39 PM

Ultimate factory Porsche, National Geogaphy 3/18 at 10 pm (EDT)... fire up the recorder.

manolo · 03-18-2010, 04:56 PM

I saw this a couple months back. Its really good. Check out the robots they use to transport parts between depts. Now I know why our cars cost so much!!

ekam · 03-19-2010, 03:29 AM

That's normal in modern factories, I bet Toyota started doing it first since they're the leader for lean production.

I was more impressed with the Lambo episode, especially where they showed how the forge wheels are made (in the US no less), super strong and super light, very impressive stuff.

They're all up in bittorrent.

03-19-2010, 05:28 AM

The most modern factory I saw on the series was Canada's GM Chevy Camaro.
The Porsche factory was no match for it. They even use robots for quality inspection. Even if you don't like GM you have to admit those Canada factories are unbelievable.

jmatta · 03-19-2010, 06:14 AM

A pseudo muscle car, built outside the states by robots, from a company owned by the US gov...

Impressive or not, something's wrong with this picture.

Not that I'd buy anything from GM in the first place...

Which reminds me; Go Lizards! Put the Corvette into the wall again, please.

landrovered · 03-19-2010, 06:16 AM

X2 Go Lizards!

03-19-2010, 09:53 AM

"A pseudo muscle car, built outside the states by robots, from a company owned by the US gov...

Impressive or not, something's wrong with this picture.

Not that I'd buy anything from GM in the first place...

Which reminds me; Go Lizards! Put the Corvette into the wall again, please."
================================================== =====
Yeah bring politics in the discussion - lol.

Porsche - who served Fuehrer during World War II

By the way:

First Place: Chevrolet Corvette ZR1

I know that makes you mad

941MXVET · 03-19-2010, 10:14 AM

I've seen the Porsche factory show before, didn't stop me from watching again though!

I was pretty suprised at the Lambo factory, I've seen several welding shops better equipted then the Lambo factory. FWIW, I don't know if it makes me like them more or less?

jmatta · 03-20-2010, 12:55 PM

We'll see who beats whom in the ALMS race this weekend

Perfectlap · 03-20-2010, 01:09 PM

robotic quality control? impressive. Maybe this is why a UAW built Buick knocked Lexus off the top spot for 3 year reliablity after nearly a decade...and of course that was before all these sudden acceleration, stuck throttle pedals, etc. took over the headlines. Chevy beating Porsches and the rest at the track would just be pouring salt on the wound.

p.s.
My Porsche was outsourced to the cheap socialism labor in Finland!

jmatta · 03-20-2010, 08:31 PM

Thanks Corvettes...why try to beat you, when you beat yourselves? :ah:

Too bad for the Bergmeister/Long/Lieb #45...wrong place at the wrong time. Would have been podium for certain; possibly top tier.

Yes, I'll take the Porsche Factory over the others...

Lightning · 03-20-2010, 09:37 PM

Funny someone should mention Toyota. Wiedekin actual brought a bunch of manufacturing experts from Toyota to visit Porsche in the early '90s (I think) because Porsche was almost hand-assembling 911s and 968s, and they were projected to lose money on their cars and/or price themselves out of the mainstream sports car market. Toyota's consultants actually helped Porsche not only restructure their manufacturing, but also their design. That's why ever since the 986 and 996, the common component content has gone way up (sometimes as much as maybe 40%). Before that, even the 924 had every since piece custom designed and manufactured for it.

The Boxster was the first result of this cooperation, and the profits from the car actually saved the company, which is why Wiedekin was a hero back then. So no, the Stuttgart factory was not designed as an automated factory from the start, it was retrofitted to get the most bang for the buck.

As far as Porsches vs. Vettes, I was at Laguna Seca for the final ALMS race last year, and at the finish I was in the last grandstand at Start/Finish. Geez! First deFerran comes by in the LMP1 Acura, with Fernandez right behind him in the Acura LMP2. After a few seconds, you see a Porsche and a Corvette come through the last corner, both fighting for the same line. Apparently the Corvette guys had been playing pretty rough in their new GT2 car all day, so no one was going to give them quarter at the end of the day. They they both start leaning into the pit wall, and then literally sparks started flying, and when the Corvette spun accross the track and hit the right side right of the track before the finish line, everybody who had been standing right against the chain link fence ducked or jumped, and then scattered! Man!