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Plant Workers: How does coloring happen?

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Tortooga Custom Works

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This is the geek in me asking...

So the truck is built on an assembly line, where does color come into play?

Why are there late availability colors? Is it because it’s more difficult? More expensive? More time consuming?
Or is it a different process such that the “machines” have to be recalibrated for each of those “special” colors?

Does anyone know?

@JL-Engineline ? And I know there might be one or two other folks who work in the plant here...
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Malarkey21

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@ralphjjr I don't know for sure, but my thought is just keeping it simple while everyone learns the assembly and they work on getting all the right parts to show up at the correct locations. More colors equals more possible combinations of failures... or getting one of those VW's where every panel was painted a different color.

There was a photo on instagram from a line worker, it ming have made it to the forum, but his photo showed a long line of only white doors.

Just my best guess here.
 

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Most assembly lines I have seen are a bath where once the body is complete it's submerged in primer dried then submerged in paint. Never seen a clear coat process on a line.

I would guess late availability is one of two things.

A the company didn't plan for it early enough and the supply line isn't ready for the color like others they might already have lined up. Some colors are shared with different names between models.

B they want to push the popular colors then do cutovers for different colors one the initial ruch for a new model year is over.

I'd be interested to see the genuine reason as well though.
 

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Most assembly lines I have seen are a bath where once the body is complete it's submerged in primer dried then submerged in paint. Never seen a clear coat process on a line.

I would guess late availability is one of two things.

A the company didn't plan for it early enough and the supply line isn't ready for the color like others they might already have lined up. Some colors are shared with different names between models.

B they want to push the popular colors then do cutovers for different colors one the initial ruch for a new model year is over.

I'd be interested to see the genuine reason as well though.
It's a long process. Can't speak for Jeep but for our process first the sheet metal is stamped then .it goes to weld where robots weld the car together then it goes through a dip process to keep the metal from rusting then ecoat then sealer is applied to areas that water or wind can seep through and next the body is primed then base coat then clear .next it goes off to have all the other stuff like engine interior ect eventually until it's a whole vehicle. You can probably look up some info on YouTube even if you can't find Jeep assembly plant info find another brand and look at the process. There all pretty close to the same
 

Rex3rd

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This is the geek in me asking...

So the truck is built on an assembly line, where does color come into play?

Why are there late availability colors? Is it because it’s more difficult? More expensive? More time consuming?
Or is it a different process such that the “machines” have to be recalibrated for each of those “special” colors?

Does anyone know?

@JL-Engineline ? And I know there might be one or two other folks who work in the plant here...
Do a search for Jeep assembly line process on youtube. Lots of info

Screenshot_20190426-055114.png
 

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Tortooga Custom Works

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Do a search for Jeep assembly line process on youtube. Lots of info

Screenshot_20190426-055114.png
there are some good videos.

What's odd is I can see points where it looks like a bunch of the same color together, and points where there are different colors together.

I wonder if paint can actually alternate...
 

biggdave92

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Imo, they're running "best sellers" first to generate cash. Once they have enough on the best sellers in inventory, they'll start "playing" with other colors. I think late availability will come down to
 

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The assembly line isn't like the old days where the vehicle is built from start to finish. There are so many parts that come from off the line. Like a bunch of on ramps to a highway.

The beauty is that all the parts are sent to the line in the order that they are needed.

That's how you see vehicles that are alternating colors/ trims heading down the line. You'd assume that you'd see all the white ones for a while, then red, etc.

The parts are all made at different spots and then the line is put in order per the needs with all the part lines matching up perfectly. It's called 'just in time' manufacturing. This way there aren't unused piles of parts in storage.
 

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Also, the paint booths are pretty efficient. They can paint different colors from vehicle to vehicle.

5c1294247d51f14dee041f48-960-720.jpg


The sprayers are so well programmed that they are able to cover the entire shell - rather than a paint dip.

Here's how the sealer is applied:

FCA_TNAP_2018_5786po79a39r0uuegvsbc37tghh352__mid.jpg


Here's how the steel is prepped. Still use a dipping process.

FCAGroup_Location_plants_Goiana_Pernambuco_Brazil_16.jpg
 

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Yes they can paint different colors from vehicle to vehicle. In the old factory they could only paint 9 colors at a time. So they had to retire old colors when the late availability colors came in.

Now I think it has more to do with:

1 - Simplifying production at the beginning. Some parts are colored by vendors and getting different materials to match exactly is a pain. Especially with a new launch they are probably trying to keep some of these variables to a minimum

2 - Generate some additional interest later in the year
 
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:beer::beer:

thanks for the answers. pretty cool stuff. The robots are so impressive, it's definitely like a choreographed dance.
 

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:beer::beer:

thanks for the answers. pretty cool stuff. The robots are so impressive, it's definitely like a choreographed dance.
You think those are choreographed you should check out the weld robots lol it litterly looks like 50 robots fighting to build a car
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