Automotive & Aerospace

Automotive and Aerospace

The automotive industry is a vital part of the UK economy and integral to the agenda for net zero targets.

With a combined £93 billion pound turnover (in 2023) and employing over 813,000 people it is a huge part of the UK economy.

Manufacturing almost 2 million vehicles requires strict processes to achieve fast build times, processes such as J.I.T (just in time) allow parts to arrive at the manufacturing line at exactly the right time.

The term “Lean” is most commonly associated with the Automotive sector, Lean principles are adopted to provide optimum build times.

The aviation or aerospace sector as it’s often known adopt the same principles and is in fact one of the most productive industries, with workers having productivity levels 2.5 times over the national average.

At Onit Direct, we are proud to support these principles with our range of material handling solutions.

Kitting: This often occurs within a supermarket area of the factory with the operation of specific parts and components being picked for the production line.

Parts are kitted into products such as our KLT’s which are manufactured to VDA standard or tote boxes. Often larger stillages are used for bulkier items such as oil pans, and heavier engine parts.

Our range of picking trolleys allow the items to be transported efficiently and safely to the line. For even greater efficiency operations may also using our towable trolleys which can be connected together to form a train, allowing more items to be transported at once.

For accurate item segregation we also offer a range of bespoke solutions such as tote boxes with divider inserts to safely protect and separate parts. Depending on the product type we offer textile or plastic dividers.

Storage: To fully utilise warehouse space, operations will often stack pallets at height, this can be achieved by using our post pallet stillages or hypacages.

Some sites may also use plastic pallet boxes which have a folding door at the front for easier access when stacked.

Application Specific Products: Due to the complexity of parts used within automotive and aerospace environments often one type of box is not suitable for all applications. Due to this we offer a wide range of plastic trays (or tote boxes as they are also known). From economy lightweight boxes to heavy duty euro stacking crates we have a box for every application. When fast access to parts is required we also offer open fronted picking bins in euro footprints, along with smaller parts bins (often referred to as Linbins).

Colour coding is also an important factor to allow easy identification of parts, our euro tote boxes are available in a wide range of colour and size options.

Tool Identification: Being able to locate tools quickly and effectively is extremely important when working on a production line, our 5S Shadow boards can be completely customised to hold specific tools. The boards have product shadows making it easy for operators to store and identify tools quickly.

Here at Onit Direct, we are very much a project driven organisation, working with our customers to not only offer “off the shelf” products but also to create bespoke solutions, tailored specifically to meet your operational requirements.

If you can’t find what you are looking for on our website, why not get in touch to book in a free site survey with one of our project managers.