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New Merriworth plant at Erith
Page 32
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• A new trailer factory which, it is said, will at least treble the productive capacity of Merriworth (Engineering) Ltd has been opened at Erith, Kent.
The address of the new plant, now Merriworth headquarters, is Eonit Works, Richmer Road, Slade Green, Erith, Kent, telephone 01-38 33441. The old works at London Road, Dartford, Kent, is still being kept in full production—concentrating on the more specialized trailers such as TIR tilts, Kangaroo road-rail "piggybacks" and canopied pallet-carriers.
In its first stage of production, the Erith factory has an assembly shop 310ft long and 65ft wide. Another similar-sized shop will be built adjacent at a later date. The whole site covers four acres.
In the assembly shop, chassis frames are fabricated from steel plate on a Philips automatic electric welder. Roller conveyors then take the chassis through the various assembly stations and then into a sealed paint-spray booth. Final assembly consists of fixing the self-contained running-gears to the chassis. The running-gears are assembled separately as independent units with their own sub-frames, suitable for fixing to any type of trailer.
Merriworth says that this production system has raised total capacity already from 50 to 120 trailers a month, and it is hoped shortly to raise production to 180 a month.