The Longbridge Factory is an industrial complex in Longbridge, Birmingham, England, which is currently hired by SAIC as a research and development facility for MG Motor's subsidiary. The vehicle assembly was recently discontinued in 2016.
Opened in 1905, in the late 1960s Longbridge employs about 25,000 workers, building cars including the original Mini. In the Second World War, the main factory produced ammunition and tank parts, while the nearest East Works from Austin Aero Ltd at Cofton Hackett produced the Short Stirling and Hawker Hurricane planes.
Since the collapse of MG Rover in 2005, most of these sites have been redeveloped for commercial and residential use.
Video Longbridge plant
Sejarah industri mobil Longbridge
Yayasan
Putih dan Pike: 1895-1901
The original site and factory development is done by copper plate printer based in Birmingham White and Pike Ltd. Looking to consolidate a number of small sites around Birmingham, and diversify into a new area, they selected a series of 20 farm fields in Northfield eight miles to the south of the city on Bristol Road in Longbridge. This site is limited by: Lickey Road; Lowhill Lane; Midland Railway's main Birmingham to Gloucester mainline; and the Halesowen Joint Railway with the Great Western Railway. The purchase also includes Cofton Hill, which rises 70 feet (21 m) above its surroundings. Designed by Stark & ​​â € <â €
Herbert Austin, who was born in Buckinghamshire and raised in Yorkshire, escaped from a train apprenticed apprenticeship and learned his trade under an uncle in Melbourne, Australia. He returned to England in 1893 as an Australian company manager who moved to Birmingham. In 1901, with Vickers' brothers, he founded and runs The Wolseley Tool and Motor Car Company, which became the largest car manufacturer in the UK.
In 1905 he fell out with his Vickers brothers and, looking to find his own car company, Herbert Austin did many exploration rides around Birmingham on his 7.5 hp Wolseley. On November 4, 1905, he found printing works, which owned by a financier. , EA Olivieri. Advanced friends with financial assistance, and with additional invoices from Frank Kayser from Kayser, Ellison and Company, and William Harvey du Cros from Dunlop Rubber Company, allow Austin to buy the site and an additional 8 acres (3.2 ha) of Olivieri for £ 7,500 on January 22, 1906.
Austin and the original workforce of The Austin Motor Company Limited have actually moved to a slum building before this date, as Austin is so focused on showing off its new car at the British Motor Show, to be held in November 1906 in Olympia, London. On the first Austin paper described as 25-30 h.p. a high-class touring car with a four-speed gearbox and chain-driven transmission. Each car has material and quality assurance and the first car was manufactured in late March 1906, at a price of Ã, Â £ 650. About 50 hands were hired during the first year and they produced about a dozen cars.
In 1908, there were 1,000 workers in a plant covering 4 hectares (1.6 hectares); night shift was introduced to help create adequate supply to meet increasing product demand. In September 1912, the workshops covered more than 8 hectares, the output runs with 1,000 cars per year and the number of employees is 1800. Austin builds their own bodies and their workshop department is one of the largest in the country. They built their own artillery wooden wheels and made a hub for steel wheels that sounded wire and pressed. In February 1914, the Company floated as a public company and Ã, Â £ 250,000 of new preference shares were issued to the public and listed on the stock exchange.
New funds paid for the construction of additional workshops and factory shifts from mechanical actors with large shafts and belts to electric propulsion. Two 4-cylinder vertical gas engines of 200 hp each (150 kW), designed by Anderson Foundry Co. from Glasgow, combined with a three-phase alternator built by AllmÃÆ'¤nna Svenska Elektriska Aktiebolaget from Sweden that provides electricity.
World War I
The Longbridge plant was part of a significant rapid mobilization process that took place across Europe at the outbreak of World War I. Machines that had been used to build Austin cars were used to produce ammunition, and all factory resources were used to serve. armed Forces.
As demand for weapons and equipment of all kinds continues to increase, the plant is expanded. The area between the existing building and the Midland railway line was built. The expansion also enabled the construction of the Longbridge railway station in 1915 within working limits, allowing the Midland Train to run a direct worker train from Birmingham New Street.
In 1917, the location of the factory became very large, and had its own flying ground in Cofton Hackett, south of the main works, operated by the newly formed Austin Aero company. Employees, many of whom are women, rose to over 22,000 during peak years.
Between 1914 and 1918, over 8,000,000 shells were produced along with 650 rifles, 2,000 aircraft, 2,500 aero engines and 2,000 trucks. In recognition of this, Herbert Austin became a knight in 1917.
