Engineering Students visit Jaguar Landrover

16 November 2010

In the week of the 8th November 45 Full Time level 2 and 3 Engineering students visited the Jaguar Landrover Plant at Halewood near Liverpool. The students first had an introduction to history of the plant which was first built in the 1960’s for the production of the Ford Escort. The plant is now part of the Jaguar Landrover group which was taken over by the Indian giant Tata who have invested in excess of £300 million to produce the Freelander 2 and the new Range Rover.

After a brief introduction to Health and Safety the students had a very informative tour of the facilities. Starting with the press shop they saw the raw steel converted to body panels using giant presses capable of exerting a force of hundreds of tone which still needed up to six pressings to make one panel such as a door or bonnet. The then went to the body shop where the panels produced are joined either by welding or folding by an army of robots to produce the final body shell.

These then move into the paint shop which we could not visit because of health and safety but we picked up the production line in the assembly area where the newly painted shell is fitted with its drive train. Interior trim etc, all against a particular customers order either for the UK or export. Finally the completed vehicle is programmed to its particular specification, fuelled and driven off ready to be dispatched to the customer.

During the visit the students learned about production line techniques, Just in Time stock control, robotics and communications needed in the manufacturing industry. They also say the importance of teamwork as any break in production could stop the line at a cost of £10,000 for every 90 seconds it is stopped.

During the tour the students caught a glimpse of the pre production model of the Range Rover Evoque due to go on sale in the middle of 2011.

Finally they were able to examine more closely the Freelander 2 models on display in the visitors centre and dream of the time they may be driving one.