Manufacturing Today Europe Issue 148 January 2018

BEST PRACTICES FOR INDUSTRY LEADERS www.manufacturing-today-europe.com

Issue 148

Home is where the

today

heart is Through a dedication to innovation, Omar Group’s park homes have helped transform the retirement and holiday homes markets

Also in this issue: • 3D printing • HR • Productivity • Trends for 2018 • GDPR regulations • Cyber security

EUROPE

MANUFACTURING

Embrace next-generation IT innovations with confidence

Infor: A software provider that has your back Manufacturing is exciting again—but also challenging. Disruptive technologies are transforming processes and performance throughout your organization. You need a solution provider that knows manufacturing— inside and out—and can support you in your journey to the Factory of the Future. We’ve got your answers, from flexible ERP solutions to configuration tools and cloud deployment.

No wonder so many forward-thinking manufacturers rely on Infor solutions: • 19 of top 20 aerospace companies

• 7000+ industrial machinery manufacturers

• 12 of the top 13 high tech companies

• 84 of top auto suppliers

• 5 of the top 10 brewers

• More than 5,500 industrial manufacturing customers

infor.com infor.com/futurefactory Copyright ©2017 Infor. www.infor.com. All rights reserved.

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9/7/17 10:29 AM

EDITOR’S COMMENT Chairman Andrew Schofield

BEST PRACTICES FOR INDUSTRY LEADERS www.manufacturing-today-europe.com

Editor Libbie Hammond

Issue 148

Home is where the

Assistant Editor Will Daynes

today

heart is

Production Manager Fleur Daniels

Through a dedication to innovation, Omar Group’s park homes have helped transform the retirement and holiday homes markets

Art Editor/Design David Howard Advertising Design Fiona Jolliffe Production studio@schofieldpublishing.co.uk Editorial Administrator Emma Crane Advertising Administrator Tracy Chynoweth studio@schofieldpublishing.co.uk Operations Director Philip Monument Editorial Researchers Mark Cowles Tarj D’Silva Jeff Goldenberg Ben Richell Richard Saunders Kieran Shukri Kate Jones Advertising Sales Mark Cawston Tim Eakins Darren Jolliffe Jonas Junca Dave King Theresa McDonald Rob Wagner Subscriptions ikidd@schofieldpublishing.co.uk

New year,

Also in this issue: s $ PRINTING s (2 s 0RODUCTIVITY s 4RENDS FOR s '$02 REGULATIONS s #YBER SECURITY

New you?

H

ere we are in 2018! What are your company resolutions for this year? With the uncertainty of Brexit still at the forefront of our minds, it’s hard to think about setting plans in stone – let alone factoring in the other hot topics to be ahead of, such as IoT, 3D printing (covered in this issue) and blockchain, or even bitcoin. Are any of these on your strategy list?

Our feature on page 8 highlights just a few trends to be on the lookout for and we will be covering a whole range of different subjects throughout the year, and I hope they will be relevant to your operations. As ever, if there’s anything you’d like me to feature, do get in touch

libbie@schofieldpublishing.co.uk

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Schofield Publishing

Cringleford Business Centre, 10 Intwood Road, Cringleford, Norwich, NR4 6AU, U.K. Tel: 044 (0)1603 274130 Fax: 044 (0)1603 274131

www.manufacturing-today-europe.com ©2018 Schofield Publishing Ltd Please note: The opinions expressed by contributors and adver tisers within this publication do not necessarily coincide with those of the editor and publisher. Every reasonable effor t is made to ensure that the information published is accurate, and correct at time of writing, but no legal responsibility for loss occasioned by the use of such information can be accepted by the publisher. All rights reserved. The contents of the magazine are strictly copyright, the proper ty of Schofield Publishing, and may not be copied, stored in a retrieval system, or reproduced without the prior written permission of the publisher.

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EUROPE

MANUFACTURING

Managing Director Joe Woolsgrove

Features

4 ERP insight

4 Ten times cheaper SLS, a 3D printing technology, looks set to transform manufacturing, offering as it does remarkable advantages

6 Sourcing skills Dr Zara Whysall advises on some steps that manufacturers can take to gain more visibility over their short- and long-term talent needs

8 Brace yourself Which modernising steps should the ambitious and forward-thinking supply chain manager be considering this year?

10 Designed approach

8

CAE software has evolved and now a synchronised engineering approach means teams can work in parallel in real time

12 Get ready to comply The General Data Protection Regulations come into effect in May 2018 – and businesses need to create a compliance plan now

14 Protect your future The manufacturing industry is at risk from cyber-attacks at every angle, but thankfully it is possible to protect from the threats

16 Manufacturing news Updates and announcements from the manufacturing arena

10

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14

CONTENTS

Profiles 19 Omar Group

48 DĂźrr Dental AG

27 Finn Marin

50 Montracon

30 Ricardo

52 Vision Commercial Kitchens Ltd

35 Lister Petter

54 Universal Tool & Production Company Ltd

38 Radio Design

56 Haigh Engineering Company Ltd

42 Beardow Adams

58 Bystronic glass

45 Xiros Ltd

45

19

30

58

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3D printing

Ten times

cheaper

When plate glass got ten times cheaper, it changed the way buildings are designed and built.

Here’s the next process to get ten times cheaper.

By Jon Bruner and Eduardo Torrealba

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U

ntil the 1950s, plate glass was difficult and expensive to manufacture.

Glassmakers either drew it out of molten glass on a frame, like a ribbon pulled from a pool of soap, or formed it between hot metal rollers. Both methods required a lengthy grinding and polishing process to produce glass reasonably free of distortion. Even so, plate glass remained somewhat irregular, was limited in practical size, and was fragile.

In 1952, Sir Alastair Pilkington invented a new glassmaking process known as float glass, in which molten glass is poured over a pool of molten tin and allowed to spread into a flat pane under the force of gravity. Without marks left by rollers

or distortions from drawing, float glass required no costly grinding or polishing, was easy to post-process for a variety of uses, and could be exceptionally strong.

After seven years of development, Pilkington began commercial float glass production. Glass output soared, and today roughly 90 per cent of flat glass is manufactured using Pilkington’s float glass process. Hundreds of lines around the world operate continuously, each typically producing 6000 kilometres of glass per year.

The new process - ten times more efficient than its predecessors - transformed the market for glass and led to new applications, both superficial and structural. Architects seized on the

invention as glass curtain walls became cheaper and faster to build than masonry, and the strength of float glass made large atria and immense glass-enclosed public spaces practical. Perhaps no feature is more characteristic of modern architecture than large plate glass windows; today’s glimmering exterior streetscapes and bright, open interiors both reflect the profound impact of Pilkington’s invention.

A new evolution Now another fundamental manufacturing process is becoming ten times cheaper: selective laser sintering (SLS), a 3D printing technology that offers remarkable advantages in both strength

and geometric flexibility. With it comes another revolution in aesthetics, functionality, and commerce. SLS machines use lasers to fuse plastic or metal powder, producing finished products as strong as their conventionally-manufactured counterparts, but without the constraints of tooling.

Until now selective laser sintering has been available in machines that cost upwards of $100,000. A new generation of benchtop SLS printers costs less than $10,000 - the fruit of careful re-engineering and dramatic improvements in sensors, processors, and laser modules. What has been an exotic, strictly industrial technology is now accessible to practically any company.

3D printing, which has become ubiquitous in prototyping and product development, will now be broadly practical for production runs at increased scales. And just as Pilkington’s float glass process changed the buildings we live and work in, so will SLS printing transform many of the objects we interact with every day.

The first thing we’ll notice is objects around us changing shape. Most of our plastic and metal goods today are fabricated by injection molding or machining. Both of these manufacturing techniques impose considerable constraints on designers and engineers, who must ensure that a mold can be pulled apart cleanly around a formed piece, or that a machine tool has easy access to every cavity at certain angles. Especially in machining, design complexity adds substantial cost to every part: each cut from a mill or lathe represents machine time and tool wear.

Additive manufacturing, however, offers nearly complete geometric freedom. 3D printers can fabricate any shape without regard to mold design or toolpath layout. And on a 3D printer, an intricate shape is just as fast and easy to fabricate as a simple one. As former Autodesk CEO Carl Bass has often pointed out, in 3D printing, complexity is free.

Complex designs are particularly easy to realise on SLS printers. Many common 3D printing processes, including fused deposition modelling (FDM) and stereolithography (SLA), need to build support structures alongside the parts they fabricate. SLS machines support their prints with each layer’s unfused powder. Even the modest requirement that local minima and overhangs be supported disappears.

Expressive designs and sophisticated, ultraefficient lattices could become commonplace in everyday products, reducing weight and material usage and addressing every product requirement precisely.

Milled or injection-molded products with complex geometries often need to be fabricated as many parts that need to be welded, glued,

or fastened together. On a 3D printer, multiple parts can be consolidated into single, complex parts, easing design for manufacturing (DFM) and reducing supply-chain risk. SLS printers can even fabricate mechanical assemblies that function straight out of the machine, opening up a new range of novel mechanical designs that would otherwise be impossible to put together, like fabric made of 3D-printed chain links.

With additive manufacturing, designers and engineers can spend less time worrying about tooling, geometrical constraints, and assembly processes. That will lead to a revolution in product development. Even more important than the time recovered from DFM and tooling is the reduction in risk that 3D printing brings about. Because the upfront tooling costs in traditional manufacturing processes, especially molding, are so high, product developers are reluctant to give the go-ahead on manufacturing until everything is perfect. 3D printing shortens product development cycles by letting designers interact directly with the tools that will fabricate their products, and by reducing the cost of design iterations.

Iterate quickly enough and you wind up with universal customisation: every product optimised for its function and its user. On a 3D printer, design variations are practically free, and variations are becoming easier to invent. AI-driven generative design software could produce efficient, optimised designs to meet any requirement; this type of software is beginning to become available and could be widespread in a few years.

Taken together, these changes in the way that we design, engineer, and execute physical products amount to a considerable shift. In ten years we may reflect back on today’s world, with SLS printing about to get ten times cheaper, and think of the cities of the 1950s, whose plateglass windows were just beginning to pierce the masonry. v

Jon Bruner and Eduardo Torrealba Jon Bruner is Director of Digital Factory and Eduardo Torrealba is Director of Engineering at Formlabs.

Formlabs is establishing the industry benchmark for professional 3D printing for engineers, designers and manufacturers around the globe, and accelerating innovation in a variety of industries, including education, dentistry, healthcare, jewellery and research. www.formlabs.com

www.manufacturing-today-europe.com 5

HR

Sourcing

skills

Redefining your talent management strategy. By Dr Zara Whysall

T

he talent shortages presenting a significant risk to many UK organisations are well documented.

In the manufacturing sector, output is anticipated to grow at an average of 1.7 per cent over the next four years, outpacing average construction employment which lags at just 0.6 per cent over the same period1. However, when it comes to effective talent management, an unwillingness to take calculated risks on people can present a problem in itself. It’s time for the sector to redefine its approach to talent management.

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Stepping out of a risk averse mind-set To develop and grow, people need to be given opportunities to stretch themselves beyond their current capability, with the appropriate support mechanisms in place as a safety net. However, manufacturing, like other industries reliant upon STEM skills and talent flow is already in short supply, tends to be understandably risk averse when it comes to people.

Perhaps due to the safety critical nature of the work, or expectations of clients, or as a symptom of an already stretched system, when resourcing

projects there’s a tendency to go to the safest pair of hands. ‘Tried and tested’ employees who’ve delivered that type of project before. Whilst this approach is a safe short-term solution, it neglects the longer-term need to develop people, and, importantly, bring them through.

The result? Thin talent pipelines, with insufficient volumes moving through to keep them healthy. Poor talent attraction and retention too, since newly qualified individuals tend to have expectations of rapid career progression and a constant flow of development opportunities.

The combination of inadequate supply and

deficient succession planning has led to many firms operating with critical holes or ‘pinch points’ in their pipeline, whilst also losing talent due to an inability to fulfil expectations of accelerated career development.

Short-term approach to talent Kiddy & Partners has conducted a series of interviews with HR Directors and Heads of Talent in industries facing talent shortages, including manufacturing. This revealed that a short-term approach to talent management, whereby current performance is prioritised over longer-term considerations, acts a key limitation affecting the health of prospective talent pipelines in many of these safety critical industries. In the words of one interviewee: “Getting people to think beyond the next deadline, beyond the next quarter, to think more strategically, and risk assure the business in that length of time…we can be particularly short-sighted, focused on the next quarter to the detriment of other things.”

So, what can be done to reduce the risks associated with talent and skill shortages? To help business leaders make key decisions around talent, HR have a responsibility to provide accurate data about who they’ve got, where,

and how this capability meets current and future business needs. Without the right information and insight, firms can’t make effective decisions on human capital management.

Thinking about talent management differently Employers can’t afford to wait for others to find a solution to talent shortage, but must take a lead in exploring new approaches to closing the skills gap. One possibility is applying principles of supply chain management to the talent pipeline, with the same rigorous approach. By identifying the core capabilities needed to achieve the business strategy, and comparing this against current capability, a talent supply chain approach allows organisations to make informed ‘make and buy’ decisions to determine what can be ‘made’ in-house through development and what must be ‘bought’ through recruitment.

Making perfect predictions in a rapidly changing environment is hard. So, a combination of approaches is inevitable. Internal talent development activities such as training, mentoring, and other on-the-job programmes should be designed to meet predicable needs as far as possible. Supplementing these with external hiring for meeting unpredicted demands, and optimising the gig economy for resourcing non-strategic roles, is essential.

In addition, partnerships with other firms in the supply chain may enable employers to provide new recruits with a more rounded experience than otherwise possible, through inter-organisational talent mobility.

