Film shows how car manufacturing has changed over 50 years at Seat factory
High-tech factory produces more than 500,000 new cars in a year
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Your support makes all the difference.A new video has shown the evolution of car manufacturing over the past 50 years.
The split-screen film shows how humans are now helped out with heavy lifting by state-of-the-art robots at Seat’s Martorell factory near Barcelona, Spain.
Designers, once armed with pencils and erasers, would come up with endless drawings on paper while today’s workers are equipped with tablets, virtual reality glasses and floating screens.
The result is a high-tech environment where more than 500,000 new cars rolled off the production line last year.
In the 1960s, staff had to endure temperatures of more than 40C - with no air-conditioning.
But today, they work in heat-controlled rooms with ergonomically-friendly equipment while the heavy lifting is left to a team of 2,000 robots.
The video shows how cars were previously painted completely by hand in a messy job for staff.
However, this role is now overseen by humans and carried out by 84 robots, which apply thin layers of paint in a spray booth before a scanner checks the surface is smooth.
At Martorell, robots work autonomously in the metal workshops and assembly lines.
The mechanical members of staff work with more than 7,000 humans to ensure 2,300 new cars roll off the production line each day.
This high-tech process resulted in a record-breaking 517,000 cars being built at the plant last year, with 80 per cent exported from Spain.
Seat would make around five cars per day during the Sixties – but today it takes just three minutes for the same number of cars to be built at the facility in Martorell.
More than 62,000 of these new models were delivered to customers in the UK, an increase of 12 per cent on the previous year.
Technology has not only transformed the production of cars, but it has also revolutionised the buying process.
In the 1960s, it could have taken up to two years for a customer to get their Seat 600, but today buyers can order their new car in 10 minutes with just five clicks of a mouse.
Seat released the video to coincide with its move into the next stage of its history – the production of electric cars.
Luca de Meo, president of Seat, said: “Soon we will begin a new, even more exciting, second phase with the ambition of being major players in the fields of electrification, connectivity and shared mobility.
“Everywhere we will be present, we will be striving to make cities cleaner and safer, and mobility more accessible.
“We will build expertise in battery technology, new fuels for combustion engines, 5G connectivity, autonomous driving functionalities, and in integrating our products into mobility platforms.”
The manufacturer has said it is developing six electric and plug-in hybrid models as demand for alternatively fuelled cars continues to grow.
Figures released by the SMMT this week showed registrations of electric cars and hybrids is up by 14.7 per cent this year.
SWNS
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