Cargo: Komatsu Press.
From: Kanazawa Japan.
To: Sunderland UK.
The Nissan plant at Sunderland is renowned as being one of the most efficient manufacturing plants in Europe. Having worked with both Nissan and Komatsu before, it was only logical that the Specialist Transport Group were called in to mastermind the arrival of their latest press – made up of 534 pieces, totalling over 2.000 tons.
In theory, it all sounds simple – purely just a matter of ensuring that the right piece arrives at the right time. In practice, nothing could be further from the truth. To start with, under no circumstances, could production be disrupted at any time – each component, some of which weighed over 100tons, had to travel along a prescribed route, at a prescribed time – one which may have been set only a few hours beforehand.
Needless to say, despite some “nail biting” times, everything went smoothly – with production being maintained throughout.