Background

Allett Mowers, a British-owned company based in Stafford, has been designing and manufacturing walk-behind cylinder lawn mowers for over 50 years. Allett’s customer base ranges from professional groundsmen producing sports surfaces in any weather for athletes; to palace Head-Gardeners; to homeowners. In April 2019, Allett won the Queen's Award for Enterprise: International Trade 2019 in recognition of its growth in exports and contribution to the British economy.

Challenge

Traditionally, Allett has manufactured wired and petrol lawnmowers that are bespoke for each customer. Understanding growing customer needs, Allett was aiming to manufacture a high volume of electric lawnmowers that were easier to produce in large numbers. The challenge was that they did not have the production capacity and manufacturing processes in place to mass-produce a new electric lawnmower.

The company created the first prototype of their new electric lawnmower and were already looking to develop prototype two. However, Allett knew that down the line they would need a more speedy and efficient production layout and process, as well as key manufacturing and engineering skills relating to it. They needed new ways to record cycle times of production and produce a standard operating sheet.

Solution

Allett came to WMG knowing they had the required expertise in manufacturing processes and efficiency. In discussions with the WMG SME Group they collaborated in various activities to streamline processes, make sure tools were correct, foster a culture change from one manufacturing method to another, and support a new supply chain.

Gary Loughran and Richard Savidge, Innovation Managers at WMG, provided insights into where Allett could quickly implement change. Richard and Gary were able to provide a fresh pair of eyes to the factory and were able to assist Allett in optimising processing, process equipment, layout, and flow to eventually produce these new electric lawn mowers at a high volume.

In addition to factory mapping, the WMG SME Group recommended the WMG Internship Programme and helped recruit and supervise an intern who could take on the role of launch engineer for Allett. Over 12 weeks the intern, Alexander Picton, a mechanical engineering student from Coventry University, ensured the product design process met the function, performance, safety, and quality requirements. This also fed into the optimisation of manufacturing quality and process performance needs.

Alexander was able to be the interface between production, quality, and engineering. The steps they took were to understand the current production process, identify potential failure modes, provide layout recommendations and finally, scope implementation for future opportunities.

Impact

• During the design, Alexander and the team at Allett were able to iron out more than 100 potentially problematic design challenges to create the best new prototype.
• Thanks to the work completed around the first prototype, the second edition will be made quicker and more improved than the last, making its route to market quicker.
• Supported the optimisation of process, layout, and workstation development, which successfully improved speed and quality of production.
• Allett received key support from the intern, WMG experts, and access to the WMG state-of-the-art technology that they wouldn’t have got anywhere else. They are aiming to launch their new electric lawnmower in the near future.

Alexander Picton, WMG Intern, commented: “Working in collaboration with Allett has been a fantastic way for me to develop the skills I have learnt during university. Allett was a welcoming and dynamic team who are stepping into the future of lawnmowing without compromising on their years of built-up lawnmower experience. We can’t wait to see the finished product.”

Austin Jarrett, Director at Allett Mowers, added: “Working with WMG was just the support we needed, without the team and the internship programme we would have struggled to prepare for our next line of products. Alexander was a great addition to our team, and we are looking forward to presenting the final product in the near future”.

For more information on working with us, please email wmgsme@warwick.ac.uk.