Mahle supplies the piston assemblies with the precracked rods in bins, similar to how they supply them for GT500 engine production to the Niche plant. They come from their Morristown, Tennessee plant. Again, the assembly is similar to that of the 5.4 as depicted below...
Things don't get past QC as easily as you may think.
Not in the Coyote. Mahle delivers pallets of pistons. The rods are machined at the Windsor Annex and delivered to Essex Engine for assembly. The pistons are installed, rings installed and the rod is cracked at Essex Engine. The assemblies are loaded into trays like that, loaded onto pallets and delivered to the motor line one pallet at a time.
In the 5.4L at Windsor Engine, the rods are machined in plant. The piston is attached, the rings installed and the rod is cracked in that order. They are loaded onto those trays. The trays are delivered to the line by a conveyor.
You are correct about the QC. Nothing moves down the line without being verified.
