Voith Industrial Services has developed further its partnership with Vauxhall by working closely with the company on its new Vivaro van being launched this week.
Voith Industrial Services, which has carried out a range of services at the Luton plant since the late 1990s, is the only major supplier to be represented on the manufacturing launch team for Vauxhall’s new Vivaro van.
Over the last seven years Voith has taken on new work for Vauxhall involving more technical and safety critical modules such as axles, struts, front corners and sub-frames.
Two years ago Voith Industrial Services, based in Warwick, helped to design and develop a new lay-out for part of the engine assembly line which it now operates on behalf of Vauxhall.
Last year Vauxhall asked Voith to join the new Vivaro launch team with a view to managing some of the manufacturing processes for the van which is a joint venture with Renault in France.
Voith engineers spent six weeks at the Sandouville manufacturing facility to understand the manufacturing processes for the new van. Since then a Voith team has been setting up the build process in Luton before ramping up the production process in the first half of this year.
With the launch of the new Vivaro, Voith Industrial Services will manage and control all incoming material for the engine dress process. Engineers will prepare engine kits, and assemble the gearbox and ancillary parts to the engine including starter motors, alternators, power take-off, pulleys, fan belts, as well as the full wiring harness.
Phil Spencer, sales and business development director for Voith Industrial Services, said, “We are increasingly developing our business into specialist technical areas of the UK automotive sector.
“We are delighted with the way our partnership with Vauxhall has grown over the years. We started with a cleaning contract, and 13 years ago installed a £1m wax booth to provide underbody protection for vehicles being exported to overseas markets.
“Since then our business with Vauxhall has grown from carrying out small sub-assembly works to assembling safety critical modules including axles, struts, front corners and sub-frames. The latest work uses our specialist expertise in more advanced technical areas.”
Spencer added, “As a partner to Vauxhall we were delighted when the Luton plant became the first in GM’s manufacturing portfolio in Europe, and the third in the world, to achieve The Built In Quality (BIQ) Level 4 honour in recognition of its world class quality control standards.”