The supply chain approach Within a supply chain approach, talent development can be optimised by removing any unnecessary elements that may increase training costs without adding value. Subsequently, the efficiency of development is enhanced by targeting development activities based on an accurate assessment of development needs.

The reality, however, is that much development occurs without a robust analysis of the need.

This is not just current, but future needs, and in line with the business’ strategy. This results in development becoming less efficient and a diminished return on investment. The absence of a proper needs analysis up front is often compounded by a lack of training evaluation, so the inefficient investment in development goes unchecked. A more future-focused piece is key, looking ahead to predict the skills needed to deliver the business goals.

Organisations need to look at their internal

talent mobility structure too, and how this affects the pace of change. This is an operational process as leaders need to locate the silos within the business that are preventing talented employees from optimising their skill sets in the most suitable environment. Taking steps to break down these internal barriers will ensure you can easily move talent across to where it’s needed or best suited.

The reality is, wasted development spend is only the tip of the iceberg. A lack of rigour in development increases the risk that employees don’t have the capability to perform well. A skills drift develops, turning into a very imminent risk for the business, which in this industry, can mean missed project deadlines, overspent budgets, or worse, poor quality or unsafe project.

A new approach to talent management So how can manufacturing as an industry move towards a more proactive approach to talent management?

• Be proactive. Ensure that talent development is closely aligned not only to current, but also future, business needs • Identify appropriately stretching opportunities to help employees develop their capability – and provide the right environment for flexible mobility • Ensure that sufficient scaffolding is in place to support employees, following a ‘fail safe’ philosophy by having regular monitoring and review points in place to provide an appropriate safety net Taking these steps mean that manufacturing businesses can gain more visibility over their short and long-term talent needs, close gaps and move their people forward confidently, strategically.

In this way, organisations can transform their talent management approach, doing their part in breaking the skills cycle facing the sector. v

Dr Zara Whysall Dr Zara Whysall is Head of Research at Kiddy & Partners. Kiddy & Partners transforms organisational performance by combining leading business psychology with a focus on commercial outcomes.

Since 1972, the firm has developed a track record in assessment & talent management, leadership development and board effectiveness for global organisations. Clients include GE, Goldman Sachs, ITV, QinetiQ, ARM, HSBC and Deutsche Bank. www.kiddyandpartners.com 1 CITB (2017). Industry Insights: Construction Skills Network Forecasts 2017–2021 http://www. citb.co.uk/documents/research/csn%2020172021/csn-national-2017.pdf

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Trends for 2018

Brace

yourself

Chris Tozer explains why 2018 is going to be the year of the whirlwind supply chain

I

t’s January. The holiday season is over and we all need to get underway with our FY18 planning and implementation, and part of this will be cranking up the efficiency of the supply chain so that it can produce, handle and ship faster than ever before.

So, what have you based your 2018 plans on? Are you hedging bets against an inevitable recession, or expecting the bull market to run for another year? What geographies are you planning to invest in? Are you expecting an uptick in budget to invest in emerging technologies, or are you only eyeing up projects that minimise risk to your existing infrastructure? Whatever strategies you’re planning on implementing, I’m certain that your primary drive is the never-ending climb towards higher levels of productivity. So, which modernising steps should the ambitious and forward thinking supply chain manager be considering this year?

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If you haven’t considered upgrading your mobile devices to Android, do so now In 2016, the Android market share among rugged mobile computers increased 50 per cent in comparison to the year before, according to VDC Research. At 37 per cent share, it’s poised to climb even further and faster – considering the number of new Android devices introduced in 2017. But, what does this mean and why does that affect you and your trusted fleet of Windows devices?

Devices tend to be refreshed every three to five years, and it’s no longer viable to replace an old Windows device with another Windows device as Microsoft have announced that they’ll be reaching end of life for support of Windows CE and Windows Embedded system in 2020.

This does make sense as the workforce is seeing a higher volume of millennial workers who

are more used to ‘smart phone’ style devices.

Millennials can be a lot more productive using an Android device over a traditional Windows CE device. This is down to the fact that the Windows devices are ‘green screen’ and have the look and feel of old school DOS tech from the 1980’s and 1990’s. So, the Android OS looks a lot more like the modern mobile phone UI which millennials are used to operating.

Android is a logical choice for the supply chain as it is easier to develop on, and we need a flexible solution in order to keep up with the rapid evolution of our industry. Android also has a good level of security, provided that the device is regularly patched and updated. Apple iOS ‘consumer’ devices aren’t always suitable for a warehouse style environment because of the form factor and the challenges to customise and develop on the OS.

could be the year that the IoT becomes better understood. It is likely to be the year we start seeing it used more in ‘real-life’, and we should get better at managing all the connected devices within it.

Trials are already underway for smart glasses to be used to scan items in the warehouse.

These glasses will show workers where to go by placing arrows in their vision, and may even have a timer in one corner – alerting workers when they haven’t completed a pick fast enough. These developments are not without their challenges though, such as a user constantly having to adjust their vision for depth of field. Who knows at this stage what the long term physical issues might be for the user?

We need to also bear in mind that as cyber risks increase, these IoT devices can act as vulnerabilities in your supply chain so you need to make sure any connected devices or technology that you use is secured properly. Cyberattacks can cause server outages, and in our 24/7/365 industry this simply isn’t acceptable.

The driver behind all of these changes is increased productivity. Large retailers are constantly thinking of new ways to get products to customers faster – this is the thought process that is relentlessly driving the whole industry forward.

Other T&L organisations also already have their own ways of increasing the efficiency of delivery, such as real-time tracking of vehicles. This is helpful for users who are waiting for their packages, but also works to inform other delivery drivers if one driver is stuck in traffic in a certain area, to avoid that area.

In the name of increased productivity, anything is possible – good luck this year! v

Manual picking and productivity – 2018 is all about voice enabling your picking applications We work closely with Zebra and other hardware manufacturers and integrate with a lot of their cutting-edge technology. For example, one their new Zebra gun type scanners, the TC8000, is radically different to a traditional scanner because it doesn’t have a physical keyboard (as with all their Android enabled devices). The scanner integrates with other technology, such as next generation telnet emulation (All Touch TE on Zebra devices) and voice enablement.

Voice enabled picking has been growing in popularity over the last few years for the reason I keep on emphasising – increased productivity.

Voice solutions enable a much faster pick because they allow users to work hands free. As well as this, voice enablement can be critical if workers

are in a very cold/chilled environment or are wearing PPE that would make holding a device challenging and counter-productive. We have also seen an uptake in wrist mounted devices and ring scanners for faster picking, all of which can work via voice enablement. This isn’t to say that all warehouses are moving to voice only tech – many utilise a multimodal device so that if something fails, such as the voice capability, users can resort back to interacting with the device. It’s all about ensuring productivity without any downtime.

IoT, yes, THAT IoT, is going to touch your supply chain 2017 has been a good year for IoT, as the shift from concept illustrations to tangible demonstrations has begun. But, IoT means different things to different businesses. Where does IoT have a place in your supply chain? 2018

Chris Tozer Chris Tozer is Territory Manager UK, Ireland & Italy at Ivanti.

Ivanti is IT evolved.

By integrating and automating critical IT tasks, Ivanti helps IT organisations secure the digital workplace. For more than three decades, Ivanti has helped IT professionals address security threats, manage devices, and optimise their user experience. From traditional PCs to mobile devices, virtual machines, and the data centre Ivanti helps discover and manage your IT assets wherever they are located, improving IT service delivery and reducing risk. Ivanti also ensures that supply chain and warehouse teams are effectively leveraging the most up-to-date technology to improve productivity throughout their operation. Ivanti is headquartered in Salt Lake City, Utah, and has offices all over the world.

For more information, visit www.ivanti.com.

www.manufacturing-today-europe.com 9

Productivity

Designed

approach

Ken Christie and Simon Goodwin explain why synergy plus innovation equals productivity

T

he government is currently placing great emphasis on improving the productivity of British industry, which is lagging well behind major overseas competitors such as Germany or Japan. While this has led to many proposals for actions that will take effect in the longer term, there is much that can be done right now.

In its recently published Productivity Plan, the Government notes that “productivity growth [in the UK] has been stagnant since the financial crisis [of 2008] and the long-standing gap with our international peers has widened”. To address this situation, the Plan proposes measures such as greater support for apprenticeships, and new financial products designed to support companies to innovate.

Admirable as these measures may be, their real impact will not be felt for many years and what’s really needed to ensure the continuing success of UK industry – especially in the wake of the

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Brexit decision – is an effective and affordable productivity-enhancing strategy that can be put in place right now. And this need is particularly acute in the electrical engineering sector.

So what is the practical key to unlocking productivity gains in this sector? In fact, there are two keys: innovation and synergy. Innovative products, especially innovative software products, pave the way to significant time savings and more productive ways of working. Synergy leads not only to the development of products that are better suited to their user’s needs, but also to the free flow of dependable information, which is essential for productivity.

Let’s start by considering software. It’s been a very long time since design work was routinely carried out manually; the use of computer aided design (CAD) and computer aided engineering (CAE) software is now almost universal in manufacturing companies. Much of this software, however, has plenty of scope for further

innovation, especially in the areas of integration and communication.

The underlying issue is that CAD and CAE software has, for the most part, been developed with a particular discipline in mind – for example, some packages are aimed at the mechanical design sector, while others focus on electrical design. And it’s not at all unusual to find that moving information between these packages is a manual, error-prone process that’s difficult and time-consuming.

The result of this is that the various design processes involved in a project usually take place independently, which means there are two options. The first is to take a chance and allow the mechanical and electrical designs to proceed sequentially.

The downside is that this approach takes longer, and extended timescales are the enemy of productivity. Further, this way of working also means that there are few opportunities

for interaction or collaboration between the mechanical and electrical design teams. Either the mechanical team will complete its work first and hand it over as a fait accompli to the electrical team, or vice versa. This means there’s a big risk of things going wrong when the time comes to, for example, fit the electrical systems into the space that the mechanical designers have made available for them.

The second option is for parallel working, this requires much more ongoing communication by all teams, mechanical, electrical and software engineering.

Fortunately, the latest CAE software platforms, such as EPLAN, adopt a synchronised engineering approach. With EPLAN Syngineer, designers from mechanical, electrical and software engineering can work in parallel with each other in real-time with free exchange of information guarding effectively against problems. The result is that the overall design is completed in the shortest possible time with minimal risk of errors or problems.

But internal integration and communication between design teams is not the only issue, so let’s move on to consider integration and synergy with component suppliers, which also has much to offer. These days it’s true that engineers get most of the design information they need from component suppliers’ websites, so there’s much less concern about whether the information is current than there was in the days of paper catalogues.

But simply looking at websites isn’t a complete solution. It’s time consuming and different component manufacturers present their information in different formats, which is not only inconvenient but can also cause a lot of confusion.

Also, transferring information from the suppliers’ websites to the CAE software is a tedious process that offers plenty of opportunities for error.

Once again, there’s an effective solution, which this time relies on synergy between the CAE software provider and enlightened component suppliers. The suppliers provide comprehensive data on their products, and the CAE software provider loads into a readily accessible database that is regularly maintained and updated. Design engineers can then incorporate this information directly into their designs, with full confidence that it is complete, up to date and in the right format. This saves a lot of time as well as virtually eliminating errors.

A supplier that fully understands the benefits of this approach is Weidmüller, one of Europe’s most innovative manufacturers of terminals and connectivity solutions. This company has achieved success by understanding its markets and developing products that respond to genuine user needs. As a result, not only does it have products

that are so well designed that they have been in continuous demand for decades, it also regularly introduces new products that provide effective solutions for new requirements.

Clearly its important for Weidmüller’s customers to have easy access to information about all of the items in this huge and rapidly developing product range. This is why Weidmüller sees EPLAN’s component database – the EPLAN Data Portal – as a key to streamlining the design process for engineers who use its products.

While the improvements in productivity that the UK manufacturing industry requires are sometimes simplistically seen as a need to invest in new plant, this is by no means the only way in which gains can be made. The design process underpins all manufacturing operations so streamlining this process to ensure that new products enter production quickly with minimal risk of manufacturing problems is a very effective way of boosting productivity.

Achieving a streamlined design process, as we

have seen, depends on using CAE software that facilitates integration and communication between all sectors of the design process, allied with components from forward-thinking suppliers that make reliable design data easy to access and use. In short, use innovative CAE software together with components from supportive, progressive suppliers and productivity gains will surely follow! v

Ken Christie and Simon Goodwin Ken Christie works at EPLAN and Simon Goodwin works at Weidmüller. Weidmüller is a leading manufacturer of connectivity solutions for the automation sector. EPLAN is a pre-eminent developer and supplier of computer-aided engineering (CAE) systems, which are complemented by the EPLAN data portal, a comprehensive on-line resource of component data. Both companies are committed to promoting Industry 4.0 and maximising its benefits. www.weidmueller.com/uk/home www.eplan.co.uk

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Regulation

Get ready to

comply Make preparations now for the arrival of GDPR says Paula Tighe

T

he General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) contains critical obligations and come into effect in May 2018.

Although many months away, businesses should start creating a compliance plan early to avoid falling foul of laws. It’s important that businesses allow themselves plenty of time to fully understand the new changes and introduce efficient processes that meet the requirements of the regulation. The recent Brexit vote has no bearing on the new law – if your data has been collected, processed or used within the EU, you must abide by the new rules.

Raise awareness and register it First, ensure all decision makers in your organisation understand that non-compliance is serious. Begin by recording the entire compliance process, taking note of every significant change to policies and procedures.

