The word on the street

27/06/08

Welsh firm puts road safety first

A Mid-Wales road safety solutions provider is pioneering a new locking device that is set to put an end to wheels coming off trucks, buses and vans resulting in injury an even death across the world.

Welshpool-based VisiLok introduced the VisiLok locking wheel nut after years of rigours laboratory and road trials to ensure that the device was fully fit for purpose.

 The device, which ‘locks’  the movement of wheel nuts on heavy goods and commercial vehicles and ‘flags’ the attention of the operator, is also understood to be the only global market solution currently available that can be both included in the initial customer order specification or successfully applied as a retrofit feature.

Barry McGowan, Managing Director at VisiLok said:

“Each year the UK has over 11,000 wheel fixing defects and around 7 fatalities which can be attributed directly to accidents caused by wheel fixing defects and losses.

“Subsequently we set out to develop a comprehensive and safety-critical device which would not only help to prevent wheels from coming off, but could also help to save lives. With the recent introduction of the Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Act in April, this aspect has become even more critical.”

After turning to Finance Wales and then xénos, the Wales Business Angel Network, VisiLok was able to raise a total of £300,000 funding, including £150,000 debt investment from Finance Wales and a syndicated investment of £150,000 by three business angels.

This enabled the company founders to secure a manufacturing base in Wales and finalise the original design concept and get the product ready for market.

 Ron Aspinall, VisiLok Operations Director explains:

“After going through a number of development stages which included proving the basic integrity of the design concept and function, we needed to ensure that the VisiLok nut and stud was robust in all operating conditions.

“By working with Hethel-based Lotus Engineering and Welshpool-based cold forming specialists, Floform, we could demonstrate, amongst others, that the device was fully robust and would work in all tested conditions; we could select the component material combinations carefully to prevent corrosion from jamming the mechanism while keeping the component count to a minimum and ultimately produce a cost-effective, universally applicable solution which would put an end to the wheel loss problem once and for all.”

Lotus Engineering, which is highly regarded as a provider of world leading transport engineering solutions, was integral to the development of this system and ensured that the device met all its functional objectives.

Simon Wood, Technical Director at Lotus Engineering said: “We are delighted to be working with VisiLok to design and validate a solution to the potentially fatal problem of wheel detachment. Using an existing VisiLok design, Lotus modified the locking device to enable manufacturing feasibility for the most effective solution for commercial vehicle operators. Lotus also carried out rigorous testing procedures to validate the performance of the road safety device under the most arduous operating conditions.” 

Manufacturing partner, Floform, also has a solid track record in the automotive and commercial vehicle markets.

Philip Lawrence, Managing Director said: “The product solution had to be applicable anywhere that a fastening is subject to rapid temperature change or vibration, provide an indication of the relaxation problem and arrest the movement as soon as it starts to occur. What’s more the solution itself had to require no special tools for tightening or removal; hence the development of VisiLok as a conventional nut with no penalty to maintenance times, etc.”

Karen Davies, Investment Executive at Finance Wales, said: “Visilok had developed a unique product and required the necessary funding to bring it to market. We were pleased to be able to tailor a package that met the needs of the business.”

Richard Bonfield, xénos Regional Manager for Mid Wales, added: “The investment from the three xenos business angels formed a critical part to the overall funding package. In addition to the funding, the business angels were able to bring their own individual management expertise to Visilok’s own experienced management.”

The VisiLok device functions as a standard nut in all other respects and the device is currently being trialled by a number of organizations across the UK.  Further information is available on www.visilok.com

Ends.

NOTES TO EDITORS:

1. About VisiLok:

VisiLok is a private limited company incorporated by Ron Aspinall and Barry McGowan. Both the European and US patents have been assigned to VisiLok.

With a solid track record in the automotive, engineering, retail and logistics industries, the VisiLok Ltd team is unique in its understanding and approach to nut relaxation and wheel loss which regularly occurs on Heavy Goods and Commercial Vehicles across the globe.

This awareness is strengthened by an extensive and ongoing consultation process with senior transport executives and industry leaders.

2. Useful Statistics:

In 2004 the total number of UK new commercial vehicle registrations comprising LGV’s, Buses & Coaches, and LCV’s was 334,770 (Source: DfT and DVLA Transport Stats 2004).

The UK fleet represents 12.5% of the total Western European fleet (Source: J D Powers- Global Market Q2 2005).

The number of buses and coaches registered over the same period was 8,300.

The UK Car Parc for this category of vehicle (buses and coaches) is in excess of 100,500 vehicles (Source: DVLA Total Registrations 2005).

The total UK Car Parc at the end of 2004, including first year registrations is 3,117,700 vehicles or 85,319,680 nuts. Scaled up to Pan European magnitude this equates to 682,557,440 nuts.

3. About Group Lotus plc:

The main operating subsidiary of Group Lotus plc is Lotus Cars Ltd, which has two operating divisions - Lotus Engineering and Lotus Cars. Lotus Engineering is an internationally recognised automotive engineering consultancy based in Norfolk, UK.  Global facilities include those in Michigan (USA), Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia), China and offices in Germany and Japan, with rapid expansion in new territories such as South East Asia and the Gulf States.

Lotus Engineering provides comprehensive and versatile consultancy services to many of the world's OEMs and Tier 1 suppliers, offering a full engineering service from initial concept and project design through development and integration of the complete vehicle to meet all worldwide markets and customers to full production. This includes third party 'niche vehicle' engineering and manufacture worldwide.

Lotus Cars builds world class, prestige, high performance sports cars for sale in 37 countries.  These include the iconic Lotus Elise, and the Exige and Europa.  Lotus is a global high-tech company, expanding rapidly and committed to driving forward technology for both Lotus Cars and its Engineering clients, spearheading research into such areas as hybrids, electric vehicles and renewable fuels.

4. About Finance Wales:

Finance Wales provides commercial funding to small and medium-sized businesses throughout Wales, enabling them to realise their growth potential for innovation and growth. Managing funds of more than £130million, the company has invested £94million through more than 1900 investments into Wales-based SMEs and leveraged an additional £304million private sector investment. www.financewales.co.uk

5. About xénos, the Wales Business Angel Network:

xénos is Wales’ only business angel network, brokering deals between business angels (private individuals of high net worth) and businesses seeking investment since 1997. The network, a subsidiary of Finance Wales, has facilitated more than £15million private sector investment in over 120 deals in Wales-based SMEs since its formation, funding all stages of development from early stage through to expansion, acquisition and turnaround. Visit www.xenos.co.uk for more information.

 

Further information contact, M & M Communications on 079 5869 0659 or buzz@mandmcomms.com