Leyland weight loss?
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• Leyland Daf's Lancashire truck assembly plant seems likely to lose heavy truck production in the future judging by the latest comments from chief executive George Simpson. Speaking in Scotland last week at the official re-opening of Leyland Dal's Albion axle plant, which has undergone a twoyear £9 million modernisation programme, Simpson reported that "it is becoming more likely that Daf BV (Leyland Dafs parent company) will designate production at its vehicle plants on a weight basis."
This could mean the Leyland assembly hall building trucks up to 16 tonnes GVW, both in left and right-hand-drive form, while the Eindhoven plant in Holland would concentrate on all heavier models.
If the move goes ahead it would represent a major change of attitude by the company. When Daf and Leyland Trucks merged earlier this year, suggestions that Eindhoven would build all heavy trucks were quickly dismissed. Since then, however, the decision has been taken not to build the right-hand-drive 95 Series at Leyland, but at Eindhoven.
Production at the Leyland assembly plant is currently running at record levels — up from 8,500 vehicles per annum last year to the present rate of 14,000 trucks a year.
According to Simpson the improvement is "good news for Albion, since the vast majority of those trucks, many of which are exported to mainland Europe, use Albion-produced axles. I believe there is a real opportunity for everyone to share in the brighter future." Simpson, however, warned that Leyland Dal's recent success could not amount to a guarantee of security.
Since the start of the investment programme at Albion (announced at the 1985 Scottish Show) some £7 million has been spent on 24 new machine tools at the Glasgow factory. These are predominantly computer numerically-controlled (CNC) units, and include a fully-automated machining cell, comprising three linked machines served by a guided vehicle, all under the control of a single computer.
Despite the acquisition of a former steel warehouse, the actual floor area at Albion has been reduced from 75, ()()()2 to under 44,000m2. The plant now has 600 tools compared to the original 1,250.
These changes have helped to cut production costs by £1 million annually, while production capacity of 40,000 axles far outstrips demand, which reached 27,000 front and rear assemblies over the last year.
Some 98% of the plant's production of 12-axle families is taken up within the Leyland Daf group, but reorganisation of the Leyland Daf chassis plants could increase demand.