News & Resources

New Ricardo engine assembly facility in Shoreham commences pilot production

15 Feb 2011

Ricardo has announced that production has started at the brand new state-of-the-art, high performance engine assembly facility that it has been constructed at the company’s Shoreham Technical Centre.

The new Ricardo engine assembly facility has been designed to provide a near clean room production environment in which each and every process is carried out according to strict quality principles and within a comprehensive ‘no faults forward’ culture. This facility builds upon the established portfolio of the Ricardo Performance Products group which includes the advanced Ricardo-designed transmissions for the iconic Ford GT and the Bugatti Veyron supercar, as well as numerous driveline systems and components for the highest levels of competitive motorsport.

At the core of the new 600 square meter building is a ten station vertical conveyor based mini-line supported by incoming materials inspection and line-side delivery of components. Each station is equipped with a sophisticated ‘human-machine interface’ (HMI) providing guidance to each operator on the precise sequence of operations required at each stage. The tools and assembly equipment used at each station are instrumented and provide data – down to the level of the torque applied to each fastener – directly into a central warranty database for each engine built, and hence provide complete finished product traceability. Each line station is interlocked via its HMI to ensure that all operations and checks have been successfully completed and recorded before the line can be indexed and the engine moved forward to the next station. In addition to the main production line, the new engine assembly facility includes a cylinder head sub-assembly line, dress area and an end of line hot test cell so that the performance of every engine produced can be fully tested and validated.

When fully commissioned in the late spring of this year, the new high quality assembly centre will be capable of producing up to 4,000 engines annually across two daily shifts.  The facility has been designed and configured around the requirements of its lead customer, McLaren Automotive, for whom it will act as the production supplier of the all-new McLaren M838T 90 degree, V8 twin-turbo engine. The high-performance (600 PS), low emissions (279g/km CO2) engine has been designed and developed by McLaren Automotive in partnership with Ricardo, and will power the McLaren MP4-12C high-performance sports car that is due to go on sale from May 2011. With pilot production of engines commenced and initial deliveries already taking place, commissioning of the new Ricardo engine assembly facility will be continued over the next two months as production volumes are ramped up.

This entry was posted in News & Resources. Bookmark the permalink. Post a comment or leave a trackback: Trackback URL.