In early 2015, the new members of American Trucking Associations' America's Road Team got to tour Volvo's New River Valley plant and take delivery of their new truck. Editor in Chief Deborah Lockridge was there and took these photos.
Visiting Volvo's New River Valley Plant
Volvo's New River Valley plant is the largest Volvo Truck plant in the world.
This giant pickup truck was a custom project done by plant employees for fun.
One sub-test of the Swedish standards is a pendulum front impact on one of the A-pillars, a key point of protection in rollover crashes.
Manual welding
One room is devoted to checking random cabs for tolerances, fit and finish.
Volvo Trucks' parent company may be in Sweden, but U.S. trucks are made in the U.S.A., with many components previously made abroad now being sourced here.
This display was designed to show off the abilities of Volvo's paint employees. "We spend far too many hours in this plant not to have fun," said plant chief Franky Marchand.
On the cab line
Fast windshield installation
The chassis line
Cab getting ready to be added to the chassis
Several signs like this in the plant share the stories of accident survivors saved by the crashworthiness of Volvo trucks.
Road Team captains tour Volvo's NRV plant in January 2015.
More than 70 robots are used for subassembly and spot welding work.
Volvo cabs use a patented high-strength steel produced in Detroit.
Not having spot welds on the outside of the cab (other than the back) is not only more attractive, but also more aerodynamic.
Volvo tests its cabs to meet the Swedish government's impact test.
Cab cutaway display shows off structural integrity
These cabs just came out of the e-coat paint booth.
The amount of paint on a Volvo cab adds up to 92 pounds.
Volvo says it designs its hinges so they can take the real-world abuse of drivers climbing in by grabbing the soor and steering wheel rather than the grab handles.
Unfortunately the hand-painted flame design is not available for order.
Assembling cab interiors
Installing dash harnesses
The plant's emphasis on continuous improvement and lean manufacturing led employees to design this fast and easy way to install fuses.
Most powertrains at the plant are Volvo engines with I-Shift automated transmissions.
Swinging a chassis into place on the chassis line.