Testing £7.8million
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LEYLAND Vehicles opened its new £7.8 million diesel engine test facility claimed to be the most modern of its type in the world this week.
The facility is the first part of an investment programme totalling £135 million which will culminate at the end of a five year period with the doubling of the heavy vehicle building capacity at Leyland.
It comprises 56 engine test beds making extensive use of computerisation and automation to record the performance standards of individual production diesel engines.
During the test procedure the computer scans existing data to ensure that no safety parameter is exceeded. In the event of a malfunction due to low oil pressure, high water temperatures, etc, the engine is automatically shut down.
Normally the operator can select an automatic mode so that the computer runs the engine to achieve predetermined set points for speed, load, water and oil temperatures.
As the points are reached records are taken and compared automatically with performances specified. With the new facility Leyland expects to be able to deal with up to 750 engines a week ensuring they conform to BSAU341a for power, smoke and fuel consumptions at its rated specification over a range of engine speeds.
Other major projects include a £32 million vehicle assembly hall and a £34 million engineering centre and test track both at Leyland together with a £17 million expansion of the Parts Division operation at Chorley.