Holden Retirees Club

Part 4 - Woodville production

[Edited extract from "A history of General Motors - Holden's Ltd" - Port Adelaide District Pictorial, Friday 21 March 1952, page 5. Additional material by Neil Pogson]

Erection of the Woodville plant was begun in July 1923. Meanwhile, to cope with the sales boom resulting from the real entry of Australia into the motor transport era, production was maintained at the King William Street plant, which was further extended. Operations were begun at Woodville in November 1923 and as a result, Holden's achieved a record production for the year with a total of both plants of 12,771 bodies.

The time was ideal for making motor body building a really flourishing new industry and Holden’s Motor Body Builders was seeking an outlet for the whole production potential of the new Woodville factory. This was found by Sir Edward W. Holden who, during a visit to Cairo, competed arrangements with General Motors' executives for the production of their body requirements, on a cost-plus basis.

General Motors announced in December 1923, that they were going to use Holden's as sole body builder suppliers for their motor bodies. This year 17,000 bodies were produced as compared to 6,621 in 1922. Holden's were now producing 50% of all motor bodies in Australia. GM engineering people were sent over from America to assist in body production.

Next year, 1924, production reached 22,150 units. The first closed bodies also were built and the first hydraulic panel press was installed. Still production figures rose to reach a record of 35,893 in 1926.

Meanwhile, in 1924 HMBB had started manufacture of Tram cars in the first Plant to be ready for production at Woodville. They announced in April 1924 that they had been given a contract for 60 Tramcars for the Melbourne Metropolitan Tramways Board, to be delivered at the rate of one car per week. Newspapers carried photos of the first Tramcar finished on 19 April 1924. Between 1924-26 Holden's also made some 59 "W" class trams for Melbourne.

In December 1924, HMBB won a tender to supply 19 Motorbus bodies for a shipment of Mack Truck chassis which was on its way from USA. Five bodies were to be delivered by the following 4^th February, and the balance by 11^th March.

In 1926, General Motors (Australia) Pty. Ltd. was formed. The market held at boom level for a couple more years, during which time HMBB acquired the firm of Whittingslow Engineering Limited located in Beverly, an adjoining Adelaide suburb to Woodville. This acquisition enabled Holdens' to produce drop-forged, heat-treated or machined components. All Holden activities were then transferred to Woodville and Beverley by 1928 with the exception of the Wood Mill which was still kept in production for some months at King William St.

The biggest problem for HMBB was the hiring of sufficient labour, especially Trimmers, and advertisements for new labour ran almost daily in the local papers.

The Wall Street Crash of October 1929 caused immediate fall-off in demand for motor bodies, and in 1930 resulted in bankruptcies in many body-building companies. Woodville was first closed in October 1929 and operated on-and-off for the next two years. Every possible effort was made to stimulate demand for motor bodies. Employees numbered 2,300 at the beginning of 1930 as compared with 4,000 a year earlier. In 1931, the slide reached rock bottom as just 1,651 bodies were produced and the Woodville Plant was more closed than open!

All the managerial resourcefulness of Holden's was needed to find other outlets for saleable products to augment the meagre body manufacture.

In 1929, with body production already slashed to less than 18,000 or half what had seemed like becoming a normal figure, a new system of box manufacture had been introduced and the firm became the largest Australian manufacturers of fruit cases. Next year the temporary manufacture of steel filing cabinets and golf club heads was introduced.

The depression lull was used as a period during which the activities of both the Woodville and Beverley divisions could be aligned and developed on the most advanced lines. These moves followed acquisition of Holden's Motor Body Builders Ltd. by General Motors (Australia) Pty. Ltd. in 1931 to form General Motors-Holden's Ltd. Interestingly, all Plants were renamed to the GMH format except Woodville, which continued to trade as “Holden’s Motor Body Builders, a Division of GMH”.

Meanwhile, business had been reviving and, in 1934, the number of bodies built by GMH rose to 15,642. From then on, Woodville production continued to rise and important new developments occurred, including their first body to use a side panel pressed from one sheet of metal, the 1938 Vauxhall Wyvem Sedan [H-type].

Following the success of the Vauxhall side panel Holden's went on to change to the same type of pressing for all their bodies. This method of construction eliminated welded intersections at the door openings and provided better sealing and less distortion.

As Australia went into World War 2, GMH production was back at 30,000 bodies. The largest hydraulic press in the Southern Hemisphere, a Hamilton, had been installed, and the Toolroom expanded. GMH body production in South Australian plants from 1917 to 1939 totalled 347,037 units, and in 1943 a record number of 98 body types was produced.

