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Factories with French flair

These are good times for PSA. Despite tough market conditions, profits and sales have remained buoyant. The 206 hatchback has been a star performer, and is currently Europe’s top-seller, ahead of the VW Golf. Chairman Jean-Martin Folz even recently said he expected operating earnings to top € 3 billion ($3.5 billion) in 2003, and that the group was “on target” to sell 3.35 million cars worldwide this year, rising to 4 million units by 2006.

The Sochaux plant is the largest factory in France, and one of the three biggest car plants in Europe, where production ofthe 307, 406 and 607 models are undertaken, as well as the imminent 407 range

As a result of this ongoing boom in sales, Peugeot’s factories have been working flat out. Nowhere is this more evident than at Sochaux and Mulhouse, its two giant plants in Alsace, eastern France, which between them are capable of producing close to a million cars a year.

Such is the demand that for the past two summers, work has carried on at Mulhouse throughout most of August, with the traditional four-week production shutdown shortened to one week, allowing the plant to produce an additional 27,000 cars. At the massive Sochaux plant, single-shift working at weekends has been introduced in an attempt to cut waiting times for the 307. Sochaux, where the 406 saloon and luxury 607 are also assembled, operates three daily shifts during the week.

There has been a car plant in the small town of Sochaux since 1912, with the plant growing to such a capacity that it now dwarfs the town. Over the years it has expanded, gobbling up local landmarks. One of the administration buildings was formerly a hotel. The local football club’s ground is within the boundaries of the plant, and recently a new stadium has been built for the club, also owned by Peugeot, which has reached the French first division.

Now Sochaux is the largest factory in France, and one of the three biggest car plants in Europe. Most remarkably, before the last wave of expansion began in 1987, Peugeot diverted the course of the river Allon, which flowed past the plant, in order to reclaim more land to build new facilities. A canal now takes the river past the expanded facility, though this natural border means there is no scope for further expansion, unless the large railway sidings that divide the new and old parts of the plant are moved outside the boundary of the factory.

These new facilities – body, paint, anti-corrosion treatment and final assembly lines – are the most modern in the group, having been built in three stages from 1989 to 1995 at a total cost of €3 billion ($3.5 billion). Overhead conveyors containing 4 km of track link the new facilities with the stamping shops on the older part of the site. The new final assembly shop is built on two floors – something that was impossible to achieve at the old factory due to the low height of the buildings, some of which date back to the 1930s.

The move to three-shift working in November 2000 saw the new facilities kick in fully, with production soaring from 265,000 units in 2000 to 480,000 in 2002. The weekend shifts have been agreed by the local unions representing the factory’s 14,000 production employees and under the deal, workers will be compensated with time off during the week.

However, the notion of weekend work does create other problems. Local suppliers tend to work only Monday to Friday, and there are restrictions on the movement of goods by road at weekend. As a result, a suitable buffer of components stocks has to be built up during the week to cope with the weekend build schedule. The “fourth shift”, as the Saturday and Sunday shift is referred to in the plant, only applies to the 307 line, taking production of the model up to 280,000 units including station wagon derivatives launched in 2002.

There are three final assembly lines at Sochaux. The others builds a combination of 406 and 607 models – 200,000 units in total. 406 saloons are built on one line, with 406 estate and the 607 on the other. In total, the plant makes 140,000 of all 406 models and 60,000 607s. It is the only plant that builds these models. The 406 is imminently about to be replaced when a new 407 model, which shares its platform with the Citroen C5, will go on stream.

The Sochaux press shop also makes a number of stampings for Mulhouse, 70 km to the east, which builds 307 and 206 models, the Poissy plant which is also responsible for the 206 and 307, and the Ryton plant in the UK, which builds only the 206. Some stampings from Mulhouse are also delivered to Sochaux. In total, 60 per cent of the Sochaux press shop’s output is used on cars made at the plant, with 40 per cent going to other plants or for use as repair parts.

In the body shop, it takes between six and seven hours to build a complete 307 body. The area is highly automated – there are between 500 and 600 robots on the 307 body-in-white line alone – and a similar number in the 406/607 body-in-white line. In total 1,800 people work in body assembly.

The paint shop has been one of the main beneficiaries of the recent investment. It was the first of the new facilities to open, in 1989, for the 605 model. Since then it has been expanded so there are now four parallel lines in the paint shop. A separate anti-corrosion shop next to the paint shop was added in 1995. In this shop, the first primer coat is applied by dipping, but thereafter the body is sprayed.

In the paint shop, each car receives two coats of colour base and two layers of clearcoat. Robots have been installed to apply the first spray coat to the entire visible interior and exterior parts, though the second coat is applied manually on non-metallic finishes. For metallics, a second robot-sprayed coat is applied.

The robot spraying makes economic sense as waste is reduced substantially, with Peugeot estimating around 15 per cent of paint used does not hit the car with automatic painting compared to up to 50 per cent waste with manual spraying. There are around 80 spraying robots altogether in the paint facility, and the anti-corrosion and paint shops together employ about 800 workers. The robots are still well within their design life – the oldest on site are in the body shop and date from 1987 – when the plant started building the 405.

