Mazda Motor Corporation

Toshinobu Taketani

Hiroshi Fujii

Sunji Sakamoto

Masafumi Kobayashi

Minoru Ota

Kazuo Kato

Ken Kuramori

A vehicle assembly line has a main line comprising an automated assembly line portion disposed in an upstream portion thereof, a manual assembly line portion disposed in a downstream portion thereof and an automated work line portion disposed in the terminal portion thereof. The automated assembly line portion is formed of train type conveyors which can feed a vehicle body or a work selectively in continuous feed fashion or indexing feed fashion. The manual assembly line portion is formed of trolley type or power-and-free type conveyors which feed the vehicle body continuously. The automated work line portion is formed of train type conveyors which feed the vehicle body in indexing feed fashion. In the automated assembly line portion are included the assembly steps which have already been automated and those which are scheduled to be automated but are to be manually performed for the time being. At the stations for the automated steps, the train type conveyors are controlled to feed the vehicle body in indexing feed fashion while at the stations for the scheduled-to-be-automated steps, the conveyors are controlled to feed the vehicle body in continuous feed fashion. In the manual assembly line portion are disposed the assembly steps which are considered to have to depend on human labor even in future. In the automated work line portion are accomplished assembly steps which must be done after the manual assembly steps due to limitations on the assembling order.

Vehicle assembly line

A hanger conveyance for the transport of left-hand and right-hand automobile door assemblies from and back to a loading site through a door fitting station and then through an unloading site, which hanger has first and second door supports for the support of the door assemblies generally in parallel relation to each other. The door assemblies removed from an automobile body structure are loaded onto the respective first and second supports at the loading site and are then transported towards the door fitting station with the left-hand and right-hand door assemblies confronting first and second directions opposite to each other, respectively. At the door fitting station, the hanger is turned 180.degree. about a vertical axis to render the left-hand and right-hand door assemblies to confront the second and first directions, respectively, after one of the door assemblies has been tooled up from one side and is again turned 180.degree. about a vertical axis to render the left-hand and right-hand door assemblies to confront the first and second directions, respectively, after the other of the door assemblies has been tooled up from the same side. Thereafter, the hanger is moved towards the unloading site for the fitting of the door assemblies to the automobile body structure.

Hanger conveyance in automobile assembly line

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Higashihiroshima, Japan

Toshinobu Taketani