Mazda Motor Corporation

Shuji Nishimoto

Masahiro Osumi

Hiroaki Inoue

Nobuo Kihara

Seikichi Yamamoto

In a vehicle body assembly line is disposed a jig unit having a mechanism for aligning and clamping a side inner panel and a mechanism for aligning and clamping a front header and a rear header of a roof panel. Each of the mechanisms is movable between a position of aligning and holding the member for structuring a vehicle body and a position of evacuating the mechanism from the vehicle body sections. The vehicle body assembly line has nine stations for subassembling the structuring members. In the second station, the side inner panel is set to the jig unit which is transferred to the third station with a welding robot disposed therein, in which the front and rear headers are set to the jig unit and they are temporarily welded to the side inner panel. The jig unit is transferred to the fourth station where the headers are permanently welded to the side inner panel. The side outer panel is aligned on the basis of the side inner panel in the fifth station and it is welded in the sixth station. In the ninth station, the jig unit is evacuated from the vehicle body section from below.

Method for the assembly of automotive vehicle bodies and a jig unit

The method involved in the present invention is directed to the coating step where an assembled unit of the upper vehicle body and the under vehicle body is coated and the upper vehicle body section is separated from the under vehicle body after coating. In the vehicle body assembly step, the vehicle body is loaded on a jig unit disposed so as to be movable through stations located along the vehicle body assembly line. Upon loading the upper vehicle body on the jig unit, the vehicle body is aligned with the jig unit on the basis of an inner member of a member for structuring the vehicle body with the aid of an aligning unit mounted to the jig unit. After coating the assembled vehicle body unit, the unit is divided into the upper vehicle body and the under vehicle body, which are then processed in separate mounting steps. After mounting various parts to each of the upper vehicle body and the under vehicle body in their own mounting lines, the upper vehicle body is combined with the under vehicle body. The lower part unit is then mounted to the vehicle body assembly or mounted to the under vehicle body prior to the assembly of the under vehicle body with the upper vehicle body.

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Hiroshima, Japan

Shuji Nishimoto