Looking for an answer to their injury worries when moving heavy baggage trailers through the workshop, the Motor Transport team at Manchester Airport Group needed a material handling solution that was simple and durable.
The Motor Transport team at Manchester Airport Group keep one of the UK's busiest airports moving. Responsible for the routine and reactive maintenance of every vehicle on site, from ground power units to baggage trailers, the team works around the clock to keep operations running safely and on time.
But for all the complexity of what they maintain, the process for getting equipment into the workshop was entirely manual. Towed and trailed equipment, including heavy baggage trailers, was moved from the yard into the workshop by hand, pure manual force. Head of Motor Transport, Kevin Hainey, explained that they "were looking for something which removed the manual handling element, particularly with the heavier trailers".
It took a minimum of three people to push a single trailer into the workshop. For a busy maintenance team, this pulled resource away from skilled work, burning through time and, most importantly, putting staff at risk of musculoskeletal injury every time a trailer needed to move.
Our material handling experts visited the Motor Transport workshop. These are not generic spaces; the layout, floor conditions, turning radii between bays, weight and hitch configuration all vary, impacting the effectiveness of a solution. Understanding what's happening on the ground is the only way to specify something that will work reliably.
After assessing the site's requirements, our team recommended the TOW300; a compact, highly manoeuvravble electric tow tug built to handle heavy, cumbersome loads in tight spaces. A trial unit was provided so that the Motor Transport team could get some hands-on experience with the machine before any commitment was made. The hitch was also custom-designed and configured specifically for the trailers used on site.
The response from Manchester Airport Group was immediate. From the moment the TOW300 arrived on site, it was clear the machine had won the team over.
The TOW300's combination of compact dimensions and genuine towing power proved to be the right fit. It could handle the weight of the heavier trailers, navigate the workshop environment with ease, and do it all with just one operator.
The primary goal had always been to remove the manual handling risk associated with moving the heavy trailers and cut the risk of incidents due to repetitive strain and awkward posture. The TOW300 delivered exactly that; eliminating the need for any manual pushing and, with it, the risk of musculoskeletal injury. Since the machine has been introduced, the team have had zero incidents and seen a 100% reduction in LTIs (lost time incidents).
"From a managers' point of view, it makes it a success for me because I can sleep easy at night knowing I'm not going to walk in to somebody being injured."
What used to require three technicians is now a one-person, one-machine job. That's a productivity improvement of 200%, and a fundamental shift in how the team works. Skilled technicians are freed up to focus on maintenance rather than manoeuvring, so workshop throughput increases and the team can run leaner without injury risk.
Perhaps the clearest sign that a solution is working is when other teams start asking for their own version. The TOW300 was initially deployed in the fabrication workshop and word spread quickly to other departments; having tested the Motor Transport team's electric tug, the main workshop is now looking into getting the own machine.
After months of operation, the verdict from the team is that MasterMover has proven itself.
For the Motor Transport team at Manchester Airport Group, the switch to electric tug movement on the surface is a simple fix to an operational challenge that translates into a major shift in safety and productivity. Explore how our electric tugs have helped other airports and aerospace MRO businesses overcome operational blockers.