Also, known as the ‘Data Register’, this record logs the personal data you currently hold and the reasons for processing it, including where it came

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from and who you share it with. This helps you comply with the accountability principles of the GDPR. Rather than stopping you doing things, GDPR compliance aims to improve standards by questioning your current processes and encouraging you to adopt new, more efficient procedures. Review your existing digital and hard copy format privacy notices and policies; are they concise, written in clear language, easy to understand and easily found?

Make sure these notices are clearly explained to your data subjects, and detail your reason for processing the data, how long you will keep it and how individuals can complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office if they think you’re doing something wrong.

Rights of the individual Individuals will have more control over their personal data under the GDPR. Therefore, it is important that organisations develop and introduce new efficient procedures in time for

its arrival. Everyone will have the right to request their information is edited or deleted at any time.

It is your duty to prove that your company has procedures in place to deal with such a request.

Perhaps one of the key drivers for the changes, is the right for an individual to prevent their data being used for direct marketing purposes, as is the right to challenge and prevent automated decision-making and profiling.

Having transparent procedures in place will go a long way towards heading off any future problems with the regulator, regardless of complaints or investigations. If your organisation already handles personal data with care under the current data protection laws, the switch to GDPR shouldn’t be cause for concern.

Prepare for personal requests If an individual makes a subject access request, for which you cannot charge, to see what information you hold on them, you must comply within a month. You can refuse to comply if you think the request has no merit – but you must tell them

why and that they can complain to the regulator.

For SMEs, it will be more important to show a willingness to comply by trying to implement all the necessary steps and creating a data register, than to be fully compliant in May.

Never assume you have consent One of the trickier areas of the new regulations is handling consent for personal data to be captured and used for more than just contact. Individuals must give clear consent for their data to be used, but must be allowed to revoke consent easily, at any time. If you change the way you want to use their data, you must obtain a new consent.

Consent must be implicit and your attempts to obtain or confirm consent, will help mitigate any future problems at the hands of the regulator.

Keep reviewing and keep recording Where data processing could pose a significant risk to individuals because of the technology being used, or the scale of the processing, you should undertake a Privacy Impact Assessment (PIA)

before beginning the project. These assessments will help you and the regulator decide the likely effects on the individual if their data is lost or stolen and should form part of your ongoing processes. Ensure you have a robust process for making the assessments and record it, along with the outcome – a PIA is a simple step towards compliance, with the emphasis on what you do, rather than what you say you will do.

Make someone responsible and keep it up If you deal with personal data on a regular basis, then it may be worth appointing a dedicated data protection office to oversee procedures, and ensure total GDPR compliance is achieved before its arrival next year. It does not have to be someone within your organisation – you might choose to appoint an appropriate individual on a part-time or consultancy basis. It’s not just electronically-held data that can pose a problem; you also need to consider written records, which are also covered by the regulations - ensure all

your staff are trained on the correct handling of personal data.

One of the most important things to remember, is to record the entire compliance process in your data register, as this will serve as proof that your organisation is making an active effort to meet new requirements. Organisations that can prove they have made an effort to comply, even if they are not fully compliant with every aspect of the GDPR from the word go, will do better. v

Paula Tighe Paula Tighe is a qualified data protection professional and leads the trusted advisor information governance service at Wright Hassall. Wright Hassall, a full service law firm, advises clients across a variety of sectors including advanced manufacturing and engineering; food and agriculture; housing, development and construction; and gaming and digital media. www.wrighthassall.co.uk

www.manufacturing-today-europe.com 13

Cyber security

Protect your

future

Manufacturing a stronger cyber defence. By Robert Rutherford

T

he manufacturing industry has become a major target for cyberattacks and data breaches over the last few years. Like any successful industry, a manufacturer can have its banking details stolen, its data can be used to extort the business, or the company’s systems can be locked out or corrupted.

However, it is also the lack of a robust defence that causes cyber-criminals to target the manufacturing industry. As such, senior management and IT departments working in this sector need to prioritise building stronger security – not only to limit the threat facing the business, but also to reduce the impact that cyber-attacks will have on the company.

What are they after?

Because manufacturing is not a conventional target like a financial firm or governmental body, some firms can find it difficult to identify what cyber-criminals are looking for when they target this sector. However, businesses shouldn’t underestimate the value that their data holds.

Aside from banking information and personal details, there are also patents, intellectual property and prototypes that can be valuable to a criminal. These items would present a major loss to the business if they were to be stolen or leaked by an external threat, as the reputational and financial impact from this loss could irrevocably damage the company.

By recognising the value that cyber-criminals

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place on this type of information, manufacturers can create a cyber-security plan that suits their business and protects the areas that are most at risk. However, to build a strong defence, business need to have an adequate understanding of the tactics that are being used to access private information.

How does an attack happen?

It is common to think of a cyber-attack existing solely on desktop computers, but the reality is that it can come from anywhere. For manufacturers especially, there are numerous risks to the company’s security both in the head office and on the floor. As the sector is increasingly automated, with IoT devices and smart machines becoming commonplace, there are now more entry points for cyber-attacks than ever before. If improperly regulated, each innovation can create an additional entry point for external threats to infiltrate the system and steal valuable data.

On the other end of the spectrum, cyberattacks can also originate offline and via seemingly innocent conversations. Criminals can simply phone the company and speak with members of staff to gain key data. These individuals can use a variety of guises – from a customer or colleague to a member of senior management or the IT department. If staff are not appropriately trained in responding to these false conversation, priceless data, unique prototypes or new patents can be lost.

However, while these external threats may be numerous, it is also important to recognise the dangers that can exist within the company.

Disgruntled employees, moles from competitors or individuals looking for financial gain can compromise the security of the business by accessing private files or leaking designs to the public. Although it may seem difficult to prevent this occurrences from happening, there are some key steps that business can take to defend the company from external as well as internal threats.

What can be done?

Defending against online, offline and internal threats requires three distinct approaches to securing the company. For hacks and data breaches, the business needs to have the latest software and a robust firewall system in place.

Having the ISO 27001 accreditation will also ensure that the company is aware of the risks facing the business and has taken the appropriate steps to bolster its cyber-borders.

Threats from within the business can be addressed by implementing a clear classification policy for staff to adhere to. This can be as lowtech as colour coding documents to correspond to their level of importance or implementing a comprehensive security permissions programme that only allows individuals with clearance to access the file. This will ultimately limit the threat from unscrupulous staff and help to identify the individuals who have access to specific documents, should an attack occur.

Tools and processes like these will no doubt help to protect the business from external threats of disgruntled staff, but in order to build a comprehensive defence against cyber-attacks, manufacturers also need to invest in training every member of staff to recognise these threats before they impact the business.

How to get staff ready While some threats can be reduced by implementing a specific process or technological solution, dealing with challenges that originate offline requires every member of the business to be involved. It is more than likely that an average member of staff will be the first target from an external threat. As such, it is important to appropriately train employees so that they can deal with any attack the company faces.

If clear guidelines on what information can and cannot be communicated are established, employees will be able to respond to fake calls more effectively. Likewise, if IT establish a transparent protocol that highlights what they would normally discuss over the phone, staff will be more able to distinguish between genuine calls and those from an external threat.

Other areas of cyber defence can also be improved with staff training. For example, employees will be able to spot many of the common attempts to breach the businesses, such as recognising phishing emails. Educating staff on recognising the small flaws such as changes to the company name, unusual greetings or an

unfamiliar email domain name will help prevent an external threat infiltrating the system.

Additionally, staff can be an immense help in spotting internal breaches. The day-to-day employee will most likely be the one to witness something suspicious before it has a chance to fully impact the business. Creating an office culture that regulates itself, with staff being aware of the threats to the business and knowing who to raise their concerns with, will ultimately build a robust defence that will keep the company secure.

The manufacturing industry is at risk from cyber-attacks at every angle. However, it is not impossible to protect the business from these threats. Building a strong cyber-defence, combined with staff training and support, will keep the industry secure. Company patents, intellectual property and prototypes will therefore be protected, allowing the company to grow and succeed. v

Robert Rutherford Robert Rutherford is CEO of QuoStar. QuoStar is a rapid-growth, privately-held business consultancy and information technology firm headquartered in the United Kingdom. QuoStar delivers strategic and technical consultancy, IT outsourcing and a comprehensive range of enterprise-class managed cloud services. The company’s client profile encompasses a broad range of industries and businesses with a turnover of up to £200M in the UK and overseas. www.quostar.com

www.manufacturing-today-europe.com 15

News in brief Funding awarded

The German engineering and consulting firm DMT has received funding from EIT RawMaterials, which will help it to engage in several projects to develop innovative technologies and services for the European natural resources sector together with international par tners. Previously DMT has received funding from EIT RawMaterials for a number of innovative projects, such as the development of an automatic shaft inspection system, an integrated monitoring concept for tailing dams, a cer tification system for the sustainable production of critical raw materials, as well as multiple projects for the evaluation and use of natural resource deposits.

“Our goal across all the projects is to develop future-oriented products and ser vices to safeguard the supply of raw materials for Europe and at the same time ensure DMT is suitably equipped to deal with the challenges ahead,” explains Dr Michael Haschke, who is responsible for R&D projects at DMT.

IT solution selected

CLAAS has selected Syncron Inventory - Retail to optimise its spare par ts inventory. CLAAS sought a solution that would provide centralised and automated service par ts management, improved inventory quality of the distribution network, increased par t availability and reduced excess and obsolete stock. Christian Buck, Supply Chain Manager at CLAAS, said: “Syncron was the only provider offering such a comprehensive solution, and the company’s laser-focus on after-sales ser vice is extremely beneficial – everything from the solution itself to the Syncron team is 100 per cent dedicated to the after-sales service supply chain.”

Syncron Inventory – Retail will be implemented throughout the CLAAS global network of dealers across all business units and product lines. The company’s long-term goals include optimised inventory and order behaviour, increased off-the-shelf availability, time savings in the order process and transparency in spare par ts planning throughout the distribution network, with the solution ultimately handling up to ten million SKUs.

16 www.manufacturing-today-europe.com

Strategic agreement

Halifax-based Broadbent Stanley has formed a strategic agency agreement with Radar Industrial, a Taiwan-based manufacturer of CNC VTLs. The agreement will see Broadbent Stanley actively marketing and selling the Radar range in many markets, including the UK and Ireland, Egypt, Africa and the Middle East. “This is an exciting development for Broadbent Stanley and adds significantly to our existing portfolio of large capacity lathes, grinders and mills,” says Graham Thomas, Managing Director, Broadbent Stanley.

The Radar VTLs are available in three model designations, the RAL-12, RAL-16 and RAL-20 with maximum turning diameters ranging from 1500 mm through to 2400 mm and turning heights up to 1600 mm with a maximum workpiece weight of 13,000 kg on the largest machine. All three machines come as standard the Fanuc 0i-TF user friendly CNC system. As standard, the machines are equipped with a 12-position toolchanger, which can be increased to 18 on the optional M-specification machines, with nine of those positions being capable of handling driven tooling, powered by a 15 kW (max) motor with up to 2400 revs/min available for the live tooling. For the larger of the three machines the main rotating table is powered by a 45kW motor, with two speed ranges of 1 – 50 and 1 – 200 revs/min controlled via a high-torque (up to 23,750 Nm) gearbox.

Reflecting success

The ceramic reflector for the world’s most powerful laser system has been developed and manufactured

by Morgan Advanced Material’s Technical Ceramics business in the UK, for use in a ground-breaking new 10-petawatt (10x1015W) laser system to be installed in the Czech Republic. The laser will achieve output pulses with energies in excess of 1.5kJ that are under 150 femtoseconds in duration, with a once a minute repetition rate. The power output during the ultra-short pulse of the laser will be approximately 100 times greater than the Global power usage.

Oliver Ridd, from the Technical Ceramics business of Morgan Advanced Materials commented: “We are proud to have developed one of the largest ceramic reflectors ever for this project. Using ceramic for this project has proved to be an effective move, and we are now looking to engage with other commercial and industrial projects of a similar nature where our ceramic material will provide performance benefits. We are delighted to have worked with National Energetics to provide an integral component for this extraordinary cutting edge laser.”

The laser system, once installed, will become an invaluable tool in furthering the understanding of astrophysical phenomena and investigating new physics at previously unattainable light intensities. It will be housed in the government funded facility to aid scientific research for global research projects. National Energetics’ laser system is currently on track for delivery to the Czech Republic in 2018.

manufacturing news £500,000 investment

Ahead of the game

Tier One automotive supplier Sertec has invested in a new £500,000 robot welding cell to manufacture parts for the new Toyota Auris, in a contract won from Toyota supplier Adient.

The new manufacturing cell, designed and supplied by CyberWeld Ltd, FANUC’s strategic arc welding systems supplier in the UK, is scheduled to produce circa 80,000 rear seat assemblies every year at Sertec’s Coleshill facility.

The new MiG welding cell is equipped with two Fanuc ARC Mate 0iB robots, controlled by R-30iB controllers. In addition, the cell is equipped with a 500kg payload turntable capable of 180o indexing, air-cooled Binzel welding torches and a torch cleaning station. Safety is provided by metal guarding and the FANUC dual check safety (DCS) software package.

Brand enhancement specialist API has made a breakthrough in the performance of its metallised polyester film laminates with the introduction of a new adhesive system. “This new development is another in the long line of innovations API has brought to market,” comments Richard Burhouse, Commercial Director at API. Having been successfully trialled through a rigorous testing programme, API’s new adhesive is a welcome addition to the range used by API in Europe, as it offers improved peel strength, reducing the risk of delamination during subsequent manufacturing processes.

One of the key benefits of the new adhesive system is its ability to deliver extremely high bond strengths without being excessively pressure sensitive in nature, meaning that the resulting laminate offers a wider operating window to down-stream processes such as die cutting where there is a risk of the cutting action initiating delamination on the edges. It is also highly water resistant, offers improved temperature stability and is compatible with API’s unique registration control system which allows pre-imaged laminated board to be printed in register during subsequent conversion steps.

