U.S. Panasonic PICS Dealer Promo Video

[zeringer]

I just posted the classic Panasonic PICS dealer promo video within my YouTube channel. Hope you Pana-nuts enjoy! Fascinating stuff.
Special thanks to a Pana-nut by the name of George in WV for sending me a copy of this video. :thumb:

http://youtu.be/rfAbZlqQ68o

 

[shawnb]

That was a good watch

 

[Elev12k]

Yes, very interesting. A lot of robots involved, but this has nothing to do with mass production. Maybe the robots work a little bit quicker, but designing the whole production setup will be costly, so did it result in economy benefits in the end?

I found the painting robots very smart, as painting is unhealthy, however somewhat later you see workers applying the top coat and one of them isn't wearing a mask! Was that to look good on the movie?

The paintscheme with red/white/blue you see in the movie was called 'Team Holland' in Holland. There is one on our largest classified site now. Tange #1.

 

[zeringer]

Yes, very interesting. A lot of robots involved, but this has nothing to do with mass production. Maybe the robots work a little bit quicker, but designing the whole production setup will be costly, so did it result in economy benefits in the end?

I found the painting robots very smart, as painting is unhealthy, however somewhat later you see workers applying the top coat and one of them isn't wearing a mask! Was that to look good on the movie?

The paintscheme with red/white/blue you see in the movie was called 'Team Holland' in Holland. There is one on our largest classified site now. Tange #1.

I will admit that I was a bit surprised by the level of computer/robot assistance. I guess seeing "custom hand made" on the top tube of my bikes had me picturing an old smoke filled shop where a few 70+ year old frame gurus were building the frames.
OK, so maybe not quite THAT extreme... I guess I should have expected the high tech side given that it was Panasonic after all.

You know I hadn't even thought about the painting without a mask until you mentioned it. Wow, you're right... probably not the safest thing in the world. Perhaps the "high" that painting without a mask provided is how they came up with all those wild paint schemes. I also wonder if that was "Ueki" who was painting the frames. Many of the bike had a "Custom Painted by Ueki" decal on the top tubes over here. Perhaps Ueki was the nickname given to their painting robot. ha

Melvin, don't tell me there is a Team Holland for sale. The last time you did that I wound up with a PR-6000. hehe

 

[Elev12k]

Actually the use of robots didn't surprise me really. Japanese are famous for their consistent quality of output. Robots are very helpfull with that.

PR 6000: I spotted and acquired quite a lot of them the last years. Old team equipment was sold to large bike shops overhere at the end of season and that is the reason why I am often lucky in finding them. From this perpective your example is particularly unique, as it was one for the paying customer. Not many had PR 6000 money back in the day.