Brazilian trip continues… oil pumps, alu casting and rubber….
More factories, more parts, more machines and….more friendly people, we’re in Brazil after all!
Rubber mixing, the preparation of the rubber for the extrusion machines…. hard work!
This is the inside of a rubber extrusion machine and mould…:)
Extrusion machines are not exactly small! Pretty impressive right?
Hard working factory employees finishing our products as it should… Multo obrigado guys, Thank You very much!
More extruders, this place had plenty!
And yes, we like to check on inventory, in a country as Brazil it tells a lot about the financial situation of the company…:)
Up to the next, smaller, supplier. But here the aim on quality and service is extremely high! We just love these guys!
As You can see they’re extremely well organised….
Happy workers, means many times good quality jobs!
Let’s learn about oil pumps, and find out to start-up production for 25/36 Hp correct oil pumps….
This IS Mr Oilpump himself! Assembling oil pumps for over 35 years, any questions? Plse ask!
Cup grinding of oilpump covers, for a perfect finnish!
Hardworking people, finishing oil pumps….
This is an aluminum extrusion machine…. you really should feel the heat! Astronomical!
This tooling extrudes around 7000 oil pump housings a year for aircooled Volkswagens. There’s two tooling for the base… together they “pump” around 12.000 units yearly… all to keep our aircooled friends on the roads!
This machine grinds the gears for the oil pumps, very specific job!
In another (small) factory we discussed a production of early vent wings, but quality was not there yet, let’s see what the future brings… there was other interesting projects going on here too, more later…:)
Next stop was a factory that is specialised in small parts casting, alu and zinc extrusion and fuel pumps….
We will try to bring back all model fuel pumps in their original looks, not just as a replacement spare part, but as a full value restoration part. Details are important for our cars, especially in the engine bay!
You like soup? Hot aluminum around 700°C!
He guys don’t look so serious, its only VW parts!
Time to drive back to the hotel, back to the city…
Lots of driving, we spends many hours in the car… And too many visits, but we learn a lot and meet many of our suppliers, can discuss many many products, quality, delivery times etc… is it worth it? You bet, somethings You can only do in a personal contact, it simply don’t work by phone or email….
First week is over, another week to go! So stay tuned!
Day two of the Brazilian trip; Huge injection machines, and extreme full warehouses…
We visited some serious injection factories who make all kind of neat stuff for all and new cars, for OE (assembly lines) as for aftermarket… and now they understand they have a third market, the Classic car market…
Very interesting products been discussed and development of other products has been evaluated… good things to come….)
Unbelievable we need this kind of big machines to make parts for our beetles and buses, always wonder how they did it in 1951?
A mix of pictures from several factories we visited….
We always like our manufacturers employe happy people, and that was for sure her, they all waved to us!
These girls assemble small parts, whole day long…. for us, to put on our Volkswagens!
We saw big injection machines, these machines You need to make all kind of plastic, for an example the side protection plates for 73-76 beetle seats….:)
We saw even bigger injection machines, these are for large parts, currently this machine don’t make parts for us yet…
This is the inside of an injection machine, man can only wonder what such a tooling cost…:)
Something completely else… a pneumatic assembly machine for door switches, one model only, 6000pcs a day…. crazy!
What we’re cooking today Jerry?
An eagle view from an injection machine set up… three machines, one operator….
We visited several lab’s, quality control, material evaluation, production quality etc etc… this one was really impressive, as it was really ultra clean!
Something else again…:) very well organised factory make electrical components mainly, this visit was a blast!
Springs, who need springs? this is a fully CNC operated Spring making machines, all kind of springs….:)
We saw raw material in tons and tons, good factories protect themselves in Brazil with inventory, because the market tendencies are way more volatile as for an example in Europa its necessary to think ahead and has a huge inventory, what start with raw material off course, here for 6 months.
Off course it’s also a guarantee for your workers they have at least six more months work!
This a part of a tooling department from one of our suppliers. The days that Brasil had only dirty small factories hardly under a roof are over.
Brasil now a days is a modern economy with lots of modern factories…
If You like tooling, well check them out here… as Jerry did…:)
These tooling make a lot of Volkswagen parts …..
Oh inventory is real necessary as said before, also from finished product!
This is IGP, one of our suppliers for fenders, floorplates etc… the factory is on both sides of the streets…:)
We we’re kind a late so we didn’t make a factory tour, only had a boring meeting regarding some quality issues, but, we came out with a cool new plan… stay tuned for updates…:)
Tha way back to the city; Sao Paolo skyline or part there off… crazy city, crazy people, crazy business, we just love it….
Happy we’re working again on better parts, and help out problems for the entire VW community…
we continue our travel report on saturday as tomorrow (friday) we have the weekly BBT NEWS with all new arrivals for the week… so a lot o come…:)
Visit more suppliers in Brazil….
Off we went again, Jerry and yours truly to the land of Caipirinhia and Beef… Tudo bem and Bon Dia…. friendly people with always a smile on their face…
But the start wasn’t that good, my flight was canceled and before I knew i was rerouted over Lisbon, entering a TAP Air Portugal airplane with a stop over in Lisbon… almost 22 hrs after I left home I arrived in the hotel, toasted…
Monday morning we start with a visit to one of our smaller sheet metal suppliers… pretty amazing operation….
Next a supplier of relais and switches…
Ever saw how they wind spools for relais?
For lunch we invited two other suppliers, one for carburetor rebuild kits, the other for pedal assemblies…
Real meat for real people… no, we’re not veggie yet…:)
Afternoon we visited a distribution warehouse and an export house… not many fancy picture moments, but the size was pretty clear here!
….and off the hotel again… day one, 6 suppliers, let’s call it a night… 6 is enough on one day…. especially in Sao Paolo traffic!
Tomorrow we have three other factories, hopefully with interesting picture moments so you can all enjoy with us, stay tuned….:)
Skinner Classics, a bus company in and out!
Robert Skinner was already long time on my list… but it never worked out to pay him a visit… this trip I had to do it! I succeeded!
Skinner is a bus restoration facility, and that shows off the minute You enter the door!
What a beast!!
The Skinner dog! Cute as hell!
A BBT roof fitted on a single cab, perfect fit!
Robert, his wife and yours truly….
Thanks for the tour Robert, it was really way too fun!
Memories from my last US roadtrip…
Checking some of my pictures from my last road trip in december I came by these pictures I thought was fun to share with all of you!
Magic scenery!
and a nice rainbow too! Not very often You can capture rainbows on camera!
This van is sitting on its pole along the 101 just before San Francisco, used to be in Lyft colors, but now they put it in San Francisco wrapping, pretty cool!
Busted 101 all on their way to the Bay bridge… at least the San Francisco skyline is a cool thing to look at…:)
Very American billboard for a burger place, but the place was closed down for a while! Still we do love americana don’t we?
It was a real cool road trip, despite the cold and wet weather….
I’m already fit for the next trip!