As a leader in the field of paper and board lamination, API continues to strive to meet market demands and this introduction enables it to offer a robust product for the most technically challenging of situations.

“The new adhesive is complementary to the existing range of approved systems available and it allows our technical and quality colleagues to work in partnership with customers to specify the most appropriate product for the job at a time when packaging is becoming ever more sophisticated,” concludes Richard. “It’s a perfect example of how customers are becoming more demanding of the materials they use, particularly where registered film laminates are concerned and we have responded to stay ahead of the game.”

BASF and Ricoh partnership BASF, the world’s leading chemical company, and Ricoh, the leading technology supplier in the field of laser sintering machines for 3D printing of plastic powders, are evolving their Additive Manufacturing capabilities through a development partnership. The two organisations are collaborating on materials, processing and application development to bring further innovation to the market.

The partnership also includes development of new materials for the RICOH AM S5500P, which has been installed by BASF in its 3D-P Application Technology Center in Heidelberg. The agreement will increase the capabilities of the high-end plastic sintering production machines.

Greg Plowman, Director of Ricoh Europe’s European Additive Manufacturing Business Group said: “The wider success of the AM

market in the coming years rests on the crucial advances made in material sciences. These improvements will pave the way for creative implementations in new verticals and industries. By partnering with BASF as one of the largest material manufacturers in the world, we can jointly enhance our development expertise to meet specific and advanced customer requirements for end-use parts.”

Dr. Dirk Simon, Global Business Director of BASF 3D Printing Solutions GmbH commented: “This partnership brings together Ricoh’s status as a renowned SLS hardware manufacturer with our expertise on materials and their applications for series production. This collaboration will enable our customers to expand into industrial usage of Additive Manufacturing while enjoying increased productivity and more efficient working.”

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Focus on: 19 Omar Group 27 Finn Marin 30 Ricardo 35 Lister Petter 38 Radio Design 42 Beardow Adams 45 Xiros Ltd 48 Dürr Dental Ag 50 Montracon 52 Vision Commercial Kitchen Ltd 54 Universal Tool & Production Company Ltd 56 Haigh Engineering Company Ltd 58 Bystronic Glass

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Omar Group

Home is where the

heart

is

Omar Colorado park home

With a reputation built upon 50 years of manufacturing excellence, Omar Group’s luxury park homes and lodges have helped transform the retirement and holiday home markets

A

market leading designer and manufacturer to the residential park home and lodge park marketplace, Omar Group (Omar) was first established in 1965 and has built up its brand portfolio in recent times, with the group now encompassing five distinct and respected brands: Omar Park & Leisure Homes, Wessex Unique Lodges & Park Homes, Omar Park Development Services (OPDS), Boutique Lodges, Holidays by Omar and Omar Refurbishment Services. With customers spanning the length of the UK, as well

as overseas, the group is a proud member of the British Holiday & Home Parks Association, the National Caravan Council and the Gold Shield ten-year warranty scheme.

Omar has a 50-year heritage when it comes to making residential park homes. “We are not a caravan manufacturer, and never have been,” emphasises Omar Group Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Dean Westmoreland. “This is a company that has always innovated and led the way in its field. What really marks out an Omar park home is design flair, outstanding interior

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Omar Group Wessex comtemporary luxury lodge

Omar Group Chairman & CEO, Dean Westmoreland

design, great ergonomics and use of space, the durability of our products, and the fact that they are high quality, offering our residents affordable luxury living.

“Omar is a performing business, built upon an open and honest philosophy, strong business ethics and teamwork. Customers recognise Omar for its outstanding products, innovative design, build quality and market-leading customer service. We are dedicated to the idea of sustainable improvement and take great pride in striving to be the best we can be, in all that we do.”

‘Staycation’ is a term that has risen in usage over the last decade or so, used to describe a holiday spent in one’s home country rather than abroad. It has become particularly prevalent in the UK, where ‘stay-at-home’ searches and booking increased by almost a quarter in 2017, compared to 2016, according to data analysis. It comes at a time when UK trips are also getting shorter, with findings indicating that over half of ‘staycationers’ plan breaks of three days or less.

The growth of the ‘staycation’ has had a significant knock on effect for those businesses set up to service those taking a break in their home country. This, alongside an aging population and a lack of age appropriate affordable housing driving increasing demand for park homes, has led to private equity groups and other investors

moving quickly to acquire and/or invest in British holiday and residential parks, having been attracted by robust growth and solid revenues.

One such recipient of this type of investment is Omar, which, in April 2017, announced significant investment in the business from Rutland Partners, which will be used to fund further expansion in the park home and lodge sector.

Teamwork “The team at Omar has worked tirelessly over the years, focusing on delivering best-inclass products and customer service, and their endeavours have certainly paid off with the group’s turnover quadrupling from £10 million in 2010, to around £50 million today,” Dean explains. “Over this period, the company has also created over 250 jobs, and taken on over 30 apprentices in trades as diverse as IT and Computer Aided Design (CAD), to carpentry and plumbing.”

Omar is an integral part of the local community and is the largest employer in Brandon, providing opportunities for 425 staff and 12 apprentices. “Providing opportunities for young people in our local area is important to us, with apprentices being able to study and learn at the coalface, as well as at college, across a broad spectrum of trades. Omar has offered over 30 apprenticeships over the past five years, with a number going on to be retained by the group

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Omar Group Omar Anniversary park home

Hoover Candy Group

Hoover is a brand recognised worldwide for its innovative kitchen technology. Since the launch of its first vacuum cleaner 110 years ago, the brand has put the consumer first, creating stylish, state-ofthe-art household appliances that allow consumers to care for their families and their homes.

The latest innovation comes in the form of its award-winning Vision oven. The futuristic appliance allows you to access the internet from a touch screen oven door, while letting you keep an eye on what’s cooking with in-cavity cameras which can be accessed via an app.

Hoover, delivering innovative technology that works for everyone.

upon successful completion of their course. We recognise that a happy, well-motivated and well-rewarded workforce is at the core of our success, which is why we always strive to attract, develop and retain the best talent.”

This talented group of individuals has, over the years, been responsible for building the very best park and leisure homes that money can buy, and that exceed customers’ expectations.

Each home is built using responsibly sourced structural materials and to a specification that surpasses BS 3632:2015, the British Standard for the manufacture of residential park homes and lodges.

Over the last five decades there have been a number of new additions to the group’s portfolio of homes and lodges, and there are some that hold specific significance to Dean and his team. “We are particularly proud of the Omar Kingfisher Lodge as it virtually heralded the market for luxury lodges in the 1990s,” he states.

“We were tasked by customers who owned both residential and holiday parks to make a product for the holiday market that has the same quality and longevity as our park homes, and in effect the luxury lodge was born.

“We are also proud of the Anniversary park home, which was launched as a brand-new product in 2015 – our 50th anniversary year as a limited company. With this product, we proved

that it was still possible to make something fresh, new, different and exciting in the park home market. Subsequently, the Anniversary would go on to win a Park Home of the Year award and has been one of our best sellers for each of the past three years.”

Winds of change “Our park homes and lodges, and the parks which site them, have undergone a transformational change over the last ten years or so,” Dean adds. “Historically, residents bought mobile homes to release some equity from their properties to help fund their retirement. Today, however, park living is more of an aspirational lifestyle, with well-presented gated parks on the edges of towns and semi-rural locations offering an idyllic way of life. It means that our customer base in 2018 is a healthy mix of both middle and working class people.

“Industry trends also show that park home estates can play a valuable part in helping to solve the housing crisis. There are an estimated 3.3 million people currently looking to downsize and we offer them the opportunity to do so in a brand-new timber frame, single storey home, at a time when fewer companies are out there building affordable retirement housing, such as bungalows.”

When it comes to the group’s manufacturing capabilities and operations, Omar has taken the decision to manufacture in-house what it

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Omar Group Wessex Allure luxury lodge

Omar Elveden Cottage park home

sees as being key components.

“Our steel chassis, engineered in conjunction with Anglia Ruskin University, have been redesigned to contend with increases in the size and weight of homes as they evolve. Meanwhile, manufacturing roof trusses, and PVCu windows and doors inhouse allows us to be flexible with both size and design,” Dean details. “We also produce kitchen and bedroom furniture, which again allows us to accommodate size changes and offer fully functional fitted furniture to match a customer’s design requirements. Controlling these key items means we can control the quality and ensures that they are lineside when required, reducing our exposure to, and reliance on, third party suppliers.

This action drove a change in its manufacturing process from a typical production line and introduced a static finishing area, which removed significant bottlenecks. Immediately following this, we saw a double-digit percentage increase in productivity, with the only additions to our staff being two material handlers.”

Long-term planning As part of its long-term strategic plan, in the summer of 2016, Omar opened the doors to its impressive new, £1.1 million, 43,806 square foot factory extension development at its Brandon production facility. “The new factory extension was primarily carried out to provide us with all

new finishing bays,” Dean reveals. “The four main production lines in the factory are six bays deep and enable us to erect units, finish exteriors and make units watertight. Our high-end super lodges and park homes can be in final finish for two weeks, while our entry level affordable homes can be internally finished in three days. The new finishing bays have helped to improve production flow and have given us more room to operate in.”

Purpose-built, with consideration given to lighting, location of services and material logistics, this new facility has already generated a marked improvement, not only in manufacturing efficiency but also in the final finish quality provided.

“The extension of our Brandon factory has enabled us to increase sales from £39 million to £50 million, and allowed us to create 60 new jobs in Brandon,” Dean enthuses. “It has also provided us with a better environment for final finish and snagging, as well as a show-room type environment that allows our retail customers to come and visit their homes.”

In recognition of the above-mentioned growth, Omar found itself being named in 2016 and 2017 in two prestigious reports compiled by the London Stock Exchange Group; ‘1000 Companies to Inspire Britain’ and ‘1000 Companies to Inspire Europe’. Further to this, the group has also recently been placed at No. 45 in the Sunday Times’ eighteenth annual ‘Profit Track 100’ and within the Financial Times’ ‘FT 1000’, a report on the fastest growing companies in Europe.

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Omar Group Omar Group’s new finishing bay

Buoyed by this recognition, as well as the aforementioned investment from Rutland Partners, Omar is in the process of embarking on further expansion. The next big step for the group involves the planned expansion of its satellite manufacturing facility in Hull, which will create a further 80 new full time jobs. What its plans for Hull also represents is Omar’s plan to drive group-wide sales to north of £80 million in the coming years. “An aging population and a lack of affordable, single-story, age-appropriate accommodation has driven our retirement park homes. At the same time, on the lodge side, changing holiday behaviour has driven sales; with a flight towards quality, UK-based self-catering holidays growing and customers wanting a quality experience.

“Meanwhile, we have an ever-increasing focus on expanding our retail sales revenue. Our group websites receive around 28,000 visits a month, which generate around 600 retail leads a month. To build upon this, we have recently introduced Claire Tallon to the team in the role of Retail Sales Manager. It is Claire who will help drive our key initiative, which is to match retail customers to their new dream home.”

For Dean, Claire and the rest of the Omar team, the group’s immediate mission statement is clear. “Essentially,” Dean concludes, “we need to do more of what brought us to the dance in the first place, which is offering the very best park home and luxury lodge products, supported by the best team of dedicated professionals, providing outstanding customer service and delighting our retail customers.”

Omar Group’s HQ and main manufacturing facility

Omar Group

Product: Park homes and luxury lodges

www.omar.co.uk

26 www.manufacturing-today-europe.com

Finn Marin

Powering

through

Established in 1990, Finn Marin has been a major player in the Scandinavian motorboat industry, and as part of the Terra Patris conglomerate since 2015 has been going from strength to strength

B

ased in Kokkola, Finland, Finn Marin is one of the largest boat manufacturers in Scandinavia, and its CEO Raimo Kielinen is very passionate about the service that his company offers: “The range consists of Finnmaster, Husky and the premium brand Grandezza, each one offering a wide array of options, compared to what other competitors can provide.”

The Grandezza is described as ‘a boat for people who don’t want to settle for the ordinary’, with the 40CA referred to as a ‘true beauty of the seas’, complete with a sandwich

structure for exceptional handling, bedrooms that wouldn’t look out of place in a boutique hotel and a maximum speed of 40 knots, which Raimo describes as the ‘luxury’ option. Elsewhere, the Finnmaster Pilot 8 is ‘a model without compromise’ with smart storage compartments and features such as a Garmin chart plotter and echo sounder, while the Husky R7 is described as ‘a versatile bow rider, perfect to spend a day at sea in.’

Raimo’s journey to becoming CEO of both Finn Marin and fibreglass boat builder Selio Boats is a fascinating one. After graduating from

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the College of Forestry, he went on to become Sales and Marketing director of wood products, Finnforest (which has since been renamed Metsa Wood), before starting his current role, which also includes being a board member of the Finnish Marine Industries Federation.

Raimo is proud to have witnessed the organisation grow and develop. In 2004, it

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became part of Finnish conglomerate Terra Patris group, that also includes agricultural machinery, contract manufacturing and excavation services.

This association has had enormous benefits: “Coming into this allowed the company to expand, and it has been growing quite fast in the last three years.”

Another prominent partnership has been

with Yamaha, with Finn Marin distributing for its network since 2003, and the agreement has been beneficial for both sides: “There is a close connection with all of the Finnmaster and Husky products pre-rigged for their engines, and we also distribute in other parts of Europe as well,” he confirms.

One aspect that Raimo is concerned about is the process of finding the next generation of builders, something that will be crucial to protect the industry in the long-term: “At the moment, it is very challenging, and steps have been taken to educate new employees coming into the team,” he explains.

