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From the Drawing pg v ag
Page 44
Page 45
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By way of a change from research topics, the Engineering Edi this week turns his attention to service back-up for new ranges, a examines Fiat's mobile service training unit.
BITTER EXPERIENCE has proved time and again that it is simply no use designing a new vehicle range without the necessary service back-up. This has been the cause of many manufacturers' failures in the past.
By way of a change from research subjects, I am looking this week at the new Fiat mobile training school which is on tour in the UK at the moment. In the past, much of the Fiat distributor/operator training programme has taken place in Turin, but experience has shown that many people going on such an exercise abroad tend to think of it as a holiday. Like Ma homet and the mountain, the service training is now coming to the people.
The "office" was constructed by Italian bodybuilders Carozzeria Autodromo Modena on an Orlandi step-frame trailer. When folded up for travelling the trailer is to the standard maximum width of 2.5m (8ft 21/2in) but, when assembled as a training school, it opens out to no less than 6.6m (21ft 6in), giving a total floor area of 55sqm (600sqft).
The trailer is pulled by a Fiat (surprise!) 190/35 tractive unit, which is rather gilding the lily as far as performance is concerned, because the complete outfit including all the tools and components grosses only 30 tonnes. The excuse for this technical luxury is that the twoman crew (instructor and driver) have a tight schedule and so need to have a good across-theroad performance. Now there's a novel excuse!
The first stop for the training unit was at Fiat's office at Acton, where two courses of one week's duration were held on the recently introduced Daily range. Fiat intends to run these courses only when a new model range is introduced into a particular country rather than on a regular basis. New "range'' does not mean just a complete vehicle. Previous courses have included service training for the big V8 engine on its own.
Following .coures at Motec premises at High Ercall, Shropshire and Livinstone, Scotland, the outfit is scheduled to visit_ the Republic of Ireland before continuing its -European tour'' with visits to Scandinavian countries.
The complete outfit — including tractive unit and equipment — cost over £140,000 to put on the road and first went into service in April of last year. A second is due to be completed by June, when it is scheduled to spend two years in the Persian Gulf
Construction
The Orlandi semi-trailer is a 12.2m (40ft) step-frame design with a widespread tandem bogie having a steered (not selftracking) rear axle. The roof and floor extensions are hinged at each side together with vertical sections to box in the training area. Both sidewalls have windows and all the extension components are operated by hydraulic rams.
An electro-hydraulic power pack serves the rams and, although it is intended for all the equipment to be powered by connecting to the mains, the unit can operate independently by means of a 15kVA alternator driven by a Slanzi three-cylinder air-cooled diesel engine mounted on the 190. Complete with this auxiliary generator, the tractive unit weighs in at 8.17 tonnes (8 tons 1 cwt), While the trailer and all fittings weigh 21.8 tonnes (21 tons 10 cwt).
Specially designed wheel units can be locked into the component stands to permit easy manoeuvring and, for resiting heavier pieces of equipment and loading engines into the vehicle, there is an electric hoist with a 1,600kg (32 cwt) swl. This runs in channels which run down the centre for the full width of the body.
The interior can be heated through floor vents linked to a pair of Webasto heaters while, for the other extremes of temperature, four Delchi airconditioning units are provided.
A permanent wall-rack houses tools which are likely to be needed for many vehicles in the Fiat range, while movable stands contain the specialist tools required for the particular model of the course (the Daily in this case). These mobile stands can be moved from the travelling positions courtesy of the overhead crane and locked into position in the teaching area.
Fiat tries to keep the size of the classes down to about 12 people, although the unit can cope with larger groups if necessary. In Norway last November, for example, 23 people were squeezed in.
The usual arrangement is to have one person from each dealer attending the service course, which is paid for by Fiat, with each individual being responsible for his own accommo, dation.
Bearing in mind the success of the mobile unit to date and Fiat's comments regarding personal attitudes towards training courses held in Italy, I wonder if the idea will be used more frequently in the future?