EXCEL AUTOMATION DELIVERS GREEN VEHICLES

A steel slat conveyor system engineered and built by Excel Automation, one of Britain’s leading specialists in automated manufacturing and handling systems is central to creating the efficient build programme for the very latest, most environmentally friendly, electric urban delivery vehicles taking to the streets of towns and cities in the UK.

The new vehicles produced by Modec all feature a common chassis and cab design, the vehicle variant coming by way of the rear end such as flat back, van or a SDV (special delivery vehicle). And it is the Excel production line that carries the electric vehicle through virtually every build and assembly station before the rear body section is mounted.

As bare chassis arrive at the Modec plant in Coventry they enter a pre-fix station where items that run their length are added such as cooling hoses, brake pipes and wiring harness and once complete the chassis is lifted onto the main production line.
The Excel steel slat conveyor indexes through eight work stations allowing the whole chassis build to take place, at the final station the cab is mounted and all the interior components are added prior to being moved to another section of the build programme where the heavy duty battery is mounted and locked in place. The slat conveyor bed is set 1m above the floor level allowing easy access for operatives to build onto the basic chassis frame. This also removed the need for deep pit excavations, allowing the head and tail drives to be mounted into shallow pits.
Strength is an inherent feature of the slat conveyor which is 2500mm wide and 31.5m long, and is able to support 8 body assemblies at 3000kgs each, with ample capacity for a chassis at every work station plus operators that need to walk on the conveyor to fit-out the cab.

Safety is paramount for this assembly line with the provision of chassis locks that secure it to the steel slats before any work can begin, and can only be released at the last work station. In developing the lock mechanism the Excel design team worked closely with Modec engineers so that special location sockets are an integral part of the chassis design. It simplifies the task and ensures positive lock, eliminating any possible movement of the chassis during the build programme.
At the battery station, a scissor lift is used to raise the main drive battery into the underside of the chassis. In designing this section of the process, Excel equipped the scissor lift with a floating table so that as the battery is raised, special location pins with gas struts engage with guide holes in the underside of the chassis. Again this was created through the close working relationship of the Excel and Modec engineers.

The assembly line was built at Excel Automation’s factory in Worcester, a 70,000 sq ft production area that has witnessed the build of extremely diverse projects, from production assembly lines to handling systems for warehouse and packaging applications.