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Update on the Tanzania BUV Micro-Factory

One of the goals of the Institute for Affordable Transportation is to produce more BUVs (basic utility vehicles) in the geographic region where they’re going to be used. It saves on shipping costs and delays.
To that end, we’ve been working with our partners in Tanzania to create a micro-factory, where they will build and ship BUVs throughout east Africa.

BUV Tanzania FactoryA micro-factory is an independently-owned business that produces and sells BUVs for profit. Local parts are used as much as possible to create the BUVs on site so the local people may purchase a vehicle for their own businesses at a lower cost than they can buy them from us.

This will enable local people to prosper with a unique business because it gives people access to jobs, education, and markets.

The factory itself plans to produce 100 BUV units per year, or two units every week. This will generate a sales revenue of almost half a million US dollars that includes component sales, service, and extensions.

The investment will create 2,000+ jobs over ten years — including drivers, assistants and mechanics. In all, 100,000 people can be helped over a lifetime with this small investment.

IAT has a specific role in helping these micro-factories start and grow. With the Technology Transfer Program (TTP), we provide a package of information that includes:

  • assembly and fabrication videos;
  • technical drawings;
  • equipment requirements;
  • quality and inspection procedures;
  • marketing materials; plus, any other necessary information.

The Tanzania factory has only just begun to produce their BUVs, all of which are already sold. This shows the need for these vehicles is great. It can only mean great things ahead in the future for these micro-factories, and we’re glad to be a part of it.

Our mission is to help provide hope to the poor and isolated in developing nations to live better and more prosperous lives by creating simple, durable transportation. This new micro-factory will go a long way in helping us realize our mission, and we are very proud of our Tanzanian partners.

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IAT Student Competition Seeks to Create Perfect BUV Design

Every year the Institute for Affordable Transportation (IAT) hosts a Basic Utility Vehicle (BUV) competition amongst Midwestern colleges and universities. We started the competition back in 2000, when the IAT was founded, as a way to perfect the BUV design. We were crowdsourcing before there was even a word for “crowdsourcing.”

The way the competition works is that student teams design and build different BUVs to compete in a series of tests and events to determine the best design for the year. Many of the student builders are engineering students completing their capstone projects at the end of their college careers. This is a way for them to apply everything they’ve learned into improving on an already improved design. Because the BUV is used in a variety of locales without any infrastructure, the test vehicles must navigate a variety of different terrains, including an obstacle course, mud pit, mogul field, and an endurance track.

The race track the competitors race on is 2.1 miles (mi) and each design has to carry three 55 gallon water jugs across the course. Every third lap the water jugs must be emptied in a nearby pond and loaded up with water again so a pumping mechanism is also involved in the competition.

Our most recent competition winner for 2014 was the University of Cincinnati Bearcats club team with Alfred State College (a.k.a. State University of New York) in second and Purdue University’s Cameroon Pup team finishing in third.

We would like to thank all of the teams who participated in the event and would like to invite all schools interested to come to the 15th Annual BUV Competition April 17-18, 2015 in Batavia, Ohio. Click here for more information.

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