Some may find this little T7 production video interesting.

[Borris]

Just found this video on YouTube. I found it quite interesting even though I'm not keen on what I've seen of the T7 so far.

Masking up before duo colour paint application is interesting too. What's new about that is that they seem to have reversed the way they carry out this process. On the T6 and T6-1 VW take a white vehicle and mask it off to then spray the lower half in the second colour. This reversal may of course have been necessary due to the colour combo involved in this film and they may use the same procedure as the T6 and T6-1 if the lower colour is darker. Spraying black over red must be alot easier than red over black. Personally I prefer having a double paint layer on the lower half as that will be suseptable to more wear and tear over its lifetime. Doing it this way round may actually be a cost saving measure. Masking off a white van to spray the lower half would take more time than what were doing in this film.

 

[OGII]

The first half is certainly more interesting than Strictly, far more grace.

The video is edited in an odd way, seeing finished vehicles roll off before then showing the logistics.

I'm left wondering what the maintenance and servicing schedule for the robots is. Based on mileage or does it depend on which country the factory is in? All very clever, once set up and running smoothly.

I wonder who codes the robot control panels? Must be outsourced.

 

[ArunAlec]

Useful to have a record of what will be the hidden body panels, ready for investigating roof leaks etc,

 

[Borris]

The other thing that struck me as odd was the solitary woman spreading mastic with a tiny paintbrush in a factory full of robots doing the same thing. Was this a preproduction run?

Here's another You Tube video of the T7 Multivan.

 

[Wogga]

The other thing that struck me as odd was the solitary woman spreading mastic with a tiny paintbrush in a factory full of robots doing the same thing. Was this a preproduction run?

Here's another You Tube video of the T7 Multivan.

Good upload I enjoyed it..sadly I think she was touching up where the robots missed it was in the QC section and matey showed her the defects.

 

[pluc99]

Interesting process. I was also struck by the man and later woman applying gunk manually, but I'm more confused by the paint on the inside surface of the bonnet.
At 11:26 or thereabouts you can see a single and a two tone van that both have body matching colour applied on the edges of the bonnet but not the middle part. At 12.57, however, there is a two tone grey and orange van where the inside surface of the bonnet has a consistent layer of body matching grey colour. Where (and why) did that happen?

 

[WelshGas]

Interesting process. I was also struck by the man and later woman applying gunk manually, but I'm more confused by the paint on the inside surface of the bonnet.
At 11:26 or thereabouts you can see a single and a two tone van that both have body matching colour applied on the edges of the bonnet but not the middle part. At 12.57, however, there is a two tone grey and orange van where the inside surface of the bonnet has a consistent layer of body matching grey colour. Where (and why) did that happen?

I think you will find that the undersurface of the bonnet is just the grey zinc primer only. It is on my T5.1 but doesn't look unusual as the body colour is grey anyway.

 

[dripster]

From that YouTube video of the van, for the interior features and flexibility it looks like a good replacement for a Touran / Sharan. Looks a bit cramped for a full 7 seat though, although I guess it depends how much boot space you can reasonably sacrifice for leg room.

 

[WelshGas]

Interesting that the body seems to be built and then lowered onto the chassis that is already fitted out with all the mechanicals.
In the BMW mini factory the body and chassis were built as one, painted and then the mechanical items added.

 

[paul_f]

Interesting that the body seems to be built and then lowered onto the chassis that is already fitted out with all the mechanicals.

It's not a chassis as such, it's a buggy with all the components in the right place to bolt onto the monocoque body - so the two subframes and the components underneath.

The two subframes will be built on a separate line and then added onto the buggy on another line

It's interesting how the body is a very manual process - makes sense why it is so expensive

 

[sidepod]

Good video. Always interesting to walk down a production line to see the difference in order specs, who spent the money and who just went base model.

 

[willwander]

The robot that lifted the bonnet has it easy

 

[WelshGas]

It's not a chassis as such, it's a buggy with all the components in the right place to bolt onto the monocoque body - so the two subframes and the components underneath.

The two subframes will be built on a separate line and then added onto the buggy on another line

It's interesting how the body is a very manual process - makes sense why it is so expensive

I see what you mean. My mistake.

 

[sidepod]

They didn’t show the robot that applies the roof corrosion

 

[WelshGas]

They didn’t show the robot that applies the roof corrosion

Because it’s not a California?

 

[sidepod]

Well I know that but you get ……oh never mind

 

[Ting Tong]

It’s made in the Stöcken plant in Hannover in the same floor space as the T6: they were setting it up when we visited in April 2019. The process looks very similar to what we saw.