A while back I had the opportunity to visit the Mini factory in Oxford. Actually it isn’t a “factory” but a “plant” in the same way it’s no longer an “engine” but an “ICE” and a “chassis” is a “platform” but I digress. Today I had the chance to visit the Morgan Motor Company factory and do a compare and contrast.
A Different Scale
If you are not familiar with Morgan cars the difference to mass-produced cars, such as the Mini, is stark. Where the Cowley plant turns out 1,000 cars every weekday Morgan produces just 800… a year.
Each and every car is lovingly hand crafted from wood, aluminium and leather and there’s not a robot in sight. It takes about a year from you putting down your deposit to actually receiving your car and it will cost you anywhere between £50K and £120K depending on the model. Morgan’s are, apparently, now the only traditional built cars anywhere worldwide and I can believe it.
I remember way back when Sir John Harvey Jones took a look at the processes at the Morgan factory for his Troubleshooter programme and making suggestions that weren’t necessarily to the liking of the family. These days Morgan is owned by an Italian VC who have invested in a way that the Morgan family couldn’t do.
The Tour
The tour really is access all areas as you are taken right through the factory to experience what it is like on the production line. We started walking around the grounds and looking at the aluminium platfoms that underpin the cars. Weighing only 120kg thsre are light weight and could be manoeuvred by two people but, of course, aren’t.
Next there was a stop at the bottom of the hill to talk about the history of the buildings – Morgan have been building cars on this site for over 100 years having started here in 1914, before we headed into the factory.
When I visited the Mini plant I was surprised at just how few people we saw but many human roles had been taken by the many robots. At Morgan’s almost everything is done by hand but there were still very few people around. This might be because it was a Friday or maybe there just aren’t that many people working there.
What I do know is that they are all highly skilled in what they do. We were shown a bonnet panel with louvered slots in it – each one perfectly in line with the next. You would think that something this precise would be done by machine but no, one worker draws a line on the panel and then passes it through a hand-operated press. When he indicates a second person brings down the press to create the slot. We wondered what happened if they made a mistake? Well the person that had spent hours lovingly creating the panel would have something to say about it!
Similarly, in the area where the ash frame is made 4mm pieces of timber are glued together and bent into shape in a hand press. The ash comes from a Morgan owned forest in Lincolnshire and for each tree felled a new sapling is planted. From felling to use takes two years and so any interruption to supply could be difficult. Given the widespread issue of ash dieback it will be interesting to see how Morgan will deal with that.
The final stop was a visit to the tiny museum with some interesting examples of cars before the inevitable exit through the gift shop and a trip to the excellent cafe for lunch.
It was an excellent way to spend a couple of hours thanks to our guide Andy who brought it to life.
