The facility was built within just 18 months of TVS ownership, and creates many highly-skilled jobs, and it has doubled in size and expanded the leadership team with all departments housed under one roof.
Norton Motorcycles said it is now reaching the end of a re-engineering phase of the Norton V4SV and finalising its long-term product plan.
The company said it is "proud to call it the most advanced facility in our 123-year history, transforming the way we work to produce truly remarkable and iconic motorcycles. From the showroom to the production line, every detail has been carefully considered to represent our vision for the future success of Norton".
The showroom features Norton motorcycles under spotlight surrounded by heritage bikes and prints of racing icons and famous Norton fans on the walls. Through a viewing window, you can look straight into our servicing area at the team at work, and on the righthand side you can see all the way across the production floor through our inspection light tunnel.
Across production, every specialist room in the factory is complete with viewing windows for total transparency, from the quality lab to the engine build room and through to fabrication. The only thing not visible is our new global design and R&D hub, where work on product definition, 3D CAD and visualisation for future models is ongoing.
The headquarters unites staff and this has developed a strong company culture and the Norton said the processes set up in the factory itself; complete part traceability is captured upon delivery to stores, before key components are examined with specialist equipment to monitor quality and adherence to specifications - in just six months alone, it has carried out detailed inspection on over 7,500 individual components.
Within the production area, TVS has invested significantly in modern equipment and tooling to improve the production processes for motorcycles, with every stage designed with quality and consistency in mind. In fabrication, frame tubes are inspected before being polished and then released to be welded inhouse by our expert welders.
Finally, frames are then polished by hand to give them their complete finish and shine. Norton has its own in-house non-destructive and destructive testing laboratory where it inspects and tests welding consistency and integrity.
In terms of size and scale, it can store up to 20,000 Norton motorcycles if they were stacked side by side and wheel to wheel – 26 miles of Norton. The layout itself was designed to optimise sustainability and reduce waste, creating a mostly open-plan production floor that gives substantial space for manufacturing and adding additional build stations if needed.
This flexibility allows built engines to feed directly from the engine clean room through to the assembly line where frames, suspension, fuel tanks and body work are fitted.
At the end of its journey, every bike goes through a testing cycle on the rolling road, followed by a final examination in a light tunnel and inspection area before being collected or delivered to the customer. All bikes begin and end with a quality inspection, from parts to end-of-line completion.
Norton Motorcycles CEO Robert Hentschel said: "The new headquarters is the perfect platform to re-energise our business as we lead the Norton brand to onward success. It demonstrates our unwavering commitment to the motorcycles we build, signalling that we will not compromise on quality and we will continue to ensure that our high standards are always met.
"Norton is now fit for the future, creating an innovative and sustainable business model which will see us producing world-class motorcycles that are true to the unrivalled legacy of Norton."