From the outbreak of war in 1939, General Motors-Holden’s was involved increasingly in the manufacture of a host of items not previously made in Australia. In addition to many specialised types of army vehicles, the South Australian plants at Woodville, Birkenhead and Beverley turned out a constantly increasing range of marine craft, guns, gun carriages, aircraft and torpedo components, aero and Diesel engine components, bombs, shells, canvas work, and a multitude of special war needs, ranging from mess tables to engraving machines. Much of this task was performed in face of difficulties - such as incomplete specifications, or the need for using materials or tools unobtainable in Australia [For more details, refer The War Files, https://hrc.au/94]

Some machine tools had to be converted, modified or re-conditioned. One job of which Woodville was particularly proud was the conversion of a lathe dating from 1860, found at Birkenhead Dock. It was motorised and modified as a boring lathe, until its performance proved comparable with a modern long-hole drilling machine.

Another lathe, even older, was fished out from the bed of the Yarra (Melbourne) and eventually used at Woodville for final boring of 2-pounder barrels. There were many similar cases.

When, after 1945, all this ability was finally turned back to production of motor bodies, a wealth of new experience and technique was available to give Australia better motor transport than ever before with the proposed production of a New Australian car.

But as the War came to an end, multiple strikes broke out across industry, affecting all manner of essential supplies for Woodville; shipping, electricity, coal, wage demands, time study revolts and more, beset all Adelaide industry and many stand downs and stoppages were experienced which exacerbated the situation. 

A further problem was accommodating all the workers who had been given leave to join the armed forces and were now returning in the expectation of having a job at Holden’s. The War contracts had finished, so once again GMH turned to making all manner of non-automotive things to generate some employment while the Plants were reconfigured to again produce Motor vehicles and bodies.  

In November 1944, a number of men were released to the Government to work in other essential industries.  J.R. Holden was at pains to say that these men were not being dismissed, but were being released at the request of the Government to fill gaps in other industries.

It was reported that since the beginning of the month about 350 men had been retrenched from the factory, and that another 150 would be put off that week. It was also estimated that altogether about 1.000 employees would have left the industry by the following March.

The director of manufacturing at Holden's Woodville plant (Mr. J.R. Holden) said ….. "Our plant is virtually under Government control, and since the outbreak of war we have done everything that we can to aid the Government in carrying out its munitions programme. The employees who are now being released are required by the Manpower Department for other work. We are not dismissing them."

The Assistant Deputy Director-General of Manpower (Mr. G. F. Seaman) said that all of the employees released from Holdens would be absorbed in other employment without difficulty. There was still a big shortage of manpower for food production, brickmaking, fertiliser manufacturing and other essential work. Men were still being released from the Army for specialised work”.

Relief was on the way. On 6^th April 1945 the newspapers reported on

“G-M-H's. Proposal to Government.”

“In response to the request of the Federal Government to all interested parties to undertake the manufacture of motor vehicles in Australia, General Motors-Holden's Ltd. submitted a proposal to design and manufacture an Australian car and utility to cater expressly for Australian conditions, and to sell in the low price field. It was emphasised by the Company that the undertaking would in no way impede or detract from the War effort, although it is realised that initial planning and some preparatory work must be effected as soon as agreement is reached, if in the immediate post- war period, the project is to play its proper part in contributing to rehabilitation.”

In January 1946 it was reported that developmental work was underway: The Company’s plans provided for “a major share of the actual production of the GMH car to be carried out at Woodville. They would also involve the allocation of additional work to a number of local sub-contractors, thus giving indirect employment to many more South Australian workmen. Mr. Holden disclosed that sample hand-made models were now being built here.”

Woodville was to play a major role in the provision of tools, jig and fixtures, plus stamping panels for the all steel body, prototyping and finally assembling the new bodies into vehicles.

But Mr Holden also pointed out Holdens' plans for the future are not centred alone on the New Car production undertaking. The manufacture of motor bodies for imported chassis would continue. The Woodville plant already had a proven capacity to manufacture 30,000 bodies a year.

Holden's executives emphasised that the launching of the car project will give the company a long-sought opportunity to provide more regular employment. Irregularities in the past have been due to dependence upon overseas chassis, which periodically changed and called for extensive alterations to body designs and tooling.

While production of bodies for imported chassis will still be subject to these changes, the company, it is pointed out, will be in a position to introduce new models of the Australian car at selected times to provide a more even level of employment.

Vauxhall and Chevrolet bodies were soon in production and bodies again shipped to the interstate Assembly Plants.

