I came back in from walking Ted the Jack Russell tonight and plonked myself down in front of the TV for an hour of Youtube education just as Porsche uploaded a pretty cool video following the Taycan down the production line. The feature is just how I like these things: no narration, just a nicely edited visual documentary that allows the unfolding story to breathe and invites the viewer to fill in the blanks. Scroll down to watch it.
How It’s Made: Old Guy TV
Judging by the success of channels such as MyMechanics (943k subscribers) and Rescue and Restore (725k subs), more than a few of us like this silent movie treatment with plenty of silent space to watch stuff being made and repaired. If you’re one of those people, then this Taycan video will be right up your street. It’s 29 minutes long and there is no audio soundtrack of any description. Just sit back, press play and enjoy.
A few thoughts came to mind while watching this film on what passes for a big screen around here.
Firstly, the volume is on, but the silence is golden. The robots are silent, there are not too many people around, the lack of ear defenders show this is a silent environment. The loudest nose is when the finished Taycan hits the dyno rollers for its first indoor road test and the tyres begin to roll. That silent film aspect is striking.
Secondly, this is clearly a brand new plant designed for the future. The lighting is impeccable, the surfaces are unmarked and the workers present themselves in robot-like perfection. One is struck by the inference that this car factory is a first: “it is like no car factory you have ever seen before, because what we’re building is 100% clean.” Yet it is built on the site of the first Porsche production line from seven decades ago. Progress in action.
The mix of workers is a little surprising: mostly young white males, all seemingly straight from the barber shop in the corner. I guess many of those shown are new to Porsche, so they have never built a petrol-engined car before and they perhaps never will. Will they ever even own a car? Living in a city with great transport links, I’m not sure I would bother.
The apparent lack of old hands amongst the workforce, implies that there is no “this is how we do it in the other workshop”. On the one hand, I like the feel of that freshness but, on the other, the joy of working with older mechanics was a big attraction when I started my apprenticeship in the mid-1980s. If the decision to keep the new car/new workforce separate was a deliberate one, that is interesting.
Finally, the big message is: LOOK AT THE CONTRAST. Gone are the grizzled welders in a darkened warehouse, gone the rows of German metalworkers beating the bodywork with hammer and dolly, gone are the painters, sent mad by solvent abuse, gone their crazy comrades, gluing vinyl and leather to the roof and side panels with industrial strength adhesive. Gone is the music of engines being fired up for the first time, gone are the fumes from the flat-six boxers, starting as they mean to go on. On the one hand, I like it. On the other, I still quite like it.
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