North American work: 1917
With the need to expand capacity, the company bought the Longbridge farm. Located north of the existing site, it became known as Longbridge North works, restricted by train, Bristol Road and Longbridge Lane. After the farm buildings were destroyed and the Rea River was placed in a closed culvert, the company began construction in June 1916:
- Machine shop 850Ã, ft ÃÆ'â € "270Ã, ft finished in December 1916
- Forge that operated in March 1917
- Seating Messe 4000
- Administrative Block
- The power house, equipped with twelve Lancashire Boilers, which use turbo generator 3 * l500kW to supply 386 electric motors
1919
Jobs and factories have grown to ten times larger than their pre-war size, no time-made product of peace. The ceasefire stopped the war suddenly, the contract was canceled in a very short time.
The massive expansion of wartime for planting includes large steel scans, a huge sheet metal laying shop and a very large and comprehensive hardening and heat treatment shop.
Inter-war years
Before the end of the war, plans were announced to concentrate on production of 20 hours. car when peace returns. In addition the engine is used for 20 h.p. The model was adapted for the Austin tractor, running in Kerosene, which won numerous agricultural awards between 1919 and 1921. A 13-ton truck was also produced, using the same engine.
For a short time Austin Aero Company the postwar program also includes various airplanes. The 2-seat Austin Greyhound boxer is one, and the other Austin Ball single-seater. Then there is a one-seat biplane with folding wings, which sell for £ 500, and the fourth is called Austin Whippet.
After 1921 Austin became interested in smaller vehicles, including 12 hours. cars and Austin are small, and still familiar. 7. In many ways the car was a miniature version, reduced to the simplicity typical of Lord Austin's products.
World War II
At the outbreak of World War II the factory was mobilized again. The automobile making is largely abandoned and the machines are turned on to produce armor-penetrating ammunition for QF 2-pounders, QF 6-pounder and QF 17-anti-tank gun counter, steel box, jerrican, mine, depth charge. and helmet.
Longbridge also produces components for tanks, while the aircraft is manufactured at the Austin Aero shadow factory near Cofton Hackett. Fairey Battle light bombers, Mercury and Pegasus aero engines are produced, along with four heavy-engined bomber and Hawker Hurricane fighter. Nearly 3,000 aircraft were built, along with 36,000 suspension units.
Bren guns and mortars were produced at West Works, in what became known as the West 4 Upper.
The Trentham Building, Number 2 paint shop, is still referred to as the Beaufighter line by several people during the 1970s.
The building known as Flight Shed at Cofton Lane is where the airframes receive a final quality check and its wings are mounted on a Hurricane aircraft. The Lancaster Wing was installed as the plane left the warehouse. Hurricane lifted onto the airfield lifted over the motorized skid. The collapse was still on the back of Shed Flight during the 1980s. The Lancaster bomber was transported by road to RAF Elmdon for flight testing.
Having such wartime production concentration means that the area is the main target of the bomber. Erdington became famous for being the first part of England that was bombed by the Germans, who may have tried to hit Longbridge.
After the war
After the war, Leonard Lord took over as chairman. He laid plans for rapid expansion, new models, and overseas marketing. In June 1946, the millionth Austin was produced. It was painted with matt cream and signed by the Chairman and the work people on a special celebration.
Austin collaborated with Jensen Motors to produce Austin A40 Sports, a four-passenger vehicle with aluminum hands - with a body manufactured by Jensen at the West Bromwich plant and transferred to Longbridge for final assembly. Then Austin collaborated with Donald Healey Motor Company in Healey 100.
In 1952, Austin merged with Morris Motors and became a BMC.
Industrial planner Harold Wilson arranged for BMC to be merged into British Leyland in 1968.
Nationalization
The British Leyland Company was in financial trouble and refinanced by the government in 1975. Thus the government became a dominant shareholder, but unlike most nationalized industries, British Leyland (then called BL) remains a public company.
Derek Robinson, or "Red Robbo", dubbed by the media, became synonymous with a crippling strike of production at the Longbridge plant in Birmingham in the 1970s. Between 1978 and 1979, then-owned British Leyland linked 523 disputes with Robinson, a tiller at Longbridge. However, Robinson's responsibility for these incidents, most of which were brief stops led by individual shopkeepers, has been exaggerated. He was eventually fired in the midst of intense press attacks. Many voices for strikes were thrown at Cofton Park across from Q-Gate.
The expansion of work at Longbridge was completed in 1979 to enable a new assembly line for the upcoming new supermini car, which was launched in 1980 as Metro Austin. Metro in production has barely changed for 10 years, becoming one of the most popular cars ever produced in the factory. The main part of the expansion is the establishment of "New West Works" in which body skin is assembled, with extensive robotic input - the first for Leyland England. The shells were then carried on a closed conveyor over Bristol Road to Car Assembly Buildings (CAB) at South Works, where the cars were assembled and tested. This arrangement persisted until production of the car at Longbridge ceased in 2005. Indeed, the above conveyor bridge is one of the first features to be done when dismantling the plant begins.
