The assembly of the first vehicle of the new model acquired by the customer is decisive because it is an absolute novelty for the local workforce; for this reason, the experts monitor the arrangement of the materials along the assembly line to suggest the correct formation of the assemblies in view of the assembly sequence, using the bill of materials, the assembly drawings and the assembly cycles.
The experts assemble the components of the various assemblies and during assembly provide all the necessary instructions to perform the operations correctly, meeting quality and safety standards.
The workforce will observe all the operations carefully and repeat the most complex stages with the experts, until they show that they have understood the technique and the operating method.
During this stage, the technician(s) from Methods and from the Quality Department of the local company that supplies the special tools recommended by Iveco will also be present, and/or others will be prepared if necessary; the tools in these companies tend to be simple and not sophisticated.
At the end of the assembly stage, further instructions are given to guarantee the programming and diagnosis of the electronic control units installed on the vehicles; liquids, oils and lubricants are added and the levels are checked, and the tightening torque of the various safety organs is verified.
At this point the key is turned to the “MAR” position in the ignition and the vehicle is moved to a finishing area, where all the calibrations are performed and verified, and the dynamic test is performed (Dynamic approval cycle).
The static approval test is carried out following a precise check list, and all the Inspections required by the plant Audit methodology to verify that all the assembly operations have been performed correctly.
The first vehicle is parked in an area adjacent to the line to allow the workforce to check the correct assembly method for the various parts during the assembly of the other vehicles, to prevent interference or overlooked or badly executed connections.
At this stage, the Iveco experts only supervise assembly procedures and continue to teach the workforce until the assembly of the first vehicles is concluded; at this point they examine and compile a list of all the useful instructions that will help to avoid any assembly defects noted.
This document is signed by Iveco and the Licensee.
Once this start-up period is terminated, supervision will continue from a distance.
