| Case Study: Identification of motorcycle parts |
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Following a fire in 2002, Hinkley based Triumph Motorcycles took the opportunity to redesign and rebuild its production operations. Nothing escaped the company's close scrutiny, even the apparently incidental task of labeling a bike. The 2002 fire that razed the Triumph Motorcycles factory was, as it turned out, a blessing in a very convincing disguise, although few but the most optimistic realised it at the time. It took vision and determination for management at the company to see beyond the devastation and realise that they hadn't been dealt a killer blow, but the opportunity they needed to rebuild the organisation from the ground up. Bob Elliot was a Triumph production engineer when fire struck. "Despite the destruction, our aim was to get back into production by September of the same year," he says, "just 6 months after production had been completely halted. We saw it as an ideal opportunity to take a good, hard look at how we did things at the time." Including how the company met the legal requirement for labeling various parts of every motorcycle it builds. "Every vehicle has to have a label detailing its unique VIN (vehicle identification number)," says Elliot. "In the UK, the VIN label is a thin metal tag attached to the frame. In the US, the label is a tamper proof, sticky plastic label." The labeling and VIN number was originally done using a laser printing system. Each label cost £2. Not much in relative terms, but when you consider that at the time the company needed to produce more than 20,000 labels a year. "We spoke to 3M about how we were producing the labels and they brought in Tungate, a Staffordshire based industrial labeling company, as an integrator." On the advice of Tungate, Triumph looked at two different makes of marking systems, including various solutions from the UK offices of industrial marking specialist Technifor. "Our criteria for the new labeling system was that it should be fully configurable and user friendly," says Elliot. "In fact, this applies to everything the company uses on the factory floor. The floor layout changes constantly, so very piece of equipment has to be easily configured for different models of bike." In the past, an automotive company would have a separate line for each model of vehicle. At Triumph, like many other companies, all models are assembled on the same line, meaning that every piece of equipment has to have versatility built in. "Each motorcycle is assembled according to a build card. If the vehicle is destined for Europe, the card tells the operator to produce a metal VIN label. If the bike is destined for the USA, a tamper-proof plastic label is produced using a printer." The production line technician scans a barcode on the build card, which enters the information on an adjacent computer. If it's a European bike, the operator places a metal label in a locating fixture and a pneumatic Technifor percussion-marking unit punches out the unique code on the plate. "The VIN plate contains a variety of information, besides the bikes unique identification number. The printing system needs to be quick and reliable, which is why we chose a pneumatic system from Technifor." Security On a custom designed, weighted and cantilevered arm hanging above the production line is another Technifor percussion-marking system, this time an electromagnetic unit, which for each different type of frame, the operator can swing into position just above the headstock surface. As the first Technifor unit prints the label, this movable Technifor unit stamps a copy of the number on the headstock whilst the line-technicians continue working. "Whatever its destination, all bikes must also have a copy of the VIN number stamped on the headstock, where the forks join the frame." As any biker - or insurance company - will tell you, motorcycles are relatively easy to steal. If a bike is stolen, the VIN number is usually erased and overwritten by the thief, in an attempt to cover-up the origins and the true identity of the bike. "We wanted a percussion type marking, dot matrix system for additional security," says Elliot. "If someone tries to mechanically erase the number, the original number can still be seen with x-ray. If the number is engraved on, simply filing it off will usually remove all traces." Off-line Adjacent to the production line are two custom-housed Technifor marking systems used to mark engine numbers on upper crankcases. Each upper crankcase component is marked individually before being fed into the line. The operator loads the part onto a pallet and slides it into an enclosed area where a movable Technifor percussion-marking unit automatically tilts and rotates to the correct angle for that particular component. "The system we used before was DOS based and was too complicated and inflexible," says Elliot. "Technifor Sales manager Peter McCullough came to see us and showed us how we could simplify things. The Technifor system we bought is Windows based and is much more configurable. For the ultimate in versatility, we even have a handheld, mobile Technifor marking unit."
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