What is offline assembly in car engine assembly line?

[ninjaz]

I have read some where , that some of the components will be assembled offline and not along with the engine.
What is the term "Offline assembly" mean here.
Why should they assembled offline?

 

[ivymike]

I would take that to mean a situation where there is an engine assembly line owned by the engine manufacturer (in Michigan perhaps), and subassemblies are done elsewhere (such as piston/rings/pin/rod being sub'd at the piston supplier, perhaps in Tennessee). The whole P/R/R/L gets dropped into the engine in Michigan, and while the PRRL was done on an assembly line, it was done "off-line" from the perspective of the Michigan facility.

 

[BrianPetersen]

It happens all the time. Oil pumps, coolant pumps, belt tensioners, and the like are usually assembled by a supplier at their own plant separate from where the engine goes together, and shipped whole to the engine plant.

 

[WGJ]

"Off line" can also refer to sub-assemblies assembled on a smaller line, independent of a main assembly line, which are fed to the mainline via a small buffer store. Fuel tanks are a good example - tank, neck, fuel pump, some fuel lines, tank straps etc. assembled on the parallel line and fed into the vehicle line.


Bill