Trelleborg Automotive

Source: Manufacturing Digital

Date :01/06/2007 09:03:59

FOR SOME THINGS, 100 YEAR-OLD MACHINERY STILL WORKS BEST…

n 1999, when Alan Fleming, 40, joined the goods inward department at BTR Automotive, Coventry, as it then was, he’d been running pubs for years and had little experience of manufacturing. Now, as he says, “the buck stops with me”. He went from goods inward to IT system support, on to production planning and then on to his current role as Logistics and Supply Chain Co-ordinator

Written by Alison Withers & Produced by Sean Quantrill

Within three years of his arrival, the former Dunlop plant was to go through another incarnation, when in 2002, it was sold by its owner Invensys, to the automotive arm of the global Swedish company Trelleborg and its name changed to Trelleborg Automotive, Coventry

Alan says: “There were 14 staff in the Logistics deparment. Due to restructuring within the plant we are down to four It’s been eye-opening.” Streamlining and IT systems have made significant changes in recent years to the company, which specialises in anti-vibration systems for the motor trade and has been on the Dunlop site for around 100 years.

A mix of old and new

However, it hasn’t all been about modernisation and automation since he joined. Two years before the latest take-over the company had installed an MRP (Materials Replacement Planning). The new owners decided not to invest in another but to update the current system, although it means that it’s a little old fashioned compared with the systems other companies are used to. Consequently the company’s EDI (Electronic Digital Interface), which receives weekly schedules of their requirements from clients like Volvo and Scania, is integrated with the MRP and orders are are checked for errors manually.

Says Alan: “Trelleborg as a whole found it easier to have people learn on the job. People recruited from outside didn’t last long because the system we use is a bit of a culture shock! With any computer system it’s only as good as the information put into it and it’s been refined so it’s a lot better than it used to be.”

However, in some departments the company has had Kaizen and Six Sigma systems in place for many years and uses the Kanban system for moving around parts inside the company and apart from the MRS system. He says: “The amount of capital spending that’s gone on to better our processes and automate them has been astronomical.”

The company has five different manufacturing areas, three of which, air assembly, ECAS (Electronic Controlled Air Suspension) and Micromon (making polyurethane suspension parts) using Kaizen and Six Sigma techniques.

Inevitably the use of IT and automation in production has cut back the workforce from 200 when Alan first started to 56 on the shop floor, but the executive structure has remained the same, apart from one member who moved on. His replacement was recruited internally, which had a knock-on effect for other staff within the company.

Two electrical engineering apprentices are currently near to finishing their apprenticeships and currently the company has not taken on any more. However, it is very involved in the schools’ work experience programme and regularly has several students in for their two weeks’ work experience, when they are involved in all aspects of the business, except in areas where H & S (Health and Safety) would make it impossible. It has led to at least one school leaver joining the company later.

In 2003 the Range Rover model was replaced by the Freelander with no warning at all stopped ordering the air suspension systems the company had supplied, preferring instead to install a differnt version. Alan says: “No-one had foreseen it happening and there was no warning.” It meant revenue dropped from £25 million to £14 million, but that’s as low as the company is prepared to go and now it’s increasingly looking to drive its revenue upwards again.

One practice that will be a significant help towards this aim is that the company practises continuous system auditing and holds three SGS accreditations for the purpose. It means the company has been able to hold on to its highly coveted Ford Q1 quality approval – the “gold standard” of the automotive industry and a priceless assurance to potential customers. Its ISO and OHSAS standards enhance the Ford Q1 quality standard, which, says Alan “is difficult to achieve and to keep.”

The future’s innovative and quality standards remain high

The company’s location is a positive asset, within reach of a number of car manufacturers and close to Birmingham airport. Existing customers include Volvo, Ford, the American GM (General Motors) Hummer and Dennis & Isuzu.

Trelleborg Coventry invests heavily in R & D and has some exciting new products in the pipeline. It has long supplied the air suspension system for the GM Hummer and has now designed a new, smaller ASU (Air Suspension Unit) to be fitted to the new Hummer model due out next year.

Also in the final stages of development is a new air over strut suspension system, which is in the final stages of trials. This will replace the spring in shock absorbers with an airbag, giving vehicles the advantage of dropping their suspension when stationary to allow easier access.

The aim is to produce kits that can be fitted to existing vehicles, such as cars used by the disabled, buses, ambulances, vehicles where dropping suspension would be an advantage.

R & D is also working on a variety of diaphragms made out of more robust materials like chloroprene and neoprene and Kevlar instead of the more traditional but less long-lasting rubber.

Currently the Trelleborg Group has 8 units across the UK. Two of them will be closed and their operations merged into existing units later this year.

The Kaizen method is soon to be rolled out in Coventry’s 16 Machine shop. The shop had not been making a profit and while some of its 50-tonne presses are over 100 years old, because of the fine precision required in manufacture of some parts from steel and aluminium pre-plates, there is still no better method for doing it. Before they go ahead with the Kaizen system, however, they have invited Cranfield University to streamline the systems for getting the machine shop into the process flow.

By the end of June, Alan also hopes to complete the integration of the EDI and MRP systems into an all-internet-based system, for four of the company’s main customers. For the time being, the focus is on R & D, continuous improvement and streamlining, therefore, rather than on significant changes to staffing structures and systems.