Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1942-02-04

system of jigs and gauges. An un-
finished body comes slowly down the
assembly line to the station where
the doors are to be put In place.
Each door is clamped on by means
of Gig" which holds it in an exact
position while workers with uncanny
speed put on the hinges.
When they are through-a matter
Of less than a minute-the door fits
perfectly. Due to the precisely con-
structed jig, there has been no pos
sibility whatsoever of misflt. The
jig was made for one size and shape
of door to fit one precise model OF
automobile.
Can't Make Mistake.
The same is true Of every other
part that enters into an automobile
body. Relatively little skill is re-
quired of the worker. In a couple
Of months, at the most, he can learn
to handle his own little job and he
will never get any better or any
worse. He cannot make mistake.
The jig will not let him err. With
the bodies rolling along at the rate
of one every minute the factor Of
human frailty must be discounted
entirely.
That, explains the superintendent,
Is the secret of mass production. The
skill must be in the tool, not the
man. Far removed from the noise
and distractions of the assembly
line very skilled men indeed are at
work designing jigs and gauges with
measurements down to thouSandths
of an inch. Their rooms look like
dreSsmaking shops where patterns
for the spring styles are being de-
signed. But once they have done
their skilled job. 1t suff1ces for
million automobile bodies.
Obviously Jig for the door Of a
Buick would be worse than useless
for the door of a Chevrolet. Once
particular model Of car is discon-
tinued, all the jigs used In produc-
ing 1t are 50 much junk. But the
jig system is absolutely essential for
mass production. Without it the
assembly Of an automobile body
would be largely old-fashioned
handicraft.
Jigs Before Tanks.
The company's engineers have be-
fore them the stupendous task of de-
signing jigs for tanks. This is prob
ably the biggest single job required
before mass production of these
monsters of modern war can be
started. Already a couple Of tanks
of the required design are near COM
pletion. Some of the best engineers
and mechanics of the factory have
been working night and day on
them. If production continued at
such a rate the supply of tanks to
the Army would be a mere trickle
compared to the thousands vitality
needed. Even so, it would be i'm
possible to obtain men with suff1-
cient skill to do the work very eff
GENTLY.
1t may require months to COM
plete the tank jig system. The de-
signing requires the best brains in
the General Motors Corp. Once it is
constructed and in place, tanks can
start rolling in numbers which will
make up in few days all the time
which is lost now.
Different in Germany.
The situation, 1t is explained, is
quite different from that which OBJ
tanned in Germany since the start
of the Hitler regime. There a fac
tory might be erected ostensibly to
build automobile bodies-but they
would be only an excuse. The jigs
were constructed primarily for tanks
and automobile patterns and dimen-
sions were designed to fit them. But
the equipment of this automobile
plant in Michigan was designed for
the sole purpose Of turning out as
rapidly as possible bodies for Buick
automobiles and nothing else what
soever.
Even the factory itself was de-
signed for this purpose. A mass
production tank plant requires a
carrier system which will not fit.
Only few parts of this factory are
adapted to 1t.
The personnel problem presents
complications, although not as seri-
GUS as might be expected. With the
machine providing the skill a man
on the "jigs" probably can learn in
l. u l.