New model for UK forklift factory as production nears 350,000 trucks
1 min read
One of the UK's last remaining forklift truck production plants has fought off other European factories to win a key contract. The Craigavon, Northern Ireland, factory (pictured) of global forklift truck maker Nacco Materials Handling – the organisation that builds both Yale and Hyster branded equipment for the UK and European markets – will build a new product to be introduced during 2011.
Combining people power with world-class manufacturing techniques is proving to be a winning formula for the UK site. Plant manager Alan Little says: "Our success here is based on our ability to integrate physical and people assets to achieve operational excellence."
While the group's overriding philosophy is to manufacture in local markets, some products are awarded to plants which can offer the most cost-effective production. "It's healthy competition and we all learn from each other," says Little. Nacco's other European factories are located in the Netherlands and Italy, with sites further afield including the US, China, Mexico and Brazil. Craigavon has won and lost business to other group facilities, but Little confirms his site has won the contract for a new product to be built during 2011.
The Craigavon site was built in 1981 and for many years produced only internal combustion engine trucks. When production ceased last year at Nacco's Irvine, Scotland, facility, Craigavon took over electric truck production for the EMEA markets and its portfolio now ranges from 1.6 tonne to 5.5 tonne IC engine trucks, plus 1.5 tonne to 3.5 tonne electric models.
The site employs 500, with two shifts for manufacturing and one shift for assembly. Operations reduced to a four-day week last year, to cope with the extreme downturn in the truck market, but have since returned to five days. The entire workforce also took a temporary pay cut and Little says he is "enormously proud" of how people reacted during difficult times.
Success stems, he says, from self-managed work teams – "the more we can delegate authority to the shopfloor, the more successful we are" – and there is a strong training culture. Typically, 60% of employees are engaged in development programmes at any given time. Financial support from the business varies: at Level 1, the company gives full financial backing, while at Level 4, the training is funded but the learning takes place out of working hours.
When the site first opened, it took 10 days to build one truck – this now takes just four days. The factory employs demand flow technology sequenced production, a technique attributed to the US-based John Costanza Institute. Craigavon was originally designed to build 25 trucks per day, and that capacity has quadrupled. "By the end of this year, we will have produced 350,000 trucks here," Little confirms.
