The investment in new plant, software and training is said to be a strategic move to increase turnover by £10m per annum.
While continuing to design and manufacture custom trailers and bodywork, the company says the investment will allow it to produce a range of configured-to-order standard product lines within short lead times – making it more attractive, it says, to general hauliers, rental companies and pallet network operators.
At the core of the new development is an £1m automated raw material and parts management facility (pictured), called the STOPA storage and management hub, which can hold 15,795 m2 (four acres) of sheet steel.
Stock handling modules, measuring 25m long by 7m wide and 5m tall, are linked to a new ERP software system, which produces bill of material components from 3D engineering models.The system recognises whether each component needs to be cut and pressed; if not, it exports the remainder as an internal order for miscellaneous parts.It also anticipates production schedule requirements for laser cut sheeting, pressings, drilling, and shot blast, and issues orders for raw material when it believes stocks are running low. The only manual intervention is to feed it with raw material and collect job-specific assembly kits when they are ready.
New equipment includes a Trumpf ‘Fibre’ laser cutter, which the STOPA system feeds to and collects from; two Trumpf press brakes for sub-assembly work; and a Yaskawa automated welding cell for components measuring up to 3.5m by 1.7m and one tonne in weight.