After the project was
approved to build a small car, Opel signed an agreement with the Spanish
government to build an assembly plant for the production of the new
Corsa in Spain. This was done also for marketing reasons, since at this
time the market share of the small car class in Germany constituted only
12%, however in Spain and Italy 44% and in France 34%.
For the factory, a
location in Figueruelas near Zaragoza was selected (situated between Ebro
and Kaser canal)
8200 new jobs were
created in the new plant. Since the number of unemployed persons was in
this region at about 15%, the enthusiasm was so big that 80,000 people
submitted their application.
In March 1980 the
first sod was turned. Mr. Estes planted a tree for the inauguration of
the construction site on March 14th .
In May 1980 the
foundations for the press plant was built. The press plant had a total
area of 50.000m2
in June 1980 the
installation works of the halls was started.
One year later all
halls were completely installed and after the start-up of the
factory-owned power plant (by natural gas) and the transformers the
entire electrical network was put into operation. The building of the
new factory took only 899 days.
In total 1,5 million
working hours were necessary, in order to build the new plant. Among
other things. 180,000 cubic meters of concrete and 36,000 tons of steel
were used. Costs: 1.5 billion euro
Delivery of
the presses for the body panels, April 1981
Delivery
of the 1st welding robot, 1981
In January 1982 the
first parts in the new factory were manufactured: 2000 mounting plates
for the flexible brake hoses.
One month later the 18
presses were taken into operation and the first Corsa body was produced.
On May 14th 1982, F. Beickler, president of the Adam Opel A.G., drove the first from 20 pilot
Corsas from the assembly line. These 20 cars were used for all the
tuning of the production line.
Starting from 7 June
1982 on, 1500 preproduction cars were produced.
In 1982 a total of 150
manufacturing robots were installed to do an annual production of
270.000 Corsas and Novas.
In order to reach
these numbers, the staff was extended again by 800 workmen
On August 30th
1982, the regular production was started.
Production
process
Information to the
presses: As in the plant a huge number of components was
manufactured (Body panels, brake parts, exhausts, axles and
suspension parts, brake and fuel lines), many different presses were
used, small ones with 50kg to very large ones with 50 tons pressing
force.
In Zaragoza was also
a press, which was at that time the largest press of the world. It
had a width of 14m, weighed 730 tons and could manufacture parts
with a strength of up to 2500 tons.
The sheet metal
wastes (182 tons per day!!) were collected automatically and packed.
Of the delivered sheet
metal coils the individual body panels were pressed. (thickness 0,8mm;
profiled sheets up to 4mm).
Subsequently, all
panels were transferred to the production line.
The floor pans were
prefabricated in a separate manufacturing and stored temporarily
upright.
In a 1st production
line the floor pan was assembled with the front and the back panel by 14
welding robots. 3 workmen controlled the manufacturing and the passing
accuracy.
Afterwards, in a 2nd
production line the remaining parts (side panels, tail, roof) were
welded to the floor pan by 40 robots. 75 bodies per hour could be
manufactured. A total of 106 manufacturing robots were installed in the
body production. A total of 800 welding points were done.
The finished body was
then, together with all parts which could be opened (hood, doors, boot
lid), installed onto a transport rack and then passed on to the fully
automated paint shop with 16 lacquer robots. (total area: 61.000m2). At
this time this was the most modern lacquer plant of General Motors. It
was paid attention to get highest quality .
Before the lacquer was
applied, the body was phosphated and a rust protection
in 8 steps was done. A PVC underbody protection was applied after the
paint job.
Paint drying cabin, 1981
Final touch up of the
paint (if necessary) was done exclusively by skilled
workers.
After the final inspection of the
body the sound insulation mats were inserted.
The
finished bodies were transferred into the
production line of the final assembly (which had a total length of 3km). In these stages of the manufacturing first all electrical and
mechanical components were installed (wiring, lighting,
gearshift linkage, brake hoses, fuel tank, rear axle, front wheel
suspension, brakes etc..) as well as the bumpers, glass and body
mouldings.
After that it was time
for the wedding, i.e. bringing the engine and transmission together (delivered from Bochum and Vienna) with the
assembled body.
Subsequently, the interior was
installed and the wheels mounted.
Afterwards all cars
came for the final inspection on a test stand,
where everything was checked for function and an emissions test was accomplished.
Finally all Corsas
were tested in a chamber on liquid tightness.
Since all models with all possible equipments,
options and engines were assembled on the
same production line, each robot and workman had to
know exactly, which model was in front of him. Therefore the
system SICARID was developed. It consisted of an electronic module, which
contained the equipment and colour. This transponder was attached to the
front lower panel and could "transfer" thus at each station of the
manufacturing the information of the respective model to a slave
station. The slave stations were all connected to a central computer. With
this system the factory in Zaragoza was one of the most modern in Europe.
The electronic transponder was only removed after the last assembly
step.
30,000 Corsas left the
factory in 1982, (50.000 cars
from August 30th1982 until March 3rd.1983),
200,000 in 1983 and already 270.000 in 1984.
Current consumption of
the plant per year: 240 million kilowatt-hours
Shipment
All Corsas for South Europe were brought
immediately by car transporters or train to the licensed dealers.
For the North of Europe (Germany, Benelux,
nordic countries) and UK however the shipment was used as
transportation. The normal way would have been to bring the cars by car
trailers to France, to reload them there on the train, bring them then
to Belgium and Germany, load them again on trucks and do the
distribution from a centre of distribution.
Due to higher costs this was not done.
Beside that was the problem that the railways in Spain and France had
different track widths, whereby the cars would have been brought by
trucks to France.
The Corsas and Novas were thus loaded in car
trailers at the plant in Zaragoza and brought to the sea port Pasajes in
the north of Spain into temporary storages.
From here they were then brought by car
ferry by the gulf of Biscaye to Vlissingen (Rotterdam). The Norwegian
shipping company Höegh-Ugland with head office in Grimstad, which ships
cars since 1970 in the whole world, offered the best cost effectiveness
and received thus the order.
The Corsas were loaded
backwards, in order to save time when unloading.
On board the cars were
secured against shifting.
In the beginning 2 ships
per week brought 200 Corsas to Rotterdam and 550 Novas to England. As
the demand increased, the number of shipped cars per week was increased
too.
