Based in Coventry, Electric motorcycle manufacturer Maeving is committed to redefining urban travel by creating beautiful, practical, and sustainable electric motorcycles.
To support their rapid expansion, they recently moved to a larger 50,000 sqft site in Coventry where they could upscale their assembly and testing facilities. This would involve streamlining and enhancing the existing assembly process to increase throughput capacity and minimise the manual lifting requirement.
Working closely with Maeving to understand their assembly requirements, L-A-C Logistics Automation designed and installed a fixed length of roller conveyor to act as a solid base on which to fix the motorcycle frames. Each motorcycle frame moves easily and safely along the conveyor sections as they complete the assembly phase.
Maeving’s Head of Production Liam Moriarty commented, “Moving each motorcycle from cell to cell was proving to be very time-consuming. Prior to the L-A-C install it took us an extra four minutes per cell, per bike. When you add that up over the day, weeks, months of what we’re producing, it gives us another 52 or 53 bikes per year, which is an extra turnover of about £450,000.”
Maeving is based at Coventry in the heart of the Midlands, which has a long heritage in motorcycle design and engineering. Having moved to larger premises, the enhanced footprint provided the opportunity to streamline the process of motorcycle assembly with a focus on health and safety. L-A-C Logistics Automation worked in conjunction with Maeving to fully understand the assembly process and how improvements could be made through the integration of conveyors and semi-automated elements.
The unique nature of the highly skilled, manual assembly process meant the conveyor design would need to be bespoke and incorporate several health and safety features, allowing for one smooth assembly process throughout each of the defined stages before the motorcycle would be complete and ready for testing.
L-A-C designed and installed a fixed length of roller conveyor which included three sections of integrated platens or slave boards – a flat sheet of aluminium – to provide a solid base on which to fix the motorcycle frame in order to easily and safely assemble the various components required for each model.
Using an overhead hangman lift to initially place the motorcycle onto the first section of conveyor, the frame is securely fixed with its tyres held in place by red steel jigs. Additionally, the yellow steel uprights hold the frame adjacent to the foot pedals to provide further stability. The roller conveyor sections provide easy and smooth progression of the motorcycle frame from one assembly zone to the next with no need to lift the frame manually.
Underneath the length of gravity roller conveyor there are three lift sections with a foot switch to operate the lift. This enables the motorcycle to be lifted so the assembly personnel can work on the motorcycle frame at a raised height with no manual handling required which also eliminates the potential for physical injury. Additionally, the lift enables the frame to be turned 180 or 360 degrees, which streamlines the assembly process as personnel no longer have to walk around the full conveyor structure to work on the opposite side of the motorcycle.
At the end of the full assembly process, the motorcycle is unfastened from the holding jig and rolled off the final conveyor section via a ramp ready for internal road testing to ensure all components are fitted and working perfectly.
The L.A.C. design has provided Maeving with a highly effective automated conveyor line that offers numerous operational efficiency benefits including increased throughput and integrated lift, rotation, and brake capabilities to enhance a seamless and safe process for their motorcycle assembly.
Seb Inglis-Jones, Co-founder of Maeving concluded, “We were right to work with L-A-C as the design process and installation have been seamless. The new facility has given us the opportunity to expand our growth over six times, and our intention is to work with L-A-C to achieve that.”
L-A-C Logistics Automation
t: 0115 975 3300
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