Dr. Reinhold Neitzel, Director of Assembly at Porsche’s Zuffenhausen production facility, speaks with Julian Buckley about how the carmaker maintains lineside parts delivery to support both Boxster production and the 21 individual versions of the company’s 911 sports car.
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Porsche has been building the 911 at the company’s facility in Stuttgart, Germany, since 1964. Now in its sixth generation, the rear-engined car remains as popular as ever with owners and fans alike.
Daily output at the factory totals 110 911s of various types, together with 40 Boxsters. Dr. Reinhold Neitzel explains how he has managed to arrange production of the various versions on a single assembly line, while also keeping the plant very lean.
AMS: What has been your main goal over the eleven years you have been director of assembly at Zuffenhausen?
Dr. Reinhold Neitzel: One of my main goals was to build all the sports cars on one line. For this, we have tried to establish a very flexible production system. I believe we are leading the field in model mix production. All versions of the 911 are made on the same line. Two-wheel drive, fourwheel drive, coupes, convertibles, rear engine; mid-engine in the case of the Boxster.
AMS: How does that work? If you’ve got a station designed to produce a rear-engined model, can that station also deal with mid-engined models?
RN: By working very closely with our development department it has been possible to adapt similar equipment for use with different cars. We have very flexible equipment. For example, we have a robot for gluing the windscreen, and that machine supports different programs for different cars. This is supported by the electronic systems that let the machine know what type of car is being presented at a given station. With this, it’s possible to use very precise programs based on the different types of cars.
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