One way that Finn Marin is building on this is by looking to expand its operation by opening a new factory in Tchew, a northern port in Poland: “At present it is in the planning stages, and it should be ready for operation in 2019.

The reason that this decision has been taken is because production in Finland can be quite costly at the moment, especially when it comes to making smaller ones, so it is important that facilities are in place that can manufacture quickly and efficiently.” Reports have suggested that PLN

Finn Marin

16.5 million (the equivalent of $4.5 million) is being put into this project, and it will create 20 new additional jobs.

When it comes to what may happen in the future, Raimo is cautiously optimistic, and not just in terms of literally building towards sales targets: “For the next 12 months, the focus has to be on growth, though we do have one eye on the important trade events that are taking place in January and March.” This is a sensible approach, but the results suggest there are reasons to be cheerful, with turnover estimated to have increased by 40 per cent in the 2016 period just before the Helsinki exhibition last year (27.7 million euros compared to 20.2 million euros in 2015).

The show was significant, as it also saw the debut of four new additions, including the fibreglass Finnmaster S6 and the sporty Husky R8s, complete with a 350-horsepower engine.

During this event, Raimo was quoted as saying: “The strongest export markets are Sweden and Norway, with traction in the UK and Switzerland.

Going forward, the sales network will be expanded to cover new parts of Europe.”

Raimo is aware that some factors are outside of his control: “The group will be paying close attention to its new Polish factory, and it is hoped that this will be beneficial in the long term. How far the business develops also depends on the economic situation, which is very difficult over the next five years.” As well as investing in facilities, there will also be more money put into product development, further improving on the quality of choices for potential customers.

With vessels capable of speeding through the seas, or something that allows for a serene cruise, it is no surprise that Finn Marin is adapting to the ever changing waters of the current economic situation. In summary, Raimo has a message to motivate and inspire everyone: “As long as it is possible, we will keep going!”

Finn Marin

Products: Exporter of leisure motor boats and associated equipment and services

www.export.finnboat.fi

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Proven

performance

For more than a century, the company known as Ricardo has built a reputation for embracing innovation and technology. This is arguably none more prevalent than in the activities of its Performance Products division

30 www.manufacturing-today-europe.com

O

ne of the most innovative engineers of his time, Sir Harry Ricardo’s ethos centred around a mission statement to ‘maximise efficiency and eliminate waste’. It was this thought process that he applied to the founding of his own company in 1915. Now, more than 100 years later, the business that shares his name stands tall as a global strategic engineering and environmental consultancy that specialises in the transpor t, energy and scarce resources sectors. As a result of its multi-industry knowledge and deep technical exper tise, Ricardo has been able to cultivate a rich client list that includes transpor t operators, manufacturers, energy companies, financial institutions and government agencies.

In addition to its technical consultancy services, Ricardo also possesses in-house engineering capabilities that enable it to design

and deliver high-quality prototypes, and lowvolume manufacturing of complex products and assemblies, including engines, transmissions, electric motors and generators, battery packs and fuel cell systems.

Making up a core par t of this offering is Ricardo Performance Products, which has been at the forefront of niche volume programmes for more than 40 years. Specialising in complex precision electromechanical products, it has delivered projects, from individual components through to complete power train systems, to global industries including automotive, defence, aerospace and rail.

“At Performance Products, we represent the manufacturing arm of the wider Ricardo group and are responsible for delivering projects at the very cutting edge of our industries,” begins Performance Products’ Managing Director, Mark Barge. “Our role is

Ricardo

Above: Mark Barge, Managing Director

to bring production intent designs to fruition for our external clients. The process behind this typically begins with significant resources being directed towards research and, ultimately, prototype demonstrators.”

The in-house capabilities of the business benefit from being both flexible and broad, and range from industrial engineering teams focused on developing assembly solutions from one to 100 products per week and precision machining operatives, to supply chain specialists sourcing critical components from across the globe. These capabilities combine to create a par tner of choice where robust, complex assembly solutions are required to meet demanding applications and time scales.

The last 12 months have been a typically productive and energetic time for Performance Products, with the year beginning with the completion of its niche engine manufacturing

facility at its headquar ters in Shoreham-bySea. This task came to its conclusion with the bringing online of the business’ second EOL dyno and the assembly of its 10,000th engine for McLaren Automotive.

“2017 has been a record production year for ourselves when it comes to the assembly of high performance engines, and one that we already look poised to better in 2018,” Mark proudly states. “This continued development of engine performance has seen us invest in what we believe to be one of the most advanced and high performance production line dynamometers in the world. The test cell not only allows us to test the next generation of powerful V8 and V6 engines, but also significantly reduce the cycle time required to break in and quality assure these products. The process engineering team at Shoreham has used the very latest SMED approach to reduce

Top: New engine dynomometer Bottom: Transmission on its final test before delivery

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Ricardo

Unipart Manufacturing Group Unipart Manufacturing Group (UMG) delivers a unique and tailored solution to manufacturing, engineering and supply chain problems. With a proud heritage in the automotive industry, we have established ourselves, expanding into wider sectors while continuing to deliver engineering excellence for our customers.

Unipart Powertrain Applications (UPA), a subsidiary of UMG, is focused on engineering led, high value manufacturing, safety critical products and services, particularly in the low carbon premium automotive sector.

The group leverages engineering from its ground-breaking collaboration with Coventry University, the Institute for Advanced Manufacturing and Engineering (AME) and from a network of strategic partners.

Engine production line

the cycle time of these engines through the test bed, and this increased productivity is just one example of how we continue to beat our production records year-on-year.”

Performance Products’ success, however, has not been limited strictly to engines. “At our transmission manufacturing site in Leamington Spa we successfully secured the design and production of the new Aston Mar tin Valkyrie, and saw the first production transmission for the new Bugatti Chiron leave the production line,” Mark enthuses. “Both cars are set to rewrite the rulebooks with regards to automotive performance, and it is a fantastic reflection of the team and their capabilities that we continue to be the supplier of choice in the world of hypercar transmissions.”

With its core markets being premium automotive and motorspor t, it should come as little surprise that the biggest trend that Mark and his team are experiencing at present is the electrification of the vehicle power train. “This has led to many areas of focus within Ricardo as a whole, however we at Performance Products have found that the most exciting new applications are based around high performance battery systems and transmissions with integrated electric motors, known as E

Drives,” he explains. “We have a proven track record in assembly of both complex, high tech systems and transmissions products, which has resulted in us securing concept battery and E Drive programmes in high performance road car and race car applications. This is another trend that we see continuing into 2018.”

While 2017 has indeed seen significant investment across Performance Products’ plant and infrastructure, moves which mean that 2018 is guaranteed to play host to fur ther announcements regarding its growing capabilities, its biggest investment remains reserved for its most valuable asset, its people.

“The world of high-tech, niche assembly is very specialised and whether it is process engineering, global procurement specialists, supplier quality engineers, project management or highly skills assembly technicians, we have continued to invest in our staff and grow the team to meet the challenges of today, and tomorrow,” Mark continues. “Although it is true that we boast some of the world’s most advanced manufacturing facilities, our success has always stemmed from our people and their continue drive to deliver excellence to our customers. Ricardo’s core principles are ‘Passion, Integrity, Innovation and Respect’,

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Ricardo Machined motorsport gearbox casting Bottom: Transmission on its final test before delivery

principles that I am proud to say I witness daily from the team here at Performance Products.”

The work of said team continues to receive external as well as internal praise. In October 2017, Performance Products was named winner in the ‘Innovation’ category at the JP South Business Awards, hosted at the Grand Hotel, Brighton. The award was presented in recognition of its excellence in delivering high performance engines, transmission systems and components for some of the world’s most advanced vehicles. “This par ticular award represents a great achievement for the entire team, but ultimately we have our customers to thank,” Mark says. “Since our inception, we have only tackled the most challenging of projects, be it the first hypercars, such as the Jaguar XJ220 and McLaren F1, up to the defence and aerospace projects of today. In each instance, it is the customer’s continued drive into the most demanding of markets that constantly pushes the performance envelope.

“This in turn drives our team to constantly develop new and innovative manufacturing solutions. It is only through this process that

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we are able to keep up with, and service, our customers’ ceaseless demands. When this is combined with our passionate team of professionals what you end up with is the perfect incubator for manufacturing excellence!”

As we enter into 2018, electrification of the vehicle drive line, whether it be on the road or on the track, will be a key theme for Mark and his team, as will a number of other important industry developments. “As you can probably imagine, the majority of our most exciting contracts are highly confidential. Nevertheless, you can rest assured that Ricardo’s hardware will be in action during every Formula 1 race, every WRC rally stage, every Le Mans round and every motor show during 2018!”

Ricardo

Products: High performance engines, transmission systems and components

www.ricardo.com

Lister Petter

Rebuilding an

I

icon

n October 2017, Keith, Sean and Ryan Mason took on a big challenge. Having already achieved success in the marine and industrial sectors with Sleeman & Hawken Limited, they completed the takeover of Lister Petter, a historic British manufacturer of engines and gensets, providing solutions for a range of sectors including construction, commercial and agriculture.

This news has been cautiously welcomed in the industry. On the one hand, it is very positive in continuing the legacy of an iconic 150-yearold British name in the industrial world. It also secures the jobs at its UK manufacturing facility and helps support the various UK suppliers the company deals with, as well as the many overseas

distributors that have built their businesses on the back of Lister Petter. On the other, the company has had a number of different owners in recent years, as well as some other issues concerning finance and deliveries. Keith is fully aware of what needs to be done: “It is about getting the quality back, it is about stability, and getting lead times down from ten weeks to three or four.”

The first step towards restructuring is to identify problem areas, and then come up with ways to solve them. Ryan outlines the difficulties that need to be addressed: “Ten years ago, there were 250 staff with multiple sites around the world. Now, there are just 20 employees in a condensed, albeit modern, production facility in Hardwicke, Gloucester. It has been through

Lister Petter is celebrating its 150th anniversary, and is considered an iconic British brand in the field of industrial engines

receivership, and has suffered from a lack of investment. It’s an important time, and hopefully the existing clients will support our plans going forward.” Keith is happy to report a reassuring response: “Feedback has already been very good, and the water pump and generator markets have been encouraging in these early weeks. Some historically large customers, who turned to other manufacturers, have come back to place initial orders with us.”

In effect, moves have been made to reinstate what was already working effectively, but also to build on it, as Keith explains: “One step is to re-engage with the main dealers. Some have been in place for many years, so it is hoped that by restoring the dealer network, it will be possible

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Lister Petter

to install confidence in the brand again to help us all grow.” It is also worth emphasising that the expertise of Sleeman & Hawken is being brought into the new setup: “We have very experienced staff that have dealt with Lister products for decades. We have also dealt with many of the suppliers to the factory already, so we hope these relationships will help us increase sales and make deliveries more efficient.”

Another way to improve both the efficiency and the quality of production, has been to invest in new technology: “The first thing we did was to install a new MRP (Material Requirements Planning) system. With so many different components and lots of different build specifications, this was critical in getting the factory more organised,” Ryan states. “It also means we can forecast our requirements much further in advance and get more goods on order, helping to save on freight and administration costs. This has been alongside the re-introduction of many previous quality checks and balances that had been overlooked in recent times.”

With 2018 approaching, the new owners are considering the next direction of Lister Petter.

As well as retaining and improving the current offering, the Masons are looking at what else can be done: “We are moving back into the marine engine market, which Listers has not been a part of for five years. We have redeveloped the Alpha and T-Range marine engines for both propulsion and auxiliary power, which we are hoping to launch in January,” Keith predicts.

Ryan adds a note of caution, reiterating that the focus is getting things back on track first: “There are ambitious plans for the future, but first we

CD Sheet Metal

During our partnership with Lister Petter (LP) we transformed its simple generator bases into fully assembled acoustic canopies with associated ancillary brackets by re-engineering the way LP assembled these sets. They were originally built in individual panels, which the LP team assembled in house.

However, by building during manufacture in our own factory, and through design and diversity, CDS was able to deliver as a single unit, which LP could then lower over their engine base, which significantly reduced time and costs, and allowed more generator sets to be completed in one day.

need to consolidate. Hopefully by Easter the groundwork will be laid to offer a broader range.

There is a lot to take on board and we need Listers to walk again before it can run!”

There is a substantial history behind Sleeman & Hawken as well, having been involved in manufacturing and distribution for over five decades. A majority of that has involved Lister Petter products: “In that time I have had dealings with several previous managing directors. Having been in close communication over that period, there has always been a connection with the brand, something that we have always felt very close to,” Keith recalls.

Ryan is adamant that the pull of the historic brand still exists: “There is a demand for simply assembled, reliable and easy to maintain machinery that can be fixed onsite without the need for complicated diagnostic equipment, which is not always available in some of the more remote regions where these machines operate.

UK manufactured product is still held in high regard in the market, so we have to be proud of our UK facility whilst still remaining competitive on price.”

It is easy to be cynical about a company

takeover, especially during a challenging period.

However, it is worth remembering that the new team taking on this rebuilding exercise clearly have experience in the industry. There seems to be a belief and desire to maintain the integrity of what this 150-year-old business stands for.

Indeed, there is a push to return to the practices that built its reputation in the first place, and to restore confidence in both the short and long term. Most crucially of all, it seems to be about bringing back the previous customer base, who are after the level of quality that comes from a dedication to craftsmanship.

Finally, Keith, Sean and Ryan have a message to pass on: “We would like to thank our loyal clients and suppliers, who have stuck around long enough to give us this chance as the new stewards of Lister Petter. It has been very heartwarming receiving their well-wishes, and we hope to do them justice in 2018.”

