Renault Trucks Engine Factory Tour

Our class visited the Renault Trucks engine manufacturing plant in Venissieux, on the outskirts of Lyon. Despite its name Renault Trucks actually belongs to the Volvo group (together with Mack Trucks) and has nothing to do with Renault's car division.

We were allowed on the floor (no cameras, of course) to see up close the production process, which makes substantial use of robotics (manufactured by an Italian company called COMAU) and droids which look to have arrived right out of Star Wars.

The detailed explanations of how engines were produced piece-by-piece went over most of our collective heads, but almost all of us found ourselves mesmerized at the giant red and black robots that expertly weld or drill or cut with precision and without fatigue throughout the day. Of course, there are humans nearby to monitor the progress of each robot but each part of the process -- cutting, welding, assembly -- has at least some part of the process is automated and quality control is also assured electronically.

Inventory is also controlled by Wi-Fi and barcoding, so that whenever a part is needed people on the factory floor scan bar codes on the boxes holding their parts. That message is conveyed over to men on forklifts who look at their computer screens to see what part and where it needs to be delivered. No loss of motion, no mixed messages, all in all, extremely efficient.

In the last part of the tour, there were these automatic yellow "droid" carts which shuttled finished engine assemblies over to a testing area. No one was driving them and if someone walked in front of them their sensors detected the person and they immediately stopped. Just like those droids in the floating worlds of Star Wars. (For George Lucas to have imagined all this thirty years ago!)