| Backhoe assembly occurs under a single roof in 16 assembly bays and a paint shop, and
it takes approximately 8 hours to build a backhoe loader. The exhibit below outlines the
BHL assembly process. This process begins in bay 1 with preparation of front and rear axle
groups and axle assembly to the frame, and finishes with painting followed by test drive
around.
The assembly process uses motorized transporters as platforms on which to build backhoe loaders. These transporters, custom-made for Clayton, are battery-operated oversized lift trucks. Assembly workers manually drive each transporter with an in-process backhoe loader through the assembly process from assembly bay to assembly bay. |
Copyright 2000 University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign |