03 Keele Management School News
Putting theory into context on a visit to Jaguar Land Rover
( Article written by Richard Staunton, MA International Business, and Bethany Edge, MA Management)
Last November we were very fortunate to be invited on a trip to Jaguar Land Rover in Halewood, Merseyside to see what it is like within a large-scale manufacturing organisation. It contextualised many of the theories that we had studied in our modules, such as critical management, and operations and supply management, and offered a chance to reflect on their accuracy and applicability. The trip allowed us to see what life is like for workers within a well-oiled manufacturing plant where Tayloristic methods have been combined with the Japanese kaizen approach.
Halewood Factory
Every 80 seconds a world-class bespoke vehicle rolls off the production line at the Jaguar Land Rover manufacturing plant in Halewood, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. This 300 acre site has been incredibly successful with the workforce trebling in volume since 2010. A £ 500 million investment in new infrastructure and machinery has seen production rates soar, but due to the enormous demand for these vehicles, there are still lengthy waits before customers can receive delivery of their own customised Range Rover Evoque, Evoque Convertible or Land Rover Discovery Sport.
Following on from a brief introduction to the Tata-owned company, we were taken on a tour of the factory as the basic manufacturing process and integral operations systems were explained to us. We were all fascinated by the fact that a sheet of steel can be transformed into a world-class automobile within only 48 hours. Having donned the obligatory high-visibility vests and earplugs, we were guided through several miles of the industrial process where 4,200 employees work with 800 robots, around the clock, to produce vehicles of the very highest calibre. Whilst most of us have seen pneumatic production line robots on TV, standing in the middle of the body shop, which is the size of 22 football pitches, with sparks flying all around was exhilarating and incredibly impressive. We observed almost the full production of the vehicle from steel sheets through its many stages including; moulding, cutting, assembling and painting before seeing employees jump into the new vehicles and drive them off the end of the production line and outside for a test drive; surely one of the more enviable positions on the production line. One point of interest was the multi-stage coating process whereby several layers including an‘ electrocoat’ charged with a high current are applied, ensuring perfect coverage and colour tone. Following this, the car is then baked at 180 degrees before receiving a gentle buffing from a carwash made from ostrich feathers!
It might have been easy to wonder exactly what Theresa May meant when she suggested creating a‘ Northern Powerhouse’ and a‘ Midlands Engine’, but a tour around Jaguar Land Rover quickly revealed the potential we have in this part of the country to combine technological expertise, organisational prowess and skilled labour to put together undeniably beautiful and competitively priced machines / automobiles which are desired around the globe. 2,200 employees have completed their apprenticeships at the site in the last 5 years and it is invigorating to imagine that this kind of progress and expansion could be the story of the region in the future.
This trip was invaluable in contributing to our understanding of complex industrial organisations and their multifaceted operations, and was useful in contextualising our existing knowledge, something which we are now able to draw upon within our assignments. The trip was thoroughly enjoyable from a non-academic perspective as few of us had been inside a factory before, certainly not one on the same scale, so it was a great opportunity for us to observe this type of work environment for the first time. The trip was also useful in a team building sense as we were all doing something together as a large group and we got to know more about each other, including the lecturers.
Halewood Factory visit