WITH 1,000 made-to-order cars rolling off the production every single day, it is no wonder that every worker at Cowley's Mini Plant is obsessed with perfection.

Metal panels come into the Body in White workshop and leave perfectly joined together to form the outer shell of a car.

It's here where the process of welding 435 parts to create the range of three door, five door, "John Cooper works" and Clubman Minis starts.

As the plant celebrated 15 years of Mini making, the Oxford Mail was granted exclusive access to the Body in White workshop, where the famous chassis begins to take shape.

Manufacturing production manager Tom Bradford, who was born in Chipping Norton, said the Body in White workshop main role was to create the shell of the car, but also to make sure it was done to perfection.

He described the process at a "ballet" in which all the parts come together to from a skeleton car.

About 1,200 robots worth £20,000 each fill the majority of floor - the size of 14 football pitches. There, 650 workers begin to forge the car's outer frame by joining metal panels.

Mr Bradford added: "The goal is make the car as light and as safe as possible, while keeping with the go-kart driving characteristics that you get with Mini.

"The most important thing is ensuring the relationship between the panels is as perfect as we can."

The workshop is made up of three sections known as floor assembly, body frame and add-on parts, with each area operating on a 45-second cycle.

Every car on the line is different whether it be in model, colour, wheel type or engine size, but the robots are programmed to deal with whatever design is placed in front of them.

The panels are joined through electronic spot welds in a time span lasting just a quarter of a second in an intricate operation.

Mr Bradford, who started as an apprentice in 1996, said processes carried out in the Body in White workshop were "essential" in creating the feel the customer will get in the finished product.

He said the Cowley plant was a great place to work because of the desire of the workforce to create a product any customer would be proud of.

He added: "It's quite special that the go-kart feeling that you get with the Mini is born here.

"It's all down to everyone making sure that each join is 100 per cent accurate and we are also performing quality checks during the manufacturing process and feeding that back so that we can ensure any problems can be solved.

"We are always trying to find better ways to do things and refining the process."

Once joined together, the raw outer shell is given its final quality-check in what is known as the "buy off stage".

Mr Bradford added: "The idea is to make sure everything is correct before it leaves this workshop.

“We have experts who are over-sensitive and we are constantly looking to iron out imperfections.

"We quite like finding problems as it means we are constantly making things better."

Once passed, the outer shell is transferred to the Body in Paint shop, which is where it's painted ahead of being assembled.

Mr Bradford said he fell into car manufacturing, but that he had become passionate with making sure Cowley produced a product which was regarded as one of the best in the world.

Check out tomorrow's Oxford Mail to explore the Paint Shop.