[tonifan]

My new MKS is a fantastic car, and I'm really appreciative of the Chicago plant employees' expertise. I was wondering if the MKS and the Taurus are built on the same exact assembly line, or are there two separate lines? Since they're on the same platform, I thought they might be assembled on the same assembly line. It would be great to have some pix of the assembly lines. I've seen several videos posted on YouTube of past and present assembly lines, and it would be of great interest to the MKS forum to see anything anyone could post on this site. Thanks, and keep up the good work!

[radams54]

tonifan, on Jan 29 2009, 02:39 PM, said:

My new MKS is a fantastic car, and I'm really appreciative of the Chicago plant employees' expertise. I was wondering if the MKS and the Taurus are built on the same exact assembly line, or are there two separate lines? Since they're on the same platform, I thought they might be assembled on the same assembly line. It would be great to have some pix of the assembly lines. I've seen several videos posted on YouTube of past and present assembly lines, and it would be of great interest to the MKS forum to see anything anyone could post on this site. Thanks, and keep up the good work!

I too have been trying to find pictures and or videos of the CAP (MKS) assembly line. I would also like to know just how long does it take the personnel on the assembly line to build a MKS. I ordered a MKS the Tuesday before Thanksgiving and is expecting delivery some time the week of February 9th.

This post has been edited by radams54: 29 January 2009 - 05:58 PM

[raw111]

radams54, on Jan 29 2009, 04:51 PM, said:

I too have been trying to find pictures and or videos of the CAP (MKS) assembly line. I would also like to know just how long does it take the personnel on the assembly line to build a MKS. I ordered a MKS the Tuesday before Thanksgiving and is expecting delivery some time the week of February 9th.

I work at the CAP and Yes. both cars are made on the smae assembly line, using flexible manufacturing robots the body panels can be applied and welded in different locations depending on which vehicle is passing by. You'll notice that the new Taurus and the MKS does not share any of the same body parts event though they are produced right off the same line. They are truely different products from a very similar chassis.

[raw111]

raw111, on Feb 2 2009, 09:42 AM, said:

I work at the CAP and Yes. both cars are made on the smae assembly line, using flexible manufacturing robots the body panels can be applied and welded in different locations depending on which vehicle is passing by. You'll notice that the new Taurus and the MKS does not share any of the same body parts event though they are produced right off the same line. They are truely different products from a very similar chassis.

It takes about 21 hours to build the MKS from sheet metal to a full function vehicle.After it comes out of the paint dept. your vehicle will be in the trim dept. for about four hours and then it will go to chassis dept where they will install the engine, tranny wheels, and the doors. It will then go through to do an alignment check along with adjusting the headlights and a whole battery of CBT and electrical tests to ensure everything is plugged up and working correctly. From there if all is well it will then go through a squeek and rattle test and a water pressure test to check for leaks. If all is well it will move along to the distributors. Any problems with any of these test the car will then go to a specialist to correct any issue with quality. The main reason it take a couple of months to get your vehicle is because they are built in a rotation as the orders come in. So if we have 25,000 cars to make already and you just ordered yours, then you will be forced to wait until we can get there. Plants normally build about four hundred cars per shift.

[radams54]

raw111, on Feb 2 2009, 09:57 AM, said:

It takes about 21 hours to build the MKS from sheet metal to a full function vehicle.After it comes out of the paint dept. your vehicle will be in the trim dept. for about four hours and then it will go to chassis dept where they will install the engine, tranny wheels, and the doors. It will then go through to do an alignment check along with adjusting the headlights and a whole battery of CBT and electrical tests to ensure everything is plugged up and working correctly. From there if all is well it will then go through a squeek and rattle test and a water pressure test to check for leaks. If all is well it will move along to the distributors. Any problems with any of these test the car will then go to a specialist to correct any issue with quality. The main reason it take a couple of months to get your vehicle is because they are built in a rotation as the orders come in. So if we have 25,000 cars to make already and you just ordered yours, then you will be forced to wait until we can get there. Plants normally build about four hundred cars per shift.

Thank you raw111 for your response to my question about the length of time it takes to build a MKS.

[squiggles]

raw111, on Feb 2 2009, 10:57 AM, said:

It takes about 21 hours to build the MKS from sheet metal to a full function vehicle.After it comes out of the paint dept. your vehicle will be in the trim dept. for about four hours and then it will go to chassis dept where they will install the engine, tranny wheels, and the doors. It will then go through to do an alignment check along with adjusting the headlights and a whole battery of CBT and electrical tests to ensure everything is plugged up and working correctly. From there if all is well it will then go through a squeek and rattle test and a water pressure test to check for leaks. If all is well it will move along to the distributors. Any problems with any of these test the car will then go to a specialist to correct any issue with quality. The main reason it take a couple of months to get your vehicle is because they are built in a rotation as the orders come in. So if we have 25,000 cars to make already and you just ordered yours, then you will be forced to wait until we can get there. Plants normally build about four hundred cars per shift.

Thanks the very informative information! It's always cool to see people who build the cars we love interacting with us.

Great job on the MKS build quality!

[tonifan]

Question: It takes 21 hours to build a complete MKS from sheet metal to drivable vehicle, so how are there about 400 cars built per shift? Does that mean that there are 400 cars completed on a shift, after having been started 21 hours before on other shifts? From your description, I can see how it would take a full 21 hours to complete the construction of an MKS; it's a careful process, to be sure. How long did it used to take to build a Lincoln, say a 1959 Lincoln like my dad drove? Today's manufacturing processes are much more sophisticated, I'm sure. Any further info on the process you might be able to share would be greatly appreciated by Lincoln fans like us. We'd still like to get a video of the process; it would be great, say, for the Lincoln and Continental Owner's Club to have as archival footage. Some of the old 1961 archival footage of Lincoln/T-Bird assembly from the Wixom Plant is on YouTube now. The archival footage is from 1961 or thereabouts, when T-Birds and Lincolns were both built on the Wixom line simultaneously. Thanks again for any info you may be able to provide.

[Madlock]

tonifan, on Mar 16 2009, 10:08 PM, said:

Question: It takes 21 hours to build a complete MKS from sheet metal to drivable vehicle, so how are there about 400 cars built per shift?

Because it's not like they begin each shift with the line at A cold start. The line is nearly always full during a production run with vehicles continuously at various stages of completion. When shifts change, one picks up where the other left off and the line keeps on moving until the entire scheduled run is complete. They don't wait until shift change and finish all the cars in process before shutting down and starting all over from "go".

A better way to think of the process is 400 vehicles coming off the line per shift rather than being made each shift, as that's only technically correct when the pipe is full and flowing.