StyleRide, a seating system manufacturer for coaches, buses, and RVs, has opened a new manufacturing center at Arcadia Ridge in Brisbane, Australia.
The new manufacturing center will be located at 29-41 Lysaght Street, Acacia Ridge. It will also allow them to implement its 5S manufacturing principles to maximize efficiencies. The company recently held a grand opening celebration last May 31, inviting guests from the industry to visit and tour the new facility.
StyleRide will have an easier time monitoring product workflow since fabrication, production, warehousing, final assembly, and quality control are now operating under one facility, according to a report.
It also means the company can focus on customer demand for current and new products while maintaining high-quality product standards. The new center will also have dedicated vehicle installation areas, addressing customer demand for installation, fit-outs, and projects.
Over the year, the company has expanded to multiple locations working through the challenges of coordinating manufacturing and logistics across different bases. Before Brisbane, they had to operate in two sites to accommodate their growing operations to continue manufacturing for their customers.
“As we’ve been growing consistently over the past few years, we expanded to our second site about a kilometer away from our Success Street head office,” said StyleRide Sales General Manager Stephen Long. “We had vehicles running daily between the sites, resulting in longer lead times for our products and inefficiencies.”
Despite the global challenges and impact posed by the pandemic in the last couple of years, StyleRide has continued its growth through innovation and new products. It allowed them to maintain their top manufacturing position in transportation seating solutions.
Long said COVID-19 impacted StyleRide’s operations, yet the business was able to respond positively to the challenge.
“It was certainly a challenging time, as most manufacturing businesses would agree, but it was actually a good experience for us as a business,” Long said. “We actively looked at additional opportunities in new markets including marine, rail, and defense.”
The manufacturing company originally started as a bus and coach seat manufacturer. However, after moving to new facilities, they started producing RV motorhome seats using the 105-seat Fraser Island barge design.
Long said StyleRide’s versatility and unique products are the keys to its recent growth, allowing it to quickly adapt to more complex requirements.
“Our strength is our customization,” he said. “As we design and have capability to manufacture anything in-house, we work with our customers at the design stage to devise a solution for any transport seating project.”
As the company moves to a new single manufacturing center, its team is looking forward to overseeing all activities under one roof. Long said they are hopeful that they will experience greater efficiency and increased productivity in the new center.
This article originally appeared on Australasian Bus & Coach.