Fox Factory Tour Part 2: The Assembly Line

By Saris Mercanti - July 21, 2015

After components are produced at Fox’s California based machine shop, the parts are sent
out for anodization (either locally or to Japan), then shipped to the Fox assembly facility in
a small town just South of Santa Cruz, CA.

As these components arrive from all corners of the world, random samples are pulled for
inspection and walked directly from the receiving area and into the Quality Lab.

In addition to testing individual components, they also pull sub-assemblies to ensure parts
are fitting together properly and double check for wear on tooling.
 Automated Dyno in the Fox Quality Lab

Within this room are over a dozen complex machines utilized for testing materials.

Everything from devices that test for hardness and spring force….

…to those that can inspect minute details, like the fine print on your driver’s license.
This fixture for example, holds fork lowers in place, so that they can be examined by
a Coordinate Measurement Machine (CMM). As the small automated red ball slowly circles
the fork lowers, it takes thousands of data points.

These measurements are then uploaded to a computer, so engineers can inspect the critical
features.

One example of how the quality assurance team uses this machine is by pullin one in every
1,000 lower leg/bushing assemblies off the production line, to measure how cylindrical a
bushing is after it is pressed in, the diameter, etc..
As components clear inspection, they are pushed to floor. There are separate assembly lines
for both fork and shock production.

Each of the fork assembly line can be quickly shifted over to accommodate different product
lines (e.g. 32, 34, 36). For things like TALAS forks, which have complicated ball and spring
assemblies, the company keeps intricate assembly fixtures ready.
As the fork internals are being assembled, the fork lowers are also prepped.

This machine holds the lowers, while a series of rods install bushings.

After installation, a bushing sizer runs through both bushings, which helps provide more
consistent sizing, and reduces break in time.
A few feet away, stanchion tubes are pressed into the fork uppers. This machine precisely
measures the force used in order to ensure proper fit.

All of the machines used in assembling the fork (bushing/upper tube/steerer tube installer)
utilize load cells to measure forces. If they detect a load that is too high or too low, the part
is flagged and rejected.

Once all internals, lowers, and uppers go through their final checks, they’re assembled, and
a preset amount of lubrication oil is pumped into each fork leg.
A few CCs of oil are also pumped into the FLOAT air spring assembly.

In addition to the meticulously testing at each phase in production, Fox also keeps careful
production time studies. On the day we visited, the factory was producing a fork every 64
seconds, but during peak season, the factory assembles a fork every 30 seconds.
At the end of the fork line, a dyno measures compression and rebound forces to insure that
everything from spring rate to the damping curve is working correctly. Every finished fork
must pass through this dyno before leaving the factory.

After assembly and inspection, the forks are mounted into special jigs, and stickers are
installed.
Can you guess which manufacturer these forks are destined for?

The shock assembly lines are split in two. The first is dedicated to the production of the
popular Float series shock, while the other is a “flexible” line that manufacturers everything
from DHX to DCRV shocks.
This is how FOX bleeds the oil on a FLOAT rear shock. This ensures there is no trapped air
in the damping fluid.

Fox shocks utilize a nitrogen filled chamber to put damping oil under pressure. At this phase
of assembly process, the shocks are being staged and prepared for their nitrogen fill.
Once filled, each shock must be pressured checked.

Then comes lubrication…

…and stickering!

Fox also utilizes this facility to build the shocks that are found on the Ford Raptor Truck.
Like the bicycle products, each truck shock is placed on a dyno and cycled to ensure
everything from compression damping to noise is within spec before being shipped.

In recent years, there have been rumors that Fox had plans to move their production
facilities to Taiwan, so after our visit to the machine shop and assembly plant, we reached
out to CEO Larry L. Enterlien for comment:

WE ARE IN THE PROCESS OF TRANSITIONING OUR BIKE

MANUFACTURING FROM CALIFORNIA AND AT THIS TIME ARE ON
TRACK TO HAVE 80% OF OUR TOTAL MOUNTAIN BIKE
SUSPENSION FORK AND SHOCK PRODUCTION IN TAIWAN BY THE
END OF 2015. OUR TAIWAN MANUFACTURING FACILITIES ALLOW
US TO BE CLOSER TO OUR LARGE OEM CUSTOMERS THAT ARE IN
TAIWAN, WHICH REDUCES PRODUCTION LEAD TIMES AND
SHORTENS OUR SUPPLY CHAIN. WE WILL MAINTAIN SOME
MOUNTAIN BIKE PRODUCTION CAPACITY HERE IN WATSONVILLE,
CA, PREDOMINATELY FOR OUR NORTH AMERICAN CUSTOMERS.

What does this mean for consumers? Not much. The big advantage to this change is for
OEM customers like Giant, who assemble their complete bikes overseas. This new
Taiwanese facility will allow Fox to drastically reduce the shipping time to those factories.

The US plant will continue to support brands like Santa Cruz and Niner, who assemble their
frames in the United States, as well as produce more of the higher end factory level
products that compromise the majority of it’s aftermarket sales.
Fox | Special thanks to Mark Jordan and Jon Bullock for the tour.