Phan Thong

We took some time out to visit the three Thailand Triumph factories about an hour and a half outside of Bangkok. It was amazing to see where the majority of Triumph motorbikes are built along with manufacturing of key motorcycle components, little of which unfortunately now remains in the UK.

The three factories are split by manufacture (injection moulding, casting, pressing, bending etc.), fabrication (main chassis) and assembly lines. Not only are the factories huge but the scale of some of the machinery is too. Crankcases and cylinder heads are cast in steel tools weighing 8 tonnes costing over £1,000,000 each. Each tool is loaded into machines the size of a small office block all to produce a component that can be held with two hands.

Just before flying out Dan finished a small project that should have started manufacture about now. Dan explained this to an old colleague he used to work with who was kind enough to walk us around and funnily enough soon into the tour we actually saw the part in question being made (which is great as all must be going to plan, Dan mentioned). It was really nice seeing a part Dan was directly involved with (a set of stainless steel fuel tank protection crash bars) actually being manufactured by a small team of workers in a small production run. Also great to see the part on a checking fixture so Dan thought he'd go and have a look. He spotted the part wasn’t quite manufactured correctly to the engineering drawing requirement in one area but then spotted NG (no-good) stamped into the side. This confirms the part wasn't quite right and that it had been rejected correctly - good to see high standards of quality control first hand. Dan had to resist the urge to chat to the production staff, explaining he designed the part they were actually making so instead we walked past like any other individual of which they never knew. Dan could talk all day about the experience but will save that for another time. In short it was amazing to see and we're both so glad we had the opportunity for a private tour. Bonus that Jess enjoyed it too.Read more