HONDA in Swindon now employs around 4,300 staff and uses some of the world's most advanced production processes. But its beginnings were more humble. In 1985, the factory only comprised a pre-delivery centre which was tasked with checking the quality of work completed by car manufacturer Rover. The rival firm was then producing two of the Honda models as part of a joint operation.

Since then, around £1.15 billion has been invested in the site, resulting in the construction of cars there.

The plant now builds cars for the UK and European markets and more recently started building vehicles for the United States and Japan.

This time last year a silver Honda CR-V destined for the United Stated rolled off the production line, becoming the millionth car produced at the plant.

Minoru Harada, president of Honda in Europe, who was present at the event alongside government officials said: "I am proud to say that the cars in Swindon are recognised as the best in their class wherever they are sold and their quality is a match for that of our other models built anywhere in the world."

The first car plant was built in 1992, and could manufacture up to 550 cars a day. In 2001, production began in a second plant with the capability of producing around 350 cars per day bringing production totals up to nearly 1,000 each day.

In 2002, nearly 177,000 cars rolled off the line and the firm hopes to build 190,000 this year. Of that total roughly 65 per cent will be exported outside the UK.

Currently, three car models are being built in the factory the Honda CR-V four-wheel drive and both the three-door and five-door Civic hatchback.

Aside from the car and engine plants, Swindon is also home to a secret research and development facility as well as engineering logistics and parts services.

Mike Godfrey, chief engineer of corporate planning, said: "Spending £1.15 billion in the town shows how much long-term commitment the firm has in Swindon. Honda employs 9,000 associates across Europe, and nearly half of those are here in Swindon."

Associates, as the staff are called in the plant, are mainly from the Swindon area.

They work a 37-hour week. Car production is undertaken in two shifts. The first runs from 6am to 2.20pm then a second from 3.30pm to 10pm or midnight. No production takes place at weekends. Saturdays are usually used for maintenance of the hundreds of machines and the multi-million pound robots.

Engine Plant

THE engine plant was the first Honda production facility to be built in Swindon. The plant has been open for 12 years and has produced around 1.5 million engines. Each engine takes around 150 minutes to build.

The engine plant also produces the gearbox and highly complicated gearing components. The machined engine blocks, cylinder heads and clutch and transmission cases meet with the other engine components for the final assembly process. Many engines are then stored for later retrieval.

The engines are carefully checked by quality control, but are not started up.

Pressing and Welding

EVERY car starts life as nothing more than sheets of steel. These sheets are fed into large presses with casts shaped into a particular body panel, like a door, bonnet roof and bodies.

The panels are then moved into the weld shop, where the basic body of the car is assembled on a jig.

Both robots and associates are used in the weld process, but robots do most of the job. The robots undertake thousands of small spot-welds, sending sparks high into the air.

There are more than 2,300 spot welds on each car. Each weld is stronger than the metal itself.

Although the robots are agile, they cannot always reach all parts of the car. A small team of skilled welders in a green-windowed room weld the places the robots cannot reach.

Painting

ONCE the cars have left the weld shop they are moved into the paint shop.

Here, the car bodies, called whites, are carefully cleaned using strong water jets to ensure that any grease, oil or metal fragments do not spoil the paint. No fewer than six separate layers of water-based paint are sprayed on each car along with an effective anti-corrosion paint.

In the form of electrolysis, the car is charged with negatively charged particles and then lowered into a tank containing a positively charged liquid, which removes any impurities from the car body. The cars are then literally cooked in large flash ovens to help the paint dry quickly and allow the production to move into the main assembly hall.

Assembly Floor

ASSEMBLY sees each car make the transition from being a steel shell to becoming a driveable vehicle.

Cars are built in batches by both colour and model code. Complete cars roll off the line, and for the first time the engine is fired up. Each part of the car is checked by quality control looking for dents in the panels or for loose fittings.

The cars are then driven on a high speed test on Honda's test track and return to parking areas at a slower speed, over six different surfaces, allowing the driver to listen out for squeaks and other strange noises.

19 glory years

1985: Honda of the UK is established at the former airfield at South Marston near Swindon.

1989: The engine plant is built and begins production of engines for the Honda Concerto and Rover 200/400.

1992: Full-scale car production begins in a new car plant together with a second engine production line.

1996: The 250,000th car built in the factory rolls off the production line.

1998: Production of a third model, the Civic Aero Deck, begins.

Later in the year investment of around £450 million and the creation of 1,000 new jobs is announced.

1999: The one millionth Swindon built engine is manufactured and the 250,000th Swindon built Civic rolls off the production line.

The 500,000th Swindon built car leaves the production line.

2000: Production of the four-wheel drive CR-V commences.

In addition to supplying Europe, it was confirmed that from autumn 2001 the Swindon-built Civic 3-door would be exported to Japan, and from early 2002 the CR-V would be exported to North America.

2001: Official opening of Honda's second British car plant which will increase annual production capacity at Swindon by 100,000 units, taking the total annual capacity to 250,000.

2002: Start of mass production of first CR-Vs for North American market.

The 500,000th Swindon-built Civic five door rolls off the production line.