Montesa Preview
MONTESA PREVIEW
A FACTORY ON THE MOVE
FERNANDO BELAIR
I had certain preconceived notions as to what I was going to find. Montesa's factory in Spain was probably the size of an average warehouse, in which the 100 or so employees were content with their highly-u nautomated jobs, putting together a variety of motorcycles in limited quantities.
But I had been gobbled up and brainwashed just like so many others into thinking that outside of Japan, nothing ever really happens. Sure, I've been in motorcycling ever since I was five, but after hearing scary stories about the size and complexity of the Japanese factories, there really wasn't anything in Spain that could come close. Or so I thought.
In a way I was right. The Montesa factory that I visited on the outskirts of Barcelona can't really compare with what I imagine the Honda or Yamaha factories to be like. Not in size anyway. But Montesa doesn't claim that it does. In fact, they readily admit that they cannot compete with the Japanese giants in terms of facilities, financing, marketing and various other areas. But they are a proud bunch, closely knit, with the understanding that they are building some of the finest motorcycles in Europe.
There aren't 100 employees at Mon tesa's assembly plant, there are several hundred. And the assembly plant is only one of three factories that Montesa owns. The other two are the marketing, shipping and parts facility, and the parts factory where everything from transmis sion gears to heads is manufactured. There are several hundred more employ ees working in these other factories, as well. Together, they comprise one of the largest manufacturing firms in the northeast sector of Spain.
Automation is the name of the game in Spain. Only recently having been exposed to the wonders of machines that do mens work for them, Spain is in > an automation boom. Montesa is a prime example.
In the factories, only the assembly of motors and motorcycles is a by-hand operation. Everything else is done with the aid of some of the most highly complex and modern labor-saving monsters that I have ever seen. Blanks are fed into one end of a machine and gears come out of the other at an alarming rate. Another one machines a shift fork out of a cobby steel casting in a matter of seconds. And the list goes on.
With all of this going on, it is not surprising to see the incredible number of Montesas (and Bultacos for that matter), which infest the streets of Spain. But these are not models that we would be familiar with. Most of them are small moped types that are in ever-increasing demand in Europe.
But there is always research and development work going on in other areas, since more than 10 percent of Montesa's employees work in the R&D and competition departments. With this in mind, we thought that we'd take a look at those up-and-coming Montesa's that are destined for the American market.
