Winning the CT lottery...

tchris said:

I So, evidently the VIN gets assigned as soon as the car begins production, maybe even before? Still, 2-1/2 months from production line to delivery seems like a very long time to me. How long can it take to build the car, a week tops? Maybe another week in transit? So what's going on for the other 2 months? Evidently a lot of time sitting in storage lots I guess. If anyone is familiar with the production and distribution process it would be interesting to hear how this works.

Click to expand...

Patience, these things take time...

VIN creation is done in the planning stages... well before the car is scheduled for production, since it dicates everything about the car... model (which parts/sub-assy's are needed to order), location of assy plant (where to deliver sub-assy's for final assy), etc, etc...

Then once the parts are ordered, Lexus's sub-tier suppliers would likely have to check their stock to ensure they even have the sub-assy's required for final assembly (which they should, since the production of these cars should be pretty accurately forecasted). If not - parts must be producted first by Lexus's suppliers, which could take who knows how long (this would be unacceptable though in such large scale production).

The below is copied from another forum - but seems to be pretty standard as far as manufacturing/assy is concerned.

Receipt Date: The date that MS&S recorded the order.
When the order is received from the dealers

Serialize Date: The date that MS&S transfers the order to MP&L and the VIN is created.
When the order is received by Material Planning and parts are ordered

Segment Date: The date that MP&L determines which week the order will be built.
When they figure what week that parts will be able to be delivered to the plant to build the vehicle

Sequence Date: The date that MP&L determines which day the order will be built.
When they figure what day that parts can be at the plant to build the vehicle

Blend Date: The date that MP&L determines when the order will be built within the assigned day.
When they figure the specific order that vehicles will be built. This depends on options and line constraints.

Produced Date: The date that VO finished assembling the vehicle
Your unit has been built!

Gate Release Date: The date that VO transfers the vehicle to Transportation Carriers for shipping
Your unit has left the building, and is in the hands of the shipper (rail or truck)

Ship Date: The date the vehicle left the Assembly Plant
Your unit has left the load site, and is on it's way to the dealer

Arrival Date: The date the Dealership received the vehicle
Your dealer has the unit in hand, doing the dealer prep thingy

Sold Date: The date the Customer picked up the vehicle
You came in, looked it over, said, "I'll take it!" and signed the papers

Not quite as fast a process as one might think... I don't have anything to do with the auto industry - but from a manufacturing background, please be gentle on these dealerships and salespeople - they are at the mercy of the production line... so just because you already have a VIN, doesn't mean that your car is already on the assembly line... manufacturing doesn't quite work like that.