O.E. FINISH

The Premcar factory has to adhere to Nissan’s global factory standards, even when Toby is on the tools.

It’s as I’m wielding a strut assembly for the front suspension system that this 34-minute target becomes more pertinent. Unbolting the lower suspension system to allow removal of the factoryfitted unit and replacing it with the new one takes a matter of minutes. Then there’s bolting on the larger bump stops and tweaking other components as part of the rigid process.

It’s then retightening everything using preprogrammed torque wrenches. A chalk pen marks the bolts as correctly fitted, the final piece of a manufacturing process that is meticulous at every step. Those chalk marks are crucial.

Clearly a stickler for rules – the “Safety first” banner taking up half the wall at the end of the workshop is testament to that – Birney reveals he’s stopped cars at the end of the line for not having the appropriate chalk marks. The work may have been done right but without that visual confirmation the car is unfinished and sent back for a recheck.

“We inspect to a very high level,” says Birney, formerly from Ford and someone who has worked at a Chinese automotive factory and seen things done on a massive scale.

Like any first-class manufacturing facility Premcar monitors things down to the minute. It’s that big-factory thinking that has led to the Warrior production line.

“We’re doing the same processes that you do in a large plant … Oem-style processes,” Birney said.

Not content with standing back and admiring the early efforts to assemble modified vehicles to a scale smaller workshops would typically not attack, Premcar turned to data and software to streamline the processes.

Days before I jumped on the spanners, the production line was reworked to unlock a bottleneck with attachment of the front bumpers. Hoists were repositioned and electricians called in to add powerpoints – all in the quest for a better flow. Other