Privatization and subsequent liquidation
By 1980 BL had been rationally rationalized, and many other businesses and factories within the empire had been closed or sold. It has also signed a collaborative deal with Japanese company Honda, which gave BL a new lease of life and Honda entered the UK market.
The Austin Metro, which was launched in 1980 and operated until 1990 when it was relaunched as the latest model under the Rover marque, was the most successful product to be produced at Longbridge in the last quarter of the 20th century.
In 1988, the Longbridge plant, along with the rest of Austin Rover, was sold to British Aerospace, which he named it as Rover Group in 1989.
1989 saw the launch of a new model built by Longbridge, the second generation of Rover 200 (the original version was launched in 1984). The 200 Series is sold as a hatchback, coupe and cabriolet, and also forms the basis of 400 saloon and estate Rover. It was consistently one of Britain's most popular small family cars during the production period, and remained a common sight on British roads for more than a decade after its destruction. 200 and 400 were replaced by new models in 1995, this time being a completely separate model, with the new Rover 400 coming from Honda Civic.
In 1994 BMW, afraid of its small size in the increasingly global auto market, bought Rover Group and Longbridge factory into BMW hands. However, large losses continue to worry about BMW shareholders and in 2000 Rover Cars and the Longbridge plant were sold to the Phoenix Consortium, who named it the MG Rover Group, in management purchases for the token amount of Ã, Â £ 10.
At that time many financial commentators claimed that the factory was not modern enough and that the company would certainly run out of money in a few years. In April 2005, this happened; The Phoenix Consortium put the MG Rover group into administration, leaving over 6,000 unemployed workers. Another factor in the destruction of MG Rover is the fact that it has not launched a new model since Rover 75 more than six years earlier. By contrast, people like Ford and Vauxhall, and most other Western European car market makers, have replaced most or all of their models since the late 1990s.
Nanjing and SAIC ownership
China's Nanjing car company acquired MG Rover's remaining assets, including leases to the Longbridge plant, three months after entering the curator. In August 2008 MG TF production resumed, about three years after the collapse of MG Rover, using only part of the old Austin Works, the original South Works of Austin. Most of the rest have been destroyed and will be rebuilt for housing and industry, with a new local center, south of Longbridge Lane.
The current production facility at Longbridge has the capacity to employ no more than about 1,000 workers. More than half of the factory premises have been sold and cleaned, and the land is returned to provide land for homes and businesses with a target of creating 10,000 jobs and 1,450 homes.
NAC (Nanjing Automotive Corporation) was acquired by Shanghai Automotive Industry Corporation (SAIC) from late 2007 to 2008, resulting in the Longbridge site coming under the ownership of SAIC. The British engineering function known as the UK SMTC (SAIC Motor Technical Center) was moved from its website at Leamington to Longbridge during 2008. In 2010 SMTC UK Technical Center was introduced showing engineering and studio styling.
During this time the engineers at Longbridge have worked on MG 6 based on the Roewe 550 to make it ready for the UK launch. MG Motors was created as a UK manufacturing company for SAIC and in April 2011 began producing MG 6 of a semi-knocked-down device (SKD) originating from SAIC Lingang Plant China. The cars come from China, basically complete, requiring only engine mounting and front suspension, nose and wheel trims at Longbridge that no longer have body/assembly welding or functional paint shop. Production of MG TF was stopped around this time; only 906 has been built at Longbridge since production resumed almost three years earlier. Super MG 3 mini production starts at Longbridge in 2012, and by 2014 there are about 400 people working there, up from only about 200 people who were there when production resumed.
The new MG GS SUV will be launched in May 2016, and the body kit arrives in a ready-to-use format. The rear suspension as found in the VW Tiguan should be installed in the Longbridge as well as the engine and dashboard of the UK specifications. Each additional factory such as HID lamps, will also be stored and installed at the Longbridge plant. Various parts of the 4x4 system, including parts to the rear axle, will be installed in the UK.
On September 23, 2016 MG announced that all car production had stopped at Longbridge. For all future MG vehicles will be imported into the UK.
Maps Longbridge plant
Popular culture
Shortly before MG Rover went into administration in 2005, The Chemical Brothers' video for the Believe single contains their scenes filmed inside the Longbridge plant.
Also, images from the Longbridge production line and from Mini were used to introduce British entries in the Eurovision Song Contest 1998 held in the city of Birmingham.
There is a constant reference to the Longbridge factory - where some characters work - in The Rotters' Club novel and its sequel
Note
References
External links
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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