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Recently I was privileged to be taken round VhI'sCalifornia and Beach assembly plant at Limmerin Hannover. The factory is not open to the public, sothis is a rare insight into what goes on! Special thanksto VW Press, Christian Schleuter, and Toni Schorradt forarranging the visit and taking us around the factory

he Limmer plant is a self-contained unit, separatefrom the main T5 factorv,with its own team of110 technicians (plus l5

admin staff) who work in two shifts,producing around 35 fully-finishedvehicles per day. It operates like anassembly line that has dedicated areasfor each stage of assembly and fittingout, with nearly every task being doneby hand. Interestingly, all Californiasand Beaches, LHD or RHD, are built toindividual ordet mainly for a specificcustomer, but also for dealerships asstock to sell, with factory fitted optionsand paint finish specified by eachcustomer. Each vehicle carries the

customer order number and info aboutseating configuration options (Beach)or special options such as fitting theside awning or additional seat. One ofthe reasons why lead in time betweenorder and delivery of a vehicle is quiteso long is because each is built to order,- no surplus stock to sell is carried.

Road ready, complete T5 units aredelivered to the Limmer plant directfrom the Hannover production line,with everything done except thefitting of the roof and kitting out of therear area - swivel cab seats, parkingsensors¡ wheel choices, upholstery,seat runners in the floor, etc., arealready done at the main plant foreach individual bus. The whole roof

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Finished kitchen/ wardrobe unttsreaOy io Ue taten to the assembly line'

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A l ine of nearly completed Cali fornias.

30 www,volkswagencamper.co.uk I luly 2012

The assembly l ine has f ive stages, with f ivebuses be ing worked on a t a t ime,

Veh ic lescomef romtheHannover fac tory f i t tedwi tha temporary r ig idp las t ic roo f

section has alreacly been cut out, andvehicles fitted rvitl-r a tenlporary rvhite,rigid plastic roof prior to delivery toLimmer. ' Ihe aluminium roof sect ions,pre-painted and ntoulded, aredelivered in batches from an externalsuppl ier and s i t on palet tes arrangedin paint colours awaiting assemblyprior to fitt ing - one of the last bigassernbly l ine jobs. Roofs are collectedfrom the palette and fitted with l ining,awning sides and scissor arms, beforebeing sent on to the roof fitt ing area.

Items such as the hydraulicroof mechanisrn and gear alsocorne directly fiom sub-contactedsuppl iers, as does rnuch of the inter iorequiprnent and fitt ings, either as abase unit ready for assembly (as in thekitchelt/ rvardrobe cabinet), or as acomplete unit reacly to fit (as in the roofstorage cupboard, which cornes r,r' ithspeakers al ready instal led). Anotherdeclicatecl area assernbles ltv hancl

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tl're kitchen unit, f itt ing the cooker,sink, waste tank, fridge, electrics, etc.,onto the supplied carcass¡ before thecornpleted units are sent to awaitfitt ing ir.rto the vehicle. To keep weightdown, the cabir-rets are made fromdouble skinned, faced aluminium.

Once a vehicle has had a full deliveryinspection and check, the plastic roofis removed and the vehicle drivento the assembly line. This interiorfitt ing Iine is a roll ing process, withabout five units on at any one timeand with five key stages. Each stagehere has its own jobs, l ike adding theinterior cladding, or wiring up stuff.The only mechanised bit is the stagewhere an amazing an robot arm picksup the entire kitchen/ rvardrobe unitand inserts it through side door intoposition for workers to then bolt in!Approxirnately 30-35 vehicles per daygo througli this area.

Fitting of the assembled roof and

the front frame part with hydraulicmechanisms is one of the last majorjobs, done in a separate, dedicated areathat deals with one vehicle at a time.

The last jobs carried out are thefitt ing of the rear seat, carpets altcl thesmal l i tems l ike the tool and f i rs t a i r lkits before the finished vehicle is senrfbr c1ualit1, control. Filtallr., the gas isconnectecl and testecl a long r l i t l t theelectr ics. lhe golc l s t icker is ar lc lecl tothe ta i l ga te and the ve l t i c l e i s sen t ou rfo r roac l t es t i ng . ' l he f i n i she r l ru t i t s a renorv readt ' for r ie l iverv to crrstonle rs l

Since product ion star tecl in 2001approximateh, 30,000 ( .a l i t i r rn ias ¿rnclBeaches have beel t bui l t , n-hic l t is setto r ise to 40,000 by the encl of 2012.In 201l , 6,600 uni ts rvere bui l t , n. i thjust over half that amoultt being theCaliforrria. For 2Ol2 the target is 7,000units, while the Beach is now availableat last in RHD, so expect to see more ofthem on our roadsl @

The kitchen/ wardrobe unit is del ivered asa carcass ready for f i t t ing with cooker, etc.

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The roof has already been cut out durinethe bui ld on the main factorv assemblv l inel

The complete kitchen/ wardrobe unit isinserted into posit ion by a robotic arm,

Pre-painted roofs are del ivered from suppliers ready for assembly

One stage involves the f i t t ing of the cladding and electr ics

issue Sixty I www.volkswagencamper.co,uk