Production under way via new advanced system: Manifattura Lamborghini Next Level.
Just a few months after the official launch of the Revuelto, the first V12 plug-in hybrid HPEV (High Performance Electrified Vehicle) supercar from the House of Sant’Agata, significant milestones have already been achieved. As of now, orders cover more than two years of production.
Revuelto is not an innovation solely in terms of performance, technical features and company strategies, it has also brought a real revolution in terms of production processes: Manifattura Lamborghini Next Level perfectly expresses the paradigm shift.
Ranieri Niccoli, Chief Manufacturing Officer of Automobili Lamborghini, commented: “To manufacture the Revuelto, we understood we had to go above and beyond. It’s a highly customizable hybrid car, yet it’s built using traditional handcrafted skills. We raised the bar to produce it, creating what we call Manifattura Lamborghini Next Level: a production system with people always at its core but which we adapted to deliver a much more complex product and to integrate processes we haven’t used before. With the introduction of the Revuelto, we expanded the area occupied by the company facilities by 172,000 square meters, investing €150 million in the local area here in Sant’Agata Bolognese.”
The production system defined as “Manifattura 4.0” denotes an extremely high level of innovation. This means that in every process, from the making of the monocoque to the finishing stages, each individual station of the Revuelto line is distinguished by its high-tech impact which, as always at Lamborghini, supports – and never replaces – the indispensable work of humans. For the Revuelto this synthesis of manual skill and innovation represents the ideal embodiment of the production process. This approach leads to a significant reduction in the possibility of error along with greater production speed, all benefiting the quality of cars being made.
The system that manages the mechanical and technological aspects is called MES (Manufacturing Executive System) and features an innovative approach to the production process. In this system, the operator is supported in each step by the machine, but he or she can also interact with it at any time to change certain actions or stop its operation to intervene manually. In the various workstations operators are provided with a personal wristband they can use to access the system and to work via touchscreen monitors or tablets. The MES system harmoniously manages some of the most advanced and futuristic technological tools, especially the “cobots”: collaborative robots used on all the lines (engines, assembly and upholstery) that require repetitive actions, such as windshield assembly for example. In addition to being collaborative with humans in the true sense of the word, the special feature of cobots is that they make it possible to vastly eliminate the proportion of inaccuracies or errors in the activities carried out.
Another innovation is the presence of Automated Guided Vehicles (AGVs), handling devices that at some of the stations transport, in a collaborative mode, certain materials used to assemble the car.
The real protagonist of the Revuelto is carbon fiber, produced using both handcrafted and automated processes in Lamborghini’s CFK plant in Sant’Agata Bolognese. It is the main structural element of the new car, used to make not only the monofuselage chassis but also a significant part of the body elements. The extensive use of carbon fiber and other ultralight materials, combined with the powertrain’s outstanding performance numbers, has led to the best power-to-weight ratio in Lamborghini history: 1.75 kg/CV. One of the main innovations of this car is that the tub is made in one piece via the total industrialization of the process called Lamborghini Forged Technology. For the Revuelto, the value of carbon fiber processing is so high that it prompted Lamborghini to expand and upgrade the CFK plant, which now covers 16,200 square meters. In this plant as well, the operators have priority over all the processes, though they are still partly handled by machines. Currently, between CFK and assembly, some 500 production operators are dedicated to the Revuelto.
This is the process by which the Revuelto is manufactured, a car that defines a new concept in terms of performance, sportiness and driving pleasure through a brand-new architecture, innovative design, aerodynamics at the peak of efficiency, a new concept of carbon fiber chassis, and a 1015 CV powertrain.
The Revuelto, now in full production, is already establishing its success: an automobile that will transform not only Automobili Lamborghini but the entire super sports car market. The Revuelto marks Lamborghini’s entry into the second phase of its ambitious Direzione Cor Tauri project, involving a total investment of €1.9 billion – the largest ever in the company’s history. It leads to the hybridization of the entire model range by 2024, and in 2028 the debut of the first full-electric model, already identified by the House of Sant’Agata Bolognese as a 2+2 grand tourer.