Lister Petter

Products: Industrial engines

www.listerpetter.com

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Eric Hawthorn

Networking the

world

By utilising multi award-winning technology, Radio Design’s solutions allow the world’s largest network operators to achieve maximum data throughput and capacity, through existing and shared infrastructure

I

t has been said countless times that today is the ‘age of big data’. Everywhere we look there is an increasing demand for data, from the ever-more powerful supercomputers being utilised by global organisations and governments, to the latest smartphones and tablets being released by the world’s technology giants. It is in the latter category where some of the biggest changes are occurring as consumers come to expect the same from their phones as they would their home computers. With this comes an insatiable appetite for data, but one

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that is tempered by a demand for costs to be kept to a minimum. The resulting conundrum for mobile and telecommunications operators is the need to increase network capacity while keeping costs down.

This is where Radio Design steps in. An award-winning, market leader in the provision of wireless infrastructure sharing solutions and radio frequency (RF) filter systems, this Saltairebased company is the creation of Founder Eric Hawthorn and a pioneering team possessing nearly 500 years of combined leading-edge RF

design, development and volume-manufacturing experience. With a plan to target OEMs, operators and infrastructure companies with the fastest and lowest-cost ways of rolling out their networks, the company has grown considerably in the last decade and now has a worldwide footprint, with additional facilities in Finland, India and China.

“At the time that we were establishing ourselves in the market there was a trend building towards network sharing between the major operators,” Eric explains. “Through

Radio Design

a combination of good timing, good product innovation and a slice of good fortune, Radio Design found itself in a position to offer elegant, customised solutions based around RF filters that would allow said operators to share antenna, mast and cable infrastructure in order to boost network capacity. This was, in essence, our first big break.

“Around the same time, we also began offering repair services for base station equipment by utilising our strong engineering capabilities to create test solutions for all manner of products that we had not designed originally ourselves. This was the catalyst for the formation of our repairs business and has since been the source of a solid flow of additional income, and provided us with the opportunity to set up in countries like India.”

Radio Design’s product portfolio is extensive and includes, network-sharing filter combiners, interference mitigation filters, technologysharing filter combiners and coverage/ capacity enhancement solutions. “Our principle manufacturing base is the UK, from where we

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Radio Design

shipped an average of 7000 units per month in 2017, which is a figure that we are now in the process of ramping up further,” Eric continues.

“Meanwhile, in India we have been shipping between 3000 and 3500 units per month, with this number also expected to increase in the months to come.”

When it comes to its manufacturing processes, this is an area of the business that is continuously evolving and being perfected on an almost daily basis. “In the early days of the company, when we were making only one or two products, our operation was relatively straightforward. The reality is that now, when in any given month we can be producing up to 60 different products spread across 7000 units, we have had to invest heavily in top-of-the-line manufacturing control systems,” Eric explains.

“This investment has seen us develop our own production control software solution called Control Panel, which allows us to track our

Suzhou Henghui Technology Co., Ltd

Suzhou Henghui Technology Co., Ltd specialises in high precision parts manufacturing, sales and service. Formed in 2003, it has developed a rich experience in CNC machining, aluminum die casting, precision machining, sheet metal stamping, plastic injection and punching, and has co-operated with many large, well-known telecommunication and auto-motive companies.

Suzhou Henghui Technology Co., Ltd’s 23,000 square metre workshop space is home to more than 680 employees, including 100 senior engineers and technicians. These professionals have access to first class equipment including 131 advanced CNC high precision machines, CMM surface roughness tester projectors, tool microscopes and concentricity measuring devices.

Suzhou Henghui Technology Co., Ltd looks forward to establishing long-term, stable co-operation with other companies in the future by offering advanced equipment, qualified products, competitive prices and honest service.

processes, measure how long they take and gives us a view of what is happening in our factories at any given time.”

Said factories feature a mixture of manual and robotic processes, with approximately two million screws a month being inserted by hand. It is manual operations such as this that the company is now looking at ways to perfect and, where possible, automate. “It is important to note that, in my view, this adoption of automation is not going to reduce employment, but increase it as we ramp up production further still,” Eric states. “At the same time, we are conscious of the need to always ensure that our activities are as efficient and cost effective as possible, and that we maximise productivity throughout our facilities.”

In November 2017, Radio Design capped off what had already been a successful year with the announcement that, after several years of hard work and negotiation, it had been granted an import/export licence for the import of used equipment into China, which will then be repaired and exported back to the end user.

“The granting of this licence is a major step forward for our Hardware Repair Services (HWS) business in China,” Eric enthuses. “It will not only create an environmentally friendly alternative to the scrapping of used equipment by extending its working life, but it will also support our plans to develop our Chinese repair centre into a hub from which to support customers throughout the surrounding AsiaPacific region.”

Adding new customers and markets is at the core of Eric’s plans for the business in 2018, that

and ensuring it achieves increased efficiency from its manufacturing practices. Competition from companies in Europe, China and the United States remains an ever-present, and in response Radio Design continues to deliver innovative new solutions, with a recent example being its RF Router, a revolutionary concept that acts as a single optimised box with multiple input and output ports, and all the necessary routing in between. This new concept has already received strong feedback from existing customers and will be rolled out on a wider scale as 2018 continues.

“We have experienced quite the steep journey in terms of growth in recent years and the outlook is for that to continue so we need to make sure that we keep our nose to the grindstone, as it were, and train our focus on where we want to get to as a company,” Eric adds. “The world is a very big place and while we have solid business in the UK, Europe and India, there are huge parts of the world that we have not yet addressed, and it is our job to get there as quickly as we can with what is a niche, specialist capability and a unique, socially and commercially beneficial product set.”

Radio Design

Products: Radio frequency (RF) solutions and technologies

www.radiodesign.eu

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Beardow Adams

The smooth

Beardow Adams’ mission to be the first to innovate and the first to market has resulted in the development of reliable, high-performance adhesive products that meet the toughest of challenges

Kraton

At Kraton, innovation is driven by creativity, passion and active assessment of market trends. As a leading supplier of biobased tackifying resins and a global leader in styrenic-block-copolymers (SBC) technology, Kraton offers a broad range of tackifiers and polymers for adhesive applications that make up many end-use products. With an innovative focus targeting safer and cleaner technology solutions, Kraton enables the formulation of adhesives tailored to meet customer challenges: from improving adhesion to difficultto-bond substrates to increasing process speed, as well as alternative functionalities. Kraton’s stateof-the-art laboratories and advanced technology platforms allow for the development of innovations that stay on the edge of emerging customer needs and regulatory changes. Through global operations, customer collaboration and continuous innovation, Kraton ensures the reliable supply and delivery of high-quality products that support customer needs and future growth.

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process T

ypically taking the form of 100 per cent solid formulations based on thermoplastic polymers, hot melt adhesives are solid at room temperature and activated upon heating above their softening point. Following application, these adhesives retain the ability to wet the substrate until they solidify and return to a physical state that has structural integrity.This capability has resulted in hot melts being utilised in a wide range of applications and adopted by a varied mix of industry sectors.

The future potential for these adhesives was recognised by one Bob Adams back in the 1970s.

A chemist with a passion for innovation and new products, Bob would partner with Len Beardow to create the company which bears their respective surnames in 1977. In the 40-plus years since, Beardow Adams has gained a reputation for developing quality assured adhesives, which are today trusted by more than 10,000 respected companies around the world across a variety of applications including, packaging, labelling,

woodworking, product assembly and bookbinding.

“Taking inspiration from Bob and Len, we have spent the last four decades being committed to the ethos of helping to solve the problems encountered by our customers,” states Beardow Adams’ Group CEO, Adrian Day. “In an industry that historically has been typified by large, multi-national companies churning out thousands of tonnes of product for specific applications, we have worked hard to carve out a place in the market where we have become a trusted servicer of bespoke niche needs. With a product variance of several thousand combinations, a total of 14 production lines throughout the UK, and the ability to produce batches between one and ten tonnes at any one time, we have the flexibility needed to develop a tailored adhesive and get it into production quickly.This is a quality that very few companies can replicate and has led to the success that we have experienced.”

As well as being hedged well from a product and customer base perspective, Beardow Adams has ensured that it is also well positioned

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Beardow Adams

geographically, which has been essential to its growth with 80 per cent of what it produces in the UK now being exported.This business is further supported by the sites and former partner companies it has acquired in recent years in Germany, Sweden and in the United States.

“In the case of Germany, it is the largest consumer of adhesives in Europe so having a presence here is strategically very important, while the purchase of a former partner company in Sweden in 2014 has provided us a stepping stone into the Nordic region,” Adrian explains. “When it comes to the United States, we took the bold step of purchasing and investing in a greenfield site in Charlotte, North Carolina, in 2012, in a bid to realise our own version of the American Dream.

“On this greenfield site we decided to construct a hot melt adhesive plant, replicating the success we have had in the UK, albeit on a slightly smaller scale.

Whereas in the UK we can produce 50,000 tonnes per annum, in the US our facility has a capacity of 30,000 tonnes per annum, which we can leverage to serve a similar area of the market as that in Europe

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where the emphasis is on smaller, niche projects that have a shorter lead time.To date, we have experienced relatively quick growth on this side of the Atlantic and there are good signs that this will continue.”

It goes without saying, however, that central to Beardow Adams success has been the its track record of producing quality products. Scientifically formulated and technically advanced, its adhesives consistently outperform traditional variants. Case in point is its BAMFutura range, which was first introduced in 1998 and has helped redefine the standards for adhesive performance. So much so that it led the company to its first Queen’s Awards, this time for Innovation in the same year.

“At the time when we first developed our BAMFutura product it was a challenge for anyone to produce clear, clean running performance adhesives, particularly in the field of food packaging,” Adrian continues. “What we created was a product that can be produced and applied quickly to multiple applications, and to this day nobody has been able to match its performance.The success of the BAMFutura range is also what led the company to achieving the British Retail Consortium manufacturing standard, meaning that we are able to produce this adhesive in a hygiene environment similar to that used within the food industry itself.”

Further to the above range of products, a major source of growth for Beardow Adams

during 2017 was its advances in pressure sensitivity adhesives (PSA’s), particularly where they relate to the flexible packaging market. “Where you see all these mail order bags and packages used to deliver clothing from online retailers, you see an application that usually requires a self-adhesive strip to seal it,” describes Head of Strategic Markets, Eric Coveney.

“To service this rapidly growing market we have developed an extremely high performing hot melt PSA range called Pressen. Able to be applied quickly and work effectively across a range of different applications, temperatures and environments, Pressen has come to be one of our fastest growing product groups.”

2018 is an exciting time for the company, not least of all as it embarks of a period of change within its management structure, with Bob Adams moving into the role of Chairman and the next generation of executives taking their place in leading the business forward, all the while ensuring that it remains true to its values.

From an operational perspective, the company finds itself in the process of building a new hot melt adhesive operation on the site of its existing Frankfurt facility. “This decision was taken to address our need to create more physical capacity and introduce our first hot melt activities on the continent,” Adrian adds. “We anticipate having this up and running in 2019, after which we will be able to directly service our customers in the larger European markets.

“Meanwhile, we are excited to be in the process of commissioning a new product line, which will be going live in March 2018.This line will also fall into our PSA (Pressen) category and will increase our capacity by approximately 3000 tonnes. So, the focus for us as a business in 2018 will be in gaining capacity and presence in Europe, achieving growth in the United States, and building our partner and customer base in the UK.” Adrian, Eric and the rest of the Beardow Adams’ team are all well aware of the reasons behind its success to date, namely its dedication to innovation and product development, and the need to remain committed to these principles. “The market around us continues to consolidate, and this is helping to create fresh opportunities as niche solutions become harder to source from the larger multinationals,” Adrian says. “With this trend influencing the market we know that, so long as we stay true to our strengths and focus on developing quality, flexible and quick-to-market products, growth will come naturally to us as it has before.”

Beardow Adams

Products: High performance adhesives

www.beardowadams.com

Xiros Ltd L-R: Terry Smith (Senior Textiles Designer), Lewis Kennedy (Textiles Technician) and Mac Randhawa (Textiles Manufacturing Team Leader) preparing to start work for the day

Putting people

first R

Working in collaboration with medical professionals all over the world, Leeds-based innovators Xiros has spent over three decades transforming ideas into finished products, designing and creating pioneering devices, from concept to creation

Photo credit: Steve Sharp Photography

unning diagonally through the centre of the knee, the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) exists to prevent the tibia from sliding out in front of the femur, as well as providing rotational stability to the knee. An incredibly important, and often overlooked, part of the human anatomy, sadly the ACL is also one of the most common knee injuries, particularly for individuals participating in high demand sports and other activities. The severity of the injury can often result in surgery and a significant period of recovery.

It was with ACL-based injuries in mind that friends and colleagues Dr. Bahaa Seedhom and Dr. Kyosuke Fujikawa came together, in Leeds in 1981, to develop a textile-based implant and reconstruction technique that came to be known as the Leeds-Keio Ligament. With this innovation, the company Neoligaments was formed to specialise in the design, development, manufacture and supply of implantable textilebased scaffolds to treat a range of ligament, tendon and soft tissue injuries.

“In 2000, we changed our company name to Xiros in order to reflect our unique and diverse range of skills, which includes research, engineering and regulatory knowledge of medical implantable devices,” explains Xiros’ Production Direction, Alex Hogg. “Although we continue to design, manufacture and market our own product range under the brand name of Neoligaments, as Xiros we also specialise in the development and manufacture of products for some giant orthopaedic companies.”

Through Neoligaments, the company sells directly to hospitals in the UK and through a series of distributions worldwide, predominantly in Europe, South Africa, Australia and the United States. Further to this, Xiros is increasingly engaged with large US-based orthopaedic companies who wish to benefit from its technical textiles expertise, as well as its ability to respond quickly and to remain flexible.

