Quote:
Originally Posted by 72BBChuck
Keith, please tell me about the "Sequence number". Is that what is chalk marked in may places on the truck? I usually see a three digit chalk marked number?
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Yes.
The build sequence number is the order it went down the line. This is the number people are usually looking for when they unwittingly try to ascribe that information to the VIN.
Some plants have a "bank" after cab shop/before paint, and after paint before trim, to allow builds to be shuffled to level downstream workload, pull a vehicle out based on a material storage or for an extended repair. In that case there could be a unique sequence number for the cab shop, and then a different unique number for paint, and trim, and yet another for final line (aka "General Assembly").
Some plants build straight through, without any body banks in the process. In that case the same sequence number would be assigned for the whole process. Fremont is one of those plants.
The full sequence number is five or six digits (like 123456), but the operator will typically write the last two or three digits of the number in a type of shorthand (ie, "56", or "456").
The goal is to try to keep all the parts coming together in the right order. Any component that is built up remotely and conveyed to the main line (ie, engine, trans, radiator, grille, front end sheetmetal, front and rear axle, seats, tire/wheel) is fair game to have a sequence number written on it.
In any case, the final line (or general assembly, or "GA") sequence number is the number everybody uses to refer to a specific vehicle. Nobody cares about the VIN in the assembly plant, except to get it installed on the correct truck, just like a SPID label or emission label or Mulroney window label.
K
PS - My truck was "number 87".
