Triumph issued the following press release yesterday — detailing its efforts to repair its production facility damaged in a fire last month. Triumph explains that the Bonneville and Speed Four are in relatively short supply, and that other models may be in relatively short supply before production resumes. Fortunately, new model development will proceed at least as quickly (and perhaps, faster) as before the fire. Here is the official Triumph release.
NEWNAN, GA.- April 16, 2002 – Triumph Motorcycles (America) Ltd., released that construction starts today on rebuilding production areas which were affected by the recent fire at Triumph Motorcycles in Hinckley. Triumph Motorcycles Limited Managing Director, Karl Wharton has announced plans for a rebuilding program which will enable new Triumph motorcycles to be rolling off the assembly line by the start of September, 2002.
Triumph will be working around-the-clock to rebuild the factory on Jacknell Road to create the most advanced motorcycle assembly line in the world.
Triumph has been able to react and commence reconstruction so quickly due to the prompt and supportive response from their insurers, led by the Zurich and with co-insurers Royal Sun Alliance, GroupAMA and Allianz-Cornhill. Working together, Triumph and their insurers have been able to plan and agree to a speedy recovery plan for the company, as set out below, to minimize disruption to Triumph’s business and customer support.
To enable construction to start quickly, Triumph has appointed the same firms of architects, structural engineers and project management team who were responsible for the original building. “Their previous experience and knowledge of the site will support Triumph’s goal of producing new motorcycles in Hinckley at the start of September,” says Karl Wharton.
Key stages in the reconstruction are:
– Demolition of the damaged area will be complete within the next seven days
– Steel work order has already been placed
– The rebuilding of the factory is planned to be complete within 14 weeks from today
To enable production to start in September, 2002 all processes need to be back on line concurrently, so a number of production processes and machinery are being relocated to other areas within Triumph’s manufacturing facilities.
This means machinery which was only affected by smoke, as well as new equipment which is being installed as required, can be commissioned prior to completion of the rebuilding works.
Meanwhile, Triumph is maximizing resources at their three additional sites in Hinckley to build up components ready for the new assembly line, and to ensure a continuous supply of spare parts to Triumph dealers worldwide.
Design and development facilities are unaffected and continue to operate as usual on Jacknell Road. The assembly line paint shop is expected to be back on line by the end of April.
Spare parts, accessories and clothing distribution operations are unaffected and supplying stock as usual. For some years, due to Triumph’s paint shop being mainly used to meet production requirements, spare parts have been predominantly painted at an outside facility.
In addition, the company has rented an additional building at Magna Park in Lutterworth as a temporary store. The unit, which is fully computerized and linked to the main Triumph systems, will receive all deliveries of production stock until new warehousing facilities are rebuilt on Jacknell Road. “This will enable us to receive all parts deliveries that were scheduled for the next few months without interruption, thus building up the stock needed for production to recommence starting September,” adds Karl Wharton.
Triumph, who manufactures more than 33,000 motorcycles in Britain a year, supplies bikes, parts and accessories to over 25 different countries, including those in western Europe, the United States of America, Canada, Japan, Australia, New Zealand, Kuwait, United Arab Emirates and several markets in Latin America.
Said Karl Wharton: “Triumph, which dates back to 1902, is one of the oldest and most recognized names in motorcycling. Many famous models have been built in the last 100 years and Triumph plans to continue to produce more great motorcycles when production is up and running again at Hinckley at the start of September, 2002.”