For the moment the paint shop still uses solvent-based rather than water-based paints, though it would be possible to change as the tanks and internal water system of the paint shop are made from stainless steel, but seeing as the plant already complies with current environmental limits, there is no immediate pressure to change. Such a changeover, however, is likely to take place in other plants, like Poissy, where PSA has already switched to water-based paints.

Indeed, the plant’s environmental credentials are such that workers in the spray booths do not need to wear masks. The air in the paint shop is changed 300 times an hour, and the car bodies are electrostatically charged to attract the paint. Surplus paint falls very quickly at a rate of half a metre per second through the mesh floor of the paint shop and is carried away by running water tanks below. This also allows the line to move relatively quickly as paint particles from the previous car – which could be of a different colour – are quickly removed from the air, ensuring that none falls onto the next car.

When the bodies leave the paint shop, the doors are removed and transported via a separate conveyor to the final assembly line. The cars are assembled with doors off and the doors are reunited with their specific body at the end of the line.

Vertical integration is reducing at the plant. Some seats – for the 406 – are still made at Sochaux, but production of seats used in the 307 and 607 has been transferred to PSA’s components arm Faurecia, which has set up a new facility at the entrance to the Sochaux plant. When 406 build ends, its successor’s seats will be made by Faurecia too, a move prompted by new technology developed by Faurecia that has contributed to a reduction in headcount of 500 at Sochaux. Indeed, the workforce has halved since 1979 as more and more elements of the production have been outsourced. Wiring looms, previously made at Sochaux, have also now been outsourced.

In the two-storey final assembly line, the first tasks are the fitment of the dashboard and the windscreens. The dashboards and other sub-assemblies arrive from suppliers on the ground floor, where they are prepared before being transported up to the first-floor assembly line by elevator.

There are not many robots on the assembly line, and windscreen and dashboard fitment are among the few tasks they perform. The dashboard robot uses cameras to read the location points on the body shell and this allows it to fit the dashboard accurately. The dashboard robot also has automatic tool changing facilities to enable it to pick up different dashboards for different models.

The large car final assembly line is split into two parallel tracks – one has 406 saloon and 607 – while the other track deals with 406 saloon and station wagon. Both left-hand and right-hand drive cars are produced, and most of the work is carried out manually. Around 30 per cent of the assembly line workers are female, though this is lower than other typical PSA plants like Ryton, which currently has a 60 per cent female final assembly line workforce.

Ongoing dashboard fitment on the Peugeot 206 line at the Mulhouse plant
PSA's C-platform models will be built at Mulhouse

Mulhouse, 45 minutes' drive from Sochaux, makes an interesting contrast with Sochaux. Built in 1971, it is every bit as big and last year produced more cars than Sochaux – 425,000 unit – working three shifts, Monday to Friday. Yet it still has the feel of a 1970s car factory. Whereas Sochaux has benefited from massive investment in the late 80s and early 90s, Mulhouse is still pretty much as-built, with improvements, such as the introduction of skillet conveyors on part of the assembly track, being carried out on a piecemeal basis.

As an example, the marriage station, where body, powertrain and suspension all meet, is less sophisticated at Mulhouse. Workers need to guide the two halves together manually, whereas as at Sochaux, this process is smooth and completely automated. At Mulhouse, the operation is carried out while the line is moving whereas at Sochaux the line is static at the point of marriage, which partially accounts for the need for greater supervision at Mulhouse.

Mulhouse is one of three PSA plants that now builds the hugely successful 206 small hatch, and it is the only one which builds the new 206CC cabrio, with its retractable hard top. A total of 420 CC models a day are built, in both left-hand and right-hand guise. These are the only RHD 206s built at Mulhouse.

Mulhouse also builds 307 down a separate line, and that is where its future lies. After 2004, 206 production will stop and will be concentrated at Poissy and Ryton, while 307 will be built at Mulhouse and Sochaux. All Mulhouse production will be based on the C-platform, and Mulhouse is earmarked to build the next-generation C-sector Citroen C4, the car that will replace Xsara. The 206CC may continue till 2006, however, and from next year Mulhouse will also build the new 307CC coupe-cabrio that was unveiled at the Geneva Motor Show in March.

The 206 line is interesting in that it has to be sequenced with at least one hatchback in between each 206CC model. This is because there are two special fitting stations to install the roof mechanism, which fits into the trunk, and the trunk lid. These use electrical assist devices that move down the line in sync with the car. After the roof and trunk lid have been installed, these have to reset and pick up the next roof. While this is happening, a hatchback passes through the station.

The CC roofs are built by Heuliez, a long-term supplier and contract manufacturer to PSA, at a plant near Paris. They are trucked down in pallets that are kept at trackside. The roofs are picked manually by the work teams that fit the roofs and taken to line side on a simple trolley. As at Sochaux, seats for the CC are still made on site, though those used in 206 hatch and 307 come from another Faurecia facility 20 km away. In total, between 1,000 and 1,100 deliveries from all suppliers to Mulhouse are made each day.

Despite the age of the plant, it is still a highly efficient operation. Computerised print-outs attached to each car ensure the sequencing is run efficiently, with all sub-assemblies also carrying print-outs with unique three digit numbers, allowing the workers to match up the parts accurately. The line is almost completely manual – the only robots used are for the application of sealant to the front windscreens, which are then fitted manually using an assist device.