2021 Expedition production video-Youtube

Not sure this was ever posted before, I know I never saw it till today
2021 Expedition Assembly Line Video


Hope you find it as interesting as I did.

Bill S.

I have to say that is pretty impressive to watch

It is, but it also brings up so many questions... With so much automation, including parts bins where everything needs to be scanned prior to install, how is that so many folks have missing parts? Water tight plugs on the chassis? Missing drain tubes? other items. where'd those parts go? Folks using lasers to ensure panels are properly aligned, how do so many vehicles get delivered with misaligned parts? is it they only test 1 out of 10 rigs? I could go on and on.

The part of the video where they are scanning parts in a bin looks like their prototype department. There's 3D printers in the background and it's not right on the assembly line. Around the 5min mark is when you see workers installing components going down the line. There's no scanning going on at that point. Parts are in bulk bins just off to the side of the line. If someone dropped a fastener while they were installing the sunroof, running board, etc., there's nothing checking after the installation to make sure it was done right.

StephenPT said:

The part of the video where they are scanning parts in a bin looks like their prototype department. There's 3D printers in the background and it's not right on the assembly line. Around the 5min mark is when you see workers installing components going down the line. There's no scanning going on at that point. Parts are in bulk bins just off to the side of the line. If someone dropped a fastener while they were installing the sunroof, running board, etc., there's nothing checking after the installation to make sure it was done right.

Click to expand...

Welp, maybe that's part of the problem. I know for an absolute fact that Hyundai and Toyota monitor many of those things. I helped design some of the networks that support things like weight sensors for said bulk bins. It doesn't always have to be scanned, but it sure needs to be tracked, for safety, recalls, etc. Secondarily, most major parts are still scanned, it's how they ensured ordered components are installed on the appropriate vehicles, or not I suppose in some cases.

That's a great vid.

If you ever get up to Dearborn and they are offering Dearborn Truck Plant (F150) tours through the Henry Ford Museum, take one.

I spent 30 years in manufacturing management. 23 of them at Ford. Many weeks at the Kentucky Truck Plant. At that time, KTP built a new SuperDuty every 40 seconds, 112 hours/week, 50 weeks a year. A few numbers from memory: Most [Ford] vehicles contain 3,000 end items (parts coming into the assembly plant) each with multiple versions (color, trim level, size, etc.). Everything from something as simple as a trim screw to as complicated as a 10 speed transmission. The Instrument Panel alone normally contained 1,500 end-items. We used to call it the car within the car. In the early 2000's the SuperDuty Instrument Panel had around 5,000,000 buildable combinations of which nearly 2,500,000 combinations were saleable. Production in those days was north of 400,0000 units/year. In theory you could build and sell a unique truck every 40 seconds for 10 years and never build the same truck twice. Lots of chances to build them wrong and only one way per unit to build them right. Manufacturing is applied statistics. The math is stubborn. If you only build 99.9% of them right. You build a bad one a shift, or 700/year. So, you do everything you can to anticipate and prevent failures and to learn from past mistakes to prevent future ones. To identify and contain issues faster, etc., to do better. What really gets you is when the design is wrong....and you build them correct to the design...then they're all bad.

At that time, the SuperDuty vehicle line was more profitable than Toyota...globally. The SuperDuty truck line had more saleable combinations than Nissan, Honda, and Mitsubishi put together across all of their vehicle lines. Some of us argued for less complexity, if we hadn't, it would have been much, much worse. Complexity makes all of the math more difficult. Everyone in manufacturing realizes this. No one in Product Development does, it doesn't matter what company or product. Admittedly, the Homogeneous and disciplined Japanese are masters at managing this compared to their counterparts around the world....As we used to say, "The Japanese learn from their mistakes, the American's want to learn from their mistakes, the Europeans enjoy their mistakes." If I offended anyone...not sorry.


When I started at Kansas City Assembly on the Truck side in 1984, I saw the chassis flat top line (the line that they start up and drive off of) go down once for about 60 seconds, in a year. Which was not even a full unit loss, time wise. 3 people in management were fired that day and there were several demotions. With part shortages things are very different today.

I've seen everything from ships to airplanes to rockets to I-phones being built. Nothing is as awesome as a truck assembly plant running at 60+ trucks/hour...but, I might be a little biased.

Noone probably cares, but some navigator reviews are popping up now.

I liked this one better.

Redline Reviews 2022 Navigator

That's pretty sweet. Honestly, some of that fit and finish is what I would expect in an $80+K vehicle. Yes. Like the platinum. I just sat in a friend's '22 grand Cherokee overland summit, and for a sticker price less than ours, it has what my wk2 overland had. The interior fit and finish was so much better. I like the gauge cluster, but I hate the push button gear selectors. I would prefer a handle on the column, or better yet, something functional on the center console. I know, everyone thinks the Lincoln should satisfy a grandparent To some degree but range rovers still have function shifters, just rode in a new one last week. But hey, that's why I put paddles on mine, I like tactile feedback

Still a lot of people to actually put parts on (saw that at the Dearborn plant, too - I second the recommendation to take a tour).

Notice how after the vehicle is painted, the doors are taken off, run a parallel path to the body as bits are put on them, then assembled back onto the body.