14 members arrived at the factory on time for the visit that had been organised by Phil and his Son who works there and on arrival we were greeted by two pensioner ex employees. These chaps were volunteers who between them have 120 years of service with the plant so they were well placed to tell us of the plant’s history and products.
After a short introduction and quick run over the history of the company, with multiple take overs and mergers Leyland Trucks has become a world class supplier of trucks to the world. The plant is an assembly plant and all component parts are shipped in from all over the world in “just in time” fashion to keep the plant producing around 80-90 trucks a week at the present time.
Having donned our Green Hi Vis tabards and switched on our wireless headphone systems we were led out into the factory and taken to a large model of the assembly line where it was explained how each stage of truck production was carried out and moved along. About 1000 people are employed in the plant today and everyone is responsible for their own quality so there are no delays for inspection stages. This seems to work well as about 97% of the trucks coming off the line go straight to customers without remedial actions. The robotic spray shop seemed to be out of commission when we passed by and so the trucks were being sprayed by operatives in full bio suits. I think we were all amazed at how many parts and operations were carried out to make a truck with all the alignment jigs, riveting stations, electrical wiring, hydraulic and air systems being bar coded and checked at each stage to ensure the correct part was being fitted.
Amazingly all the trucks on the line were different, large and small trucks were assembled from the parts supplied at each stage to make totally different products at the end and it all seemed to flow seamlessly.
At the end of the tour we ended up in a display area where we were able to interact with our hosts, have a coffee and view the finished products and engines and take in the whole history of the plant from the 1890’s to the present day from the story boards around the walls.
Overall we all enjoyed the visit and thanks must go to Leyland Trucks for hosting us and to the volunteers that took us round. Thanks are also due to Phil and Son for arranging it for us.
Richard