The Volvo Kalmar plant was a production facility of Volvo Cars, just outside

Kalmar Kalmar (, , ) is a city in the southeast of Sweden, situated by the Baltic Sea. It had 36,392 inhabitants in 2010 and is the seat of Kalmar Municipality. It is also the capital of Kalmar County, which comprises 12 municipalities with a total of ...

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...

. Construction began in 1971 and it opened in 1974. The plant was one of the most revolutionary automotive production plants in the world at the time. Using

Volvo Halifax Assembly The Volvo Halifax Assembly Plant located in Halifax, Nova Scotia was opened on 11 June 1963 by Prince Bertil. It was the second assembly plant Volvo opened outside of Sweden and the second non-domestic auto plant in North America after Rolls-Roy ...

and Volvo Torslanda Assembly as examples, the Kalmar plant also introduced the group assembly system. At Kalmar production was carried out on 18 ft. battery-driven carriers, which held one single car body at a time. The carriers were designed to swivel and rotate the individual bodies so that workers could access every aspect of the car in a practical fashion. The best advantage with those carriers, was that they held car in best possible ergonomic position, and by that reduce the personnel's work related injuries. The carriers was not locked in as in a traditional assembly line, they were following wires embedded in the floor, and could by that move around more freely. By then the carriers could i.e. be parked in buffer zones, if there was disturbance due to missing parts. The plant was closed in 1994.

Team Assembly System

The teams organized themselves any way they wished and at the speed they choose. While a worker on a conventional assembly line might spend his entire shift mounting one license-plate lamp after another, every member of a Kalmar work team may work at one time or another on all parts of the electrical system—from taillights to turn signals,

head lamp A headlamp is a lamp attached to the front of a vehicle to illuminate the road ahead. Headlamps are also often called headlights, but in the most precise usage, ''headlamp'' is the term for the device itself and ''headlight'' is the term for ...

s, horn, fuse box and part of the electronically controlled fuel-injection system. The only requirement is that every team meet its production goal for a shift. As long as cars roll out on schedule, workers are free to take coffee breaks when they please or to refresh themselves in comfortable lounges equipped with kitchens and saunas. The group assembly system operated in two ways, docked or in-line. Docked assembly was carried out by teams of 2-3 that covered one aspect of the car on multiple vehicles or docked where teams of 3 built entire individual vehicles from the ground up. There were 25 production teams in total at Kalmar and every team had access to their own individual break room, workshop and sauna.

Models produced

Volvo 164 The Volvo 164 is a 4-door, 6-cylinder luxury sedan unveiled by Volvo at the Paris Motor Show early in October 1968 and first sold as a 1969 model. 46,008 164s were built before the car was succeeded by the 264 in 1975. The 164 was Volvo's first ...

Volvo 240 __NOTOC__ Year 240 ( CCXL) was a leap year starting on Wednesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Sabinus and Venustus (or, less frequently, year 993 ''Ab u ...

Volvo 260 The Volvo 200 Series (or 240 and 260 Series) is a range of mid-size cars produced by Swedish company Volvo Cars from 1974 until 1993, with more than 2.8 million total units sold worldwide. Like the Volvo 140 Series (1966 to 1974), from which it ...

Volvo 760 The Volvo 700 series is a range of executive cars produced by the Swedish manufacturer Volvo Cars from 1982 to 1992. The 700 series was introduced in 1982 with the luxurious 760, followed two years later by the lower priced 740 which capitalize ...

Volvo 740 The Volvo 700 series is a range of executive cars produced by the Swedish manufacturer Volvo Cars from 1982 to 1992. The 700 series was introduced in 1982 with the luxurious 760, followed two years later by the lower priced 740 which capitalize ...

Volvo 940 The Volvo 900 Series is a range of executive cars produced by the Swedish manufacturer Volvo Cars from 1990 to 1998. The 900 Series was introduced in 1990 to replace the 700 Series from which it derived. Prior to the end of its production, the ...

Volvo 960 The Volvo 900 Series is a range of executive cars produced by the Swedish manufacturer Volvo Cars from 1990 to 1998. The 900 Series was introduced in 1990 to replace the 700 Series from which it derived. Prior to the end of its production, the ...

References

Former motor vehicle assembly plants Volvo Cars Volvo factories Motor vehicle assembly plants in Sweden Buildings and structures in Kalmar County 1994 disestablishments in Sweden 1974 establishments in Sweden {{auto-factory-stub