Snorkel reorganises UK production to meet demand

Snorkel has reorganised the lay-out of its production lines at the Vigo Centre in Tyne and Wear UK, in order to improve productivity.

Marc Magnus, Snorkel's global planning director, has overseen a revision of the lines to help ramp up production to meet a growing demand.

Mr Magnus said, "The reorganisation of the lay-out will ultimately give us better flow through the sub-assembly process into build, and will help with a continuous flow through test, configuration and pre-delivery inspection. This will give us better efficiency and enable us to quickly move up to required volume levels."

As part of its strategy to reduce lead times Snorkel is recruiting up to 50 people, which follows the company's large investment in its supply chain.

The new-look factory floor consists of three assembly lines with overhead cranes. Vigo Centre now has the capacity to produce all current Snorkel models apart from the big booms, which are built in Elwood in the USA.

Vigo Line 1 builds electric platforms including the MB series, A38E, S1930E/32E and the Pop-Up PUSH Pro series. Line 2 builds the TL series of towable platforms, A46JRT and A46JE, the SRT series compact rough terrain scissor lifts, the Speed Level series, the T46JRT- and will also build the forthcoming T66JRT and A62JRT. Line 3 is now entirely dedicated to test, configuration and PDI (pre-dispatch inspection).

Running parallel to the assembly lines is a new sub-assembly area. Here, all platform, engine and scissor pack sub-assembly is completed, before being delivered to the machines on the line.