“In the early years, there was some reluctance from the global market to adopt the use of synthetic ligaments,” Alex states. “More recently,

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however, the benefits of these synthetic products have become recognised and widely accepted, resulting in a big increase in interest in our technology and capabilities, especially from the large, US-based orthopaedic companies.”

The sterile implantable scaffolds that the company has helped pioneer are manufactured in-house at its state-of-the-art factory premises under a strict quality management system that operates to a number of international standards, including ISO 9001 and EN 46001, which it achieved in 1993 and 1995 respectively. The latter allowed Xiros to become one of the first UK companies to become eligible to CE mark its products under the EU Medical Device Directive. In 2004, Xiros would also go on to gain accreditation to ISO 13485.

“Our core solutions are centred around technical textiles, predominantly weaving, which is how many of our products are manufactured,” Alex continues. “Along with weaving, our technical textiles capabilities include, but are not limited to, knitting, embroidery and braiding. We also possess an in-house clean room for post-processing and packaging, a test lab where we carry out strength and fatigue

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testing of the product batches prior to release and on new products, a workshop where we conduct prototype work and new machinery manufacture, and a new materials lab where we develop new fibres for use in our products.

Additionally, we utilise a wide mix of bespoke machinery, which is both designed and built in-house, and this allows us to create unique medical devices that cannot be replicated with standard equipment.”

At the heart of Xiros’ business strategy is the rapid development of innovative ideas into fully developed commercial products. To this end, it developed a rapid response service called FASTRAX. “This focused service was created to convert concepts into complete solutions through a rigorous project managed process, ensuring speed to market without compromising quality. FASTRAX can be tailored to suit individual requirements, from completion of certain portions of work over the development process to full design and creation, including obtaining regulatory approvals.”

To ensure that it is at the cutting edge of medical textiles, Xiros is always looking to expand its capabilities to be able to devise new

Lewis Kennedy (Textiles Technician) inspecting one of the looms in the textiles production area

Xiros Ltd

Left: John Tresnan (Product Development Manager) and Dr Jonathan Lorrison (Development Director) reviewing the prototype of a new innovative implantable textile

Top: Dr Martin Stanley (Senior Research Engineer) and Dr Sarah Aickin (Technical Quality Manager and STEM Ambassador) discussing Achilles Tendon Repair Centre: Carol Jackson (Quality Control Inspector) checking dimension tolerance of implantable medical device components Bottom: Stacey Blakey (Senior Production Operative) inspecting implantable textile products in the clean room production facility

and innovative products. Its textiles designers are constantly pushing the boundaries of what is considered possible with existing equipment, while its team of engineers is responsible for the developing of new machinery that supports the creation of its novel designs.

An example of the company’s existing equipment and its forward-thinking approach coming into sync can be found in its development of various products, not least of all the Rota-Lok, a product designed to deliver the reconstruction of chronic, massive, full thickness rotator cuff tears. The result of a collaboration with Mr. A. Nada, Consultant Orthopaedic Surgeon at Nevill Hall Hospital, UK, it was he who identified the potential for a modified version of Xiros’ existing generic implants to optimise the repair of chronic massive rotator cuff tears.

“The original open weave structure of the Poly-Tape, our generic implant, remains a central section to provide a scaffold for tissue ingrowth, while thin corded ends were incorporated into the design to enable the implant to pass more easily through small bone tunnels, and the undulating structure of the cords was designed to allow for a small, highly secure knot. The RotaLok was launched by Neoligaments in 2010, and continues to be a bestselling product.”

Beside interest in technological advances and innovations, Xiros emphatically believes that

its core strength is its people. This is perhaps best reflected in the fact that it has held the prestigious Investors in People Standard since July 2000, and achieved Investors in People Gold Standard Accreditation in March 2016. Further to this, a recent assessment saw the company awarded ‘3 Star Best Company’ accreditation, highlighting its ‘extraordinary’ levels of employee engagement, capping of a fine 2017 that also saw it listed within the London Stock Exchange Group’s 1000 Companies to Inspire Britain report.

Xiros’ focus going forward is on becoming the leading innovator of implantable textiles and devices, and this means continuing to develop new and innovative products wherever possible.

“We remain committed to recruiting people with relevant special skills, as well as investing heavily in new equipment and machinery, to ensure that we keep on top of ever-increasing demand for our products,” Alex concludes. “To accommodate this we have successfully completed several minor extensions to our building, and in 2018 we will begin work on our new build extension that will almost double the square footage of the company.”

Xiros Ltd

Products: Textile-based medical innovations

www.xiros.eu.com

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The dental

designers

Dürr Dental is a third-generation family company, specialising in products and services such as compressors, X-ray imagining and suction systems

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D

ürr Dental was established in 1941 by two brothers, Karl and Wilhelm Dürr. Operating from a workshop in Gechingen, around Germany’s Black Forest region, this third-generation family business is now a worldwide group, comprising of 1050 employees in 36 countries and a turnover of 238 million euros in 2015.

Current CEO Martin Dürrstein is proud of his family heritage, but equally recognises that it is a platform to build on: “I am pleased to be able to look back over 70 years of successful history, and I am looking forward to the future.”

The Dürr family has been at the forefront of many technological advances that have gone on to create significant milestones in the history of dentistry. In 1947, the team designed hand-pieces and angled instruments with added water cooling in order to provide better pulp protection during tooth preparation. In 1956, compressors were produced with oil-lubricated rotors, adding a

further layer of automation to the process, in 1968 X-ray technology was brought in, and in 1995 Vistacam video further enhanced procedures.

Today, the organisation remains committed to advances in its field. For example, a new range of compressors have been developed that are more hygienic, ten per cent more powerful and are lower maintenance than previous units, due to the membrane drying unit. Many also come with additional noise reduction capabilities, ideal for making patients feel more comfortable while someone is operating on their teeth.

Another recent innovation has been the Tyscor VS2 radial suction. Building on a previous brand first created in 1964, it uses half the energy of older versions, as well as being 50 per cent lighter.

Its intelligent control has another benefit, in that it allows two machines to be used with only one line, allowing for more reliable operation. The quality of this product range was recently recognised by the German Design Council at its 2018 annual award

Dürr Dental AG

show. The council was established in 1953 by the German government, recognising innovation across the dental industry, with Dürr receiving accolades for the MyFlow powder jet, specifically the way its exchangeable chamber can allow powder to be changed quickly and safely. There was also a special mention for the Hygloclace 90 steriliser, with the judges impressed with its use of DuraStream technology, allowing for lower water consumption, high sterilisation safety and faster cycles.

Dürr also provides services to benefit dentists, such as assistance with project management, allowing its systems to be seamlessly integrated into clinics and training facilities. As well as being used in Germany, beneficiaries of this programme have included Cardiff University, the Bahrain Defence Force Hospital and the Stomatology Institute of Riga in Latvia.

As well as its commercial activities, there have also been moves to reach out to communities by supporting a number of non-profit charities and initiatives. This includes Mercy Ships, which provides dentists to people in Africa who do not have access to those kinds of services. There is also a push towards promoting physical health by sponsoring the Bietigheim New Year’s Eve run, as

well as sponsoring local football, ice hockey and handball teams.

New technology is constantly evolving, and further advancing dentistry, with Dürr at the forefront. In 2017, a specialist 3D X-Ray machine was introduced by the group. As well as allowing for more precise work, it has also proven very lucrative, and has been cited as a key driver of sales growth throughout the year.

In December 2017, a new facility was constructed, specifically for the development of imaging technology. This is important, due to the fact that more precise visual graphics are not only useful in terms of treatment, but also in identifying potential problems and offering more tailored advice to prevent issues before they occur.

Current devices that utilise this imagery include the VistaPano S Ceph. With a very short scanning time of 4.1 seconds, it minimises the risk of motion blur with scans, while also minimising the dosage of X-rays for the patient. Another example is the VistaVoxS which, thanks to its larger volume, can allow for a better representation of hard to see areas, such as the rear molars. For example, this can be used to spot an impacted wisdom tooth earlier, preventing further damage in the process.

With greater investment, there will be more advanced ways to improve these procedures.

In the next few years, there will be moves made to expand, and to promote the group to more clinics, colleges and other customers around the world. It also has ambitions to further boost its global workforce to accommodate this extension of the company’s activities. While this is the long-term ambition, the immediate priority is the completion of the new facility, ensuring that everything is working as efficiently as possible.

In some respects, it is quite incredible to see where this all started, with two brothers creating a business based on their particular set of skills.

While any person working for themselves is ambitious, it is unlikely that anyone could predict the massive international reach of Dürr, and the legacy of advancement that is likely to influence further generations of dental technicians, and contribute to better oral health across the globe.

Dürr Dental AG

Product: Dental hygiene products

www.durrdental.com

www.manufacturing-today-europe.com 49

Carrying the

I

load

n 1977, a niche trailer production company began operating from Belfast. Initially producing tandem axle flat platforms, skeletals and box vans it would go on to become Montracon, one of the leading manufacturers of commercial vehicle trailers in the UK and home to one of the largest product portfolio of any European trailer manufacturer.

Marketing Manager Dean Ridgill has clear views on how the company managed to achieve this: “Over the years we have developed from humble beginnings through strategic acquisitions and innovation, developing a wide range of products in both the ambient and refrigerated sectors. We manufacture trailers made to order in fully equipped factories in Doncaster, Market Weighton and Newtownabbey, Northern Ireland,” he explains.

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Montracon is the leading manufacturer of commercial vehicle trailers in the UK with the widest range of trailers and semi-trailers in Europe

The three main locations are crucial for the operation in different ways. Doncaster is the head office, which specialises in curtainsider and box van trailer manufacture and all variants, along with refrigerated trailer chassis construction. On top of this, the base also offers support functions such as the sales and marketing division, purchasing, material control, parts and supply in addition to its production capacity.

Manufactured in a purpose-built plant at Market Weighton, Montracon refrigerated trailers and cold stores have forged a fine reputation for strength and durability. To ensure build strength and reliability, all of Montracon’s refrigerated panels are custom-built on site. In its Irish base in Newtonabbey, Montracon creates bespoke and supersize non-bodied ambient trailers up to 15.6 metres in length. It is here that the steel frames

are cut to customer specifications by skilled operatives using state-of-the-art plasma cutters.

Peter Wright, Production Engineering Manager, is keen to emphasise that there is a uniformity across the three bases: “Doncaster adopts the same manufacturing principles as that of its sister location in Ireland,” he insists. In addition to this the company has also got a purpose-built repair centre near York. This is designed to cope with superficial damage, major repairs, full second life refurbishment for vehicles and it also liaises with insurance companies and assessors. Services on offer at this location also include paintwork retouches, comprehensive livery service and body refurbishment.

The Doncaster site received an additional boost with a £4.2m investment in a semiautomated shot blast and paint facility alongside

Montracon

upgraded production processes with a view to doubling output by 2018: “This will allow for improved production efficiency, steady growth, reduced environmental impact as well as resulting in a better standard of health and safety for our workforce,” he details. While this investment in new technology is encouraging, Peter also believes credit is due to the people behind the machines, whose 40 years’ worth of experience have been vital: “Our production excellence has always been founded on solid engineering principles, with quality, reliability and longevity being the company’s underlying values.”

A wide range is one of the biggest advantages that Montracon can offer, although Dean is quick to point out that the breadth of options is not the only reason that clients come back: “A nominal 3500 trailers a year can be quickly ‘flexed’ to suit market demand and model mix. We can offer variants including curtainsiders, flat/platforms, skeletals, box vans and refrigerated trailers.

Laterally the range has broadened to include steel and aluminium bodied tippers, and three and four axle machinery carriers,” he elaborates.

The company supplies everyone from major high street brands, supermarket chains, large-scale logistic operations as well as owner operated fleets and self-owned vehicles: “New sales remain buoyant with supermarkets looking to replenish their fleets through 2018. In 2017, we introduced the MT45 machinery carrier semi-trailer, designed to shift everything from access platforms up to excavators, quarry loaders and other heavy equipment. Introducing this new model has seen our market share in this sector increase to 11 per cent, doubling our figures from 2015,” Dean happily confirms. Another recent area for growth for the company was in the rigid market.

While previously most of the rigid bodies that it produced were refrigerated bodies it has now introduced a fully galvanised bolt together curtainsider and dry freight box: “We have built over 200 in the last 12 months at 18 and 26 tonne Gross Vehicle Weight (GVW) and will be introducing a 12 tonne GVW curtainsider range soon,” he states.

This is encouraging news as the company celebrates its 40th anniversary: “With the new investment in Doncaster we will continue to increase our production capabilities. Our aim is to ramp up sales in 2018, targeting a 30 per cent increase on this year,” he predicts. While an increase in the amount sold is encouragement for the sales reports, Dean believes that there are also wider benefits for the industry: “We are conscious of lead time within the industry and are eager to bring it down. Going forward if we can maintain an eight-week rolling lead time then more businesses will come,” he believes. Dean is

very clear about how the organisation will move forward: “The industry wants our products and we have to make sure that the capacity is there to deliver. Montracon has a reputation for building a product that lasts, longevity has always been a major factor when choosing us.”

It would appear that its clients agree with Dean’s views, with Sumo UK praising its customer service approach: “Instead of the sharp intake of breath and shaking of the head we received when outlining requirements in some quarters, Montracon sat down and worked with us,” they

gushed. Dean definitely has faith in the service that the company provides, with recent results backing up that belief. If all goes to plan and it targets are met as he predicts, then the company will continue to carry the needs of its clients for some time to come.

