The proposed arrival in Kent of Brompton, one of the world’s best known consumer brands, has the potential to be a game changer for engineering in the county, increasing opportunities for future job creation.
Ahead of planning approval, the company has worked closely with EKC Group to discuss ways it can contribute to skills development in the region, including apprenticeships, on the job training and establishing relationships with local colleges.
Brompton has pledged to build skills and new high-quality job opportunities in the county, including:
- engineering and manufacturing
- research and development
- purchasing
- sales and logistics.
EKC Group has been working in close collaboration with Brompton to ensure they can access employees with the skills they need to grow and flourish. Investment has included an expanded engineering provision at Ashford College to train Brompton’s future workforce.
The BROM-BOT project is a key part of building a long -term relationship, and a great example of industry and further education providers working together in collaboration for a common goal. This case study gives some insight in how EKC Group can help businesses to overcome any manufacturing challenges they face.
Brompton secured funding from Innovate UK to optimise bicycle production at Greenford through the development and demonstration of industrial grade robotic and automation solutions. This resulted in the launch of the BROM-BOT project.
BROM-BOT, has involved creating a ‘Robot Sandpit/Playground’ at the existing Brompton factory in Greenford and leveraging our robotic learning factory in Canterbury to test integration across several operations in areas such as body shop, paint and assembly.
The immediate goal has been to identify operations and upskill their current workforce with the potential to significantly enhance productivity, quality, scale, safety and sustainability.
The challenge:
To test the viability of integrating robot manufacturing across 10 identified operations to optimise bicycle production, with a goal to streamline operations and upskill Brompton’s current workforce. There is also great potential to significantly enhance productivity, quality, scale, safety, and sustainability.
The solution:
The BROM-BOT project has leveraged EKC Group’s robotic learning factory to provide a ‘robot playground’ to demonstrate industrially ready robotic and automation solutions at pilot scale, with a view to fully deploying this in Brompton’s factory in the future.
Collaboration wins:
- This project has allowed Brompton to de-risk the rollout of new production solutions
- EKC students have had the opportunity to view an assembly demonstration at the Brompton Factory in Greenford and to take part in problem-solving challenges set by the Brompton engineering team
Got a manufacturing challenge to solve? Get in touch.