1、Put on your safety glasses and prepare to be impressed, as you enter the state-of-the-art Body Assembly Hall at Crewe. This is an environment in which critical tolerances rule, where precision tooling and skilled operators combine to achieve dizzy levels of dimensional accuracy and integrity. Where
2、gaps are required between steel panels, for example, they are uniform, set at exactly 3.5mm.Four-axis measuring machines check no fewer than 2,500 measuring points. And the achievement of joins between body panels that are almost invisible is the result of abandoning standard hot weld technology, wh
3、ich can cause distortion of panels at the weld points. Instead Crewe has adopted plasma-brazing cold weld technology, which leaves a pristine finish ready for painting.Behind orange safety curtains, the plasma-welding teams can be seen at work on the major body assemblies. Elsewhere in the hall, sus
4、pended computer-controlled guns are used to assemble body sections mounted on jigs. These hand-held tools allow accurate positioning of the 6,500 spot welds required to optimise torsional rigidity on each monocoque steel bodyshell. No other manufacturer goes in for spot-welding on this scale.The vis
5、itor will notice that although there are fans to blow any fumes away from the welders, they raise only the lightest breeze. That is to avoid blowing dust around the Body Assembly Hall which, like every other area at Crewe, is conspicuously clean.Everything here is done by hand, from attaching the 24
6、0 individual copper and other metal studs used in the floor pan to hold the wiring looms and carpeting in place, to applying the sealant which will later be baked in the oven. Between 540 and 560 components are used to construct each body. By the time each one leaves the assembly hall, it will incor
7、porate some 3m of MIG wire, 1.5m of brazing, and about 200 nuts.A computer-controlled Hemming press is an important addition to the Body Assembly Hall. This can do in 12 minutes what would once have taken a day. Loaded and operated by a four-man team, it presses outer skins onto hinged components -
8、doors, boots and bonnets - at up to 100 tonnes. The skins are glued rather than welded, to be set in an oven no hotter than a hair drier. Two hundred and ten closures can be completed each week by the team.Twice a year, a complete body is built in the Body Assembly Hall only to be taken apart again.
9、 This is drastic testing, but on an everyday basis, one in five components is chisel-checked for structural efficiency.There is a very healthy, competitive atmosphere in the bodyshop, says Team Leader Colin Morrey, who has been with the company since 1974. A look at the wallcharts which plot the pro
10、gress of each team-member in terms of multi-tasking ability underlines this. There are some 13 teams, each containing ten to a dozen skilled and semi-skilled workers.The company believes in the values of experience combined with thorough on-going training - and loyalty. Colin, like many others at Cr
11、ewe, followed his father here, and his father before him.Many of the guys had worked in the old machine shop, but when they moved in here, few of them had ever welded before, he says. At first it was like doing a jigsaw puzzle without the lid, but they learnt - everything has to be done in an exact
12、sequence. They had six months of training, worked on practice cars and went to see how it was done elsewhere. Now, with build rates rising, more people are being taken on.It takes about three weeks to turn those 540-odd components into a complete, inspected bodyshell ready to go on to the next stage
13、. Working a single eight-hour shift, the teams currently send 35 bodies on their way to the paintshop each week. And as each body goes on its way, it is already earmarked for one particular customer.MASTERY AT THE WHEEL Chauffeurs and professional owner-drivers are expected to undergo a week-long co
14、urse at the Bentley Motors School of Instruction Shorter courses are available for owners who wish to get the most from their vehicles Owner Appreciation course is based around customers vehicle and can be tailored to individual requirements Courses available include instruction in roadcraft and dri
15、ving techniques, tuition in skid control, high-speed handling and advanced car controlDriving a Bentley is unlike driving any other car, as a driver realises the moment his feet touch the pedals and he turns the key.A thoroughbred car also requires special care and attention, which is why even exper
16、ienced chauffeurs and professional owner-drivers are expected to undergo a week-long course to familiarise themselves with every aspect of the vehicles, and in particular their driving characteristics. This is where Bentley Motors School of Instruction comes in.For customers who wish to get the most out of driving what are in every respect drivers cars, a number of shorter