On 5 April 1948 the first pilot-build Model 48-215 rolled down the production line, and on 11 November, an Open House event was held to give the employees and tyheir families, a sneak preview of the enw model.  A carnival atmosphere prevailed with fee rides, gifts and plenty of drinks and lollies!

On 29 November, the first full production car was waived off by the then Prime Minister, J. Ben Chifley, at Fishermens Bend. 1948 the New car production totalled 163 units, and this expanded in 1949 to 7,724, thence to 20,190 in 1950.

However, total body production for all models in 1948 was 23,565 units, and 23,117 for 1949.

In March, 1950 Mr Holden confirmed a report from Detroit that Woodville would be pressing bodies and metal components for a Utility model, by year end. He also said the order backlog for the Holden car was 50,000 units while production had ramped up to the rate of 20,000 units in February that year, which was ahead of schedule.

Keeping pace with this programme. Woodville produced the 10,000^th Holden sedan body early in 1950 and completed the 50,000th sedan body early in November 1951, in time for the 50,000th complete Holden sedan to come off the Birkenhead (Adelaide) GMH assembly line on 21 November.

In September 1952 it was reported that since the launch, the total Holden output had been 63,721 sedans registered and in service to August 30 that year. In addition, more than 9,000 Holden coupe utilities - the first commercial motor vehicle to be manufactured in Australia - had also been produced and placed in service. And of all these vehicles, nearly54 per cent went to country areas. In achieving this output, General Motors-Holdens Ltd. had expanded its direct employment to more than 10,300 people, and the annual pay roll had doubled to more than £8½m. (1951).

In 1953, expansions at Pagewood allowed for Bodies to be built there, the first time Holden bodies were assembled outside of Woodville. However, Woodville still supplied all the steel panels and components to Pagewood, so that demand for pressed parts on Woodville continued to keep pace with increasing volume, even though the vehicle assembly did not.

The 175,000^th Holden rolled off line on 5^th November1954, and by December, Woodville had 6,000 employees, with a record total Holden employment at 12,190 employees in all states. Moreover, Holden earned praise for their accommodation of workers with disabilities, even Blind operators were found useful employment.

In September 1957, the one Millionth Body by Holden came off line, which included 372,408 bodies for the 48-215 Holden brand.

As had happened many times before in Holden’s history, the growth of volumes began to outstrip the capacity of the existing plants to supply. Woodville was now not only assembling completed vehicles, but also building bodies for Panel Vans, Bedford truck cabins, Chevrolet and Pontiac bodies from imported panels, plus having to service the replacement parts requirements for previous models.

Once again, the search was on for a new site to expand the business.  The result was the purchase of 290 acres of dairy farming land at Elizabeth, a new satellite town north of Adelaide.  The foundations of the new Plant were poured in May, 1958.

The move to Elizabeth was made in stages, as the various new facilities became available:

The Hardware Operation was the first to go in May through August 1959, along with the progressive transfer of Manufacturing Engineering and Admin functions.  The Body Shop commenced production at Eliz in Feb 1962. These bodies were then road transported to Woodville for Paint and Trim Asm.  All panels were still coming from Woodville to the Elizabeth Body Shop at this stage.

 Start of Production in the Paint Shop and Trim Asm at Elizabeth was in July 1963, with Trimmed Bodies being railed and road transported out to VAP’s.

- The Trim Fabrication (sewing, etc) move from Woodville to Elizabeth occurred with the Trim Fab building SOP at Elizabeth in January 1964, and Metal Fabrication (sub-assemblies) were transitioned to Elizabeth in 1965.

Full Vehicle Assembly started in Jan 1965 using a transition based on some Birkenhead HD Model vehicles being assembled at Elizabeth, along with Final Asm of low volume Chevrolets, Pontiacs, Bedfords and Vivas. This now meant that Elizabeth was able to handle the new HR model build in 1966 without Woodville assembly overlap so all Body related activity at Woodville ceased.

The Press shop started operations at Eliz in 1965 but the Woodville Press shop stayed in operation for a long overlap period as new press lines progressively became operational at Elizabeth.

In 1967, announced the building of a new $12.5 million Plant to manufacture Trimatic Transmissions. It would be located in part of the existing Plant 11. The Plant was officially opened on 7th April 1970 by MD Alexander Rhea, although the transmissions had been fitted to six cylinder LC Torana models since October 1969. The Trimatic was available across the Holden range until it went out of production in 1987.

As recorded in Part 2, the Plant underwent more changes to accommodate the reduction of current product production, until its eventual sale in 1984. The major remaining activity was the manufacture of Out of Production Spare parts, which was a high volume business requiring large amounts of capacity. 

Refer Woodville, Part 2 for details of the sale process.

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