Plastics & Rubber World - July/August 2019 - 34

automotive

›› Continued from page 33

single button for both models.
We've been tasked with taking complexities like this out of the system. In the
previous model there were two plastic
coat hooks in the back of the van. It only
needed one, which saved just that little bit
of cost. There are about 4,000 parts on
the vehicle, anywhere we cut complexity
usually results in a savings.
Are the engines delivered dressed, or do
you need to add parts before assembly?
We need to dress them, with alternators
and other peripherals. But they do come
complete with the thermoformed valve
cover, other plastic parts, the pipe work.

Bumpers and other trim items are
unique to the Vauxhall Vivaro

Luton will produce Vivaro for Vauxhall,
Peugeot, Citroen and Opel

The different trim levels have parts with
different surfacing treatments, how
have you dealt with that in assembly?
Plastic parts are always prone to scratches. The IP is very large part and it has to
be manhandled into place, to position it in
the cockpit. We have a dedicated machine
which helps with lifting the IP unit to help
protect the component finish.
With smaller items, you have to watch
out for plastic parts which have a metallic
finish so as not to damage the surface. Along
those same lines, while there's not a lot of
trim which has a piano black [high gloss]
finish, that has to be handled carefully, it's
very fragile. Those parts come in sealed
packaging and sequenced containers.

There was a recent report covering
the growing acceptance of moulded-in
colour [MIC] plastics for automotive
applications. Do you like that idea,
over painting moulded plastic parts?
I think there's some value to this. If the
bumper covers were produced using this
material, then they wouldn't be so susceptible to scratches. But there are cost
implications and there would have to be a
repeatable match to the body colour, or it
simply wouldn't work.
Considering the fate of Honda in
Swindon and Ford's Bridgend engine
plant, do you feel like the plant has
dodged a bullet with PSA deciding to
continue with production here?
When PSA bought the company, people
came up with a series of ideas of how it
might play out. Maybe we would close immediately, or maybe run out the current
model. The other option was we'd get
handed an existing Peugeot product.
In one of the first meetings we had
with PSA, they said we have to talk
about the new model. We were blown
away! At the time, the Vivaro [X82,
based on Renault Trafic] we were building was just three years old - that's a
model that could've run for 15 years!
Now, we're the first former GM plant to
produce a new PSA vehicle developed
from the ground up.

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