Tugs free up labour on floo

Following the purchase of two pedestrian operated tugs, a manufacturer of road sweepers has reduced manufacturing waiting times across two of its UK factories.

The move has also improved production flows and labour efficiencies, as well as eliminating the risk of accidents and injuries to employees. The tugs are said to have played a key role in supporting the introduction of new Lean Manufacturing and Continuous Improvement principles across the two manufacturing plants.

Johnston Sweepers, a manufacturer of outdoor surface cleansing equipment, invested in two MasterMover MT5 tugs to move a special purpose trolley.

Tim Royle, production services co-ordinator at Dorking says: "The factory is relatively small and space is tight. Part of the manufacturing process here is to fettle the sweeper body and then apply bitumen to the water tank, which is situated on the underside of the sweeper body. To do this, we designed a special purpose trolley that sits on castor wheels. This enables a complete sweeper body to sit in a cradle arrangement. The body weighs in excess of one tonne, but the trolley-cradle system allows us to move the body between processes and to fettle and bitumen the body before it is painted." Prior to buying the tugs, between two and four people were required to move the trolley. This meant one person would have to interrupt other people from doing their job in order to help move the trolley.

The MT5 can pull, push and steer wheeled loads up to 4,000kg.