Montracon

Product: UK based trailer producers

www.montracon.com

www.manufacturing-today-europe.com 51

A vision of

perfection

By pooling its considerable knowledge and expertise, Vision Commercial Kitchens Ltd has become one of very few commercial kitchen suppliers that can claim to deliver a truly customer-focused offering

B

usiness in 2017 has been good for Vision Commercial Kitchens Ltd (Vision), continuing a welcome trend for one of the UK’s largest commercial catering design companies. “We have worked hard to grow the business considerably in recent years, taking on a whole host of challenging and amazing projects for different customers, which we always deliver to the highest quality possible,” begins Vision’s Managing Director, Jack Sharkey.

“This growth has also allowed us to expand what we consider to be our most valuable asset, our workforce, recruiting staff across the whole of the company in areas such as sales, service, project management and marketing.”

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Established in 2002, Vision offers a complete service, from design and specification through to installation, training and after-sales services, and has developed a comprehensive infrastructure and client base which covers the length and breadth of the UK. With an experienced team, whose vast wealth when it comes to varying styles of operation give the company a strong competitive edge, Vision covers a wide selection of market sectors including restaurants, hotels, schools, colleges, care homes and garden centres.

In addition to its expanding workforce, the company has made a concerted effort to facilitate further growth through the launching of its light equipment shop. Combining a new ecommerce website and field service presence, the shop offers a wide range of products including kitchen utensils, table theatre, crockery, cutlery, janitorial and cleaning materials, and chef ’s wear, complementing Vision’s project based and heavy equipment offering. “The introduction of our light equipment offering was very much a natural step for the business as it allows us to offer a full turnkey service to our customers,” Jack continues. “The initial reaction to this has been very positive and we see the growth

prospects for this side of the business as being very encouraging.

“At the same time, we have made strong efforts to expand and improve our service department, hiring a qualified and experienced National Service Manager, and this has already provided a boost to our capabilities by ensuring that we can deliver an even higher level of quality service to both our new and existing customers.

These are just a few examples of how Vision is a business that is always looking to the future and at how it can constantly be developing and enhancing its services.”

Innovative solutions As Vision has grown internally, so too has its portfolio of successfully completed projects, with some of its recent successes representing some of its best work to date. One such example was its delivery of the catering facilities for Fortnum & Mason’s first airport bar at Heathrow Terminal 5. While not the first time the company has delivered for a customer based at Heathrow, a previous contract involved providing the catering facilities for The Gorgeous Kitchen and LEON units within Terminal 2, Jack considers

Vision Commercial Kitchens Ltd

the Terminal 5 project to be perhaps the most challenging and rewarding job he has ever been involved in.

“The Fortnum & Mason project, which required the careful positioning and shaping of the counter to ensure the correct customer approach, posed significant logistical and technical challenges, some of which were among the hardest I have personally ever seen,” Jack explains.

“To answer these, we had to identify and apply new, innovative solutions, resulting in what I have to say is an absolutely stunning new destination for travellers.”

Other recent successes, including the Mondrian London hotels’ Sea Containers restaurant, the full turnkey service project at Forest Lodge Garden Centre, the delivery of a training kitchen for students at Manchester Metropolitan University, and its recently completed undertaking at Soho House’s new flagship hotel The Ned, help to highlight the versatility of Vision and its ability to adapt its approach to suit a customer’s individual needs. “Customers come to us because of our reputation for consistency, our professional and reliable service, and our ability to innovate,” Jack enthuses. “We have never been a company that simply accepts that things are done in a single, uniform way, rather we constantly challenge norms in order to find better ways of doing things. This is why we have been able to deliver the aforementioned projects in ways that exceed our customers’ expectations.”

we remain at the forefront when it comes to delivering consistent quality to our diverse mix of customers.

Vision Commercial Kitchens Ltd

Services: Commercial kitchen suppliers, from design to installation

www.visionck.co.uk

Drive to improve The market for Vision’s services is constantly evolving, with exciting developments currently revolving around themes including achieving an increased degree of connectivity within the kitchen environment, and the drive towards more flexible and efficient cooking and refrigeration methods, to name just two. When combined with the growing need to maintain closer relationships with major domestic and global manufacturers, it has arguably never been more important for Vision to maintain the overarching strategy that has allowed it to prosper so well to date.

“Our primary strategy has remained unchanged for a number of years now, and will remain so for many to come, and that involves capital investment in our infrastructure, systems and processes, and the development of our most important resource, our people,” Jack adds. “Our unrelenting drive for self-improvement has seen us become one of a very select few companies in our sector to have ISO 9001, 14001 and 18001 certifications, while our people are the reason why Vision is known far and wide for its ability to find improved ways of doing business. These are the sorts of traits that help to ensure that

www.manufacturing-today-europe.com 53

The Tools and the

Talent

U

TP has been supplying businesses with tools and parts since 1952.

Currently, the organisation supports the aerospace, oil & gas, and nuclear sectors. However, as new Managing Director Martin Todd points out, there have been moves toward developing markets and targeting potential customers in other sectors: “The renewable sector is an unstoppable locomotive, gathering pace and providing opportunities to manufacture and supply high quality parts for wind farms, solar panel installations and much more. Other sectors with potential for expanding the UTP portfolio include the defence and rail industries, and we are looking closely at ways in which we can support these vital areas as well as being prepared for future energy and engineering needs.”

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Universal Tool & Production Company Ltd (UTP) began production in 1952. Today, it is a high-end manufacturer for the aerospace, oil & gas, and nuclear industries, with plans for expansion into other sectors

Building up the portfolio is just part of Martin’s remit: “As the business leader, I must ensure the company’s strategy is properly executed, with a highly developed and appropriately deployed UTP team. Much of my time, I am coaching and supporting the leadership team to take full advantage of future opportunities.”

A phrase people commonly hear in this industry is ‘Precision Engineering’. Martin believes that UTP offers a specific variant on this, helping it to stand out amongst the competition: “As a highend, low volume manufacturer of complex parts and components, our exacting customers expect compliance. This is not just regarding the supply of conforming product, but also in the way we conduct ourselves in business; our ethics policies; our values. I take a holistic view of ‘Precision’ to include; the service we deliver to our customers;

our responsibilities towards our shareholders, our workforce and the local community; all within the bounds of a safe and sustainable environment.

The end goal is to create a UTP brand that is the ‘Supplier, Customer and Employer’ of choice.”

In order to stand out from its competitors, UTP adopts a more collaborative approach with its customers: “Clients supply blueprints or design ideas to the UTP team and we provide feedback, often guiding them towards more cost-effective and efficient methods of manufacture. From a project management point of view, it’s about identifying potential challenges and offering up mutually agreeable solutions,” Martin analyses.

On top of a change at boardroom level, there has also been a major shift in terms of the production process. Prior to March 2017, there were two main bases in Fareham, on the South

Universal Tool & Production Company Ltd

Coast, but with the business moving five miles down the road to Lee-on-the-Solent, UTP is now operating out of one facility, something that Martin is inspired by: “The newly built 32,000 square feet workspace delivers a real ‘wow’ factor for visitors. Not only has this enabled a shop floor layout that promotes logical and efficient product flow, but it also gives ample floor space for expansion. The interior environment is much cleaner and more user-friendly. Overall, in terms of employee satisfaction, cost-effectiveness and positive customer impressions, this structure definitely ups the ante.”

Employee welfare and recruitment is another element that Martin feels is crucial for future development: “New recruits are being sought now. I am committed to taking on four apprentices per year over the next three years.

We are working very closely with Fareham College’s CEMAST (Centre of Excellence in Engineering, Manufacturing and Advanced Skills Training) school, to identify suitable candidates to apply for apprenticeships at UTP. It is vitally important that more young people are encouraged into engineering and we will do our part. We are not just looking for technical competence, although obviously a good foundation is necessary. Successful candidates must be a good ‘fit’ with the rest of the team; knowing, believing and living the UTP values.

We are open to people who are ambitious and want to advance their careers, but there is also a place for those who simply want to be secure in their work and feel that their needs are being well catered for.”

There is a proactive move towards inclusion and diversity, as Martin feels the engineering sector would benefit from a wider range of experiences and backgrounds, welcoming new talent across the board. Traditionally, this has been hard to achieve, but Martin is confident that their close connection to local government, the local community and Fareham College will enable this going forward.

Part of that dedication to looking after workers is literally in the atmosphere at UTP. The purpose-built ICAX renewable energy system stores and extracts heat from the ground via an underground pipe system, keeping rooms inside the facility appropriately heated throughout the year. Martin is delighted with the installation. “This ICAX system is delivering a highly efficient heating and cooling regime to the building with no onsite emissions, and as a business we will continue to benefit from the rapid de-carbonisation of the grid, saving significant emissions throughout the lifetime of the factory. We are a business delivering high

quality, world class components with the latest technology and are delighted that the heating and cooling system supports that objective.”

Also installed is the Fern Howard ‘smart’ lighting system, which, as well as providing suitable, ambient light for all weather conditions, is extremely environmentally friendly with its use of LED, sensor activated units both in the offices and on the shop floor.

Whilst being comfortable is important, safety is paramount: “We are keen to deal with health and safety problems before they occur, and part of this involves coaching. Employees are encouraged to stand away from the job if they become fatigued, rushed or distracted. They can return to tasks when it is safe to do so. This ‘self-triggering’ is just one aspect of being on top of safety, and of course the overall concept is that it is better to prevent problems before they happen.”

Martin may be relatively new to his current position, but big plans are already being set in motion, though he concedes it will require some long-term planning. “Over the next 12 months

we are looking to consolidate our position, ensuring that results are delivered from a quality and timing point of view. The longer-term plan is to double in size over the next five years, and though that may sound like a steep curve, it is possible,” he insists.

What Martin clearly believes is that he can make the business bigger and better. It is very encouraging that he wants as many people as possible to share in and be a part of its legacy, ensuring that new ideas can be brought in to further advance the organisation in the future, not to mention the benefits for a growing local community. As Martin summarises: “There are no barriers to this industry!”

Universal Tool & Production Company Ltd Services: Tool and parts manufacturer

www.utp.co.uk

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Excellence in

engineering

Proud to be a UK manufacturer, Haigh Engineering Company Ltd (Haigh) has developed a reputation for supplying the highest quality macerators and waste water treatment systems

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H

aving been in existence for more than six decades, today the maceration and waste water treatment products from Haigh Engineering Company (Haigh) are known not only across the UK but also the rest of the world, with its name having become synonymous with technical innovation and product performance on a global scale.

The company’s products can be divided into two segments – Macerators and Waste Water Treatment systems. In the Macerators division, Haigh manufactures and supplies the most cost effective, innovative and reliable range of hospital macerators for the disposal of pulp products.

As pulp disposable items, such as bedpans, wash bowls, jugs and urine dishes, become more widespread, Haigh’s sluice room macerators have grown to become the preferred bedpan

system for hospitals, and its specialist macerator range (Quattro, SOLO and Classic+) work with all leading pulp suppliers and address challenges such as space, energy consumption, speed and reliability.

In fact, the machines are not just reliable but they are also clever - pulp is released gradually through tiny slots throughout its cycle, stopping large particles going into the drain. During the optimum moment, extra water is diverted from the drum to flush the drain outlet to keep it flowing freely. Haigh has called this unique action ‘Premium Flow’ and it is a fundamental part of the reliable performance that its customers demand to ensure nothing is left in the macerator at the end of the cycle.

As Managing Director Stuart Anderson commented: “In an industry where costs must be balanced with reliable equipment, it is incredibly important to commit to continued innovation and responsibility to help care providers.

“The ability of our workforce to reinvent superfine maceration has been tremendous but, critically, we’ve supplied more choice with the new Vanguard and Excel macerators to make them affordable and personalised to the healthcare setting.”

Already in use in 85 per cent of UK hospitals, Haigh macerators are also used in 28 countries worldwide, and as recently as November 2017 the Quattro Vanguard was launched at Eden Hall - the British High Commissioner’s residence in Singapore.

Hosted by DIT’s Regional Director, Christopher Pook, David Meek from Haigh and local distributor Radiance Medical Systems, attendees from hospitals and care homes had an educational session on infection control and how the Quattro Vanguard minimises the risk of infection transmission. This hands-on and live demonstration meant attendees could see exactly how easy the macerator is to use and understand how it has been developed in partnership with the healthcare industry.

However, these products are not only for use in a healthcare setting, and Haigh’s maceration

Haigh Engineering Company Ltd

of the business, Haigh is also able to provide factory and on-site training courses in order to best assist engineers with the maintenance and operation of Haigh products.

Since Haigh was founded, it has maintained an extraordinary attention to detail across the entire business. Accuracy is vitally important to Haigh and this is a perfect metaphor for the company’s entire approach – precise care, attention to detail and an understanding of what counts. If the finish on just one part were to be just a fraction out, it wouldn’t perform as well and this is not acceptable, as outstanding quality is what people associate with the Haigh name. technology can be found in the Marine, Defence, Industrial and Renewable Energy markets, where it has applications in the offshore and animal waste sectors, on board ships, at military and defence bases and in anaerobic digestion systems. In fact, throughout its history, Haigh has continuously applied the principles of maceration to new processes, new industries and new markets.

Moving onto Waste Water Treatment, which includes screening, separation and compaction equipment, plus whole inlet systems or single units, Haigh is a leader in the provision of waste water treatment solutions in municipal environments. As a long-term framework provider to the UK water authorities, all Haigh’s systems have an established track record of delivering value for money on what can be seen to be the most critical area of a typical treatment works - the inlet. Haigh’s ACE Inlets offer a complete inlet solution, which bring a range of performance and environmental benefits including 94 per cent volume reduction, up to 80 per cent screenings capture ratio, in excess of 40 per cent dryness, fine grit removal, simplified maintenance, proven integrated Lisep/ Lipactors, built-in upstream grit protection and removal, optimised process control, performance tuning for best whole life cost, low carbon footprint, clean screenings and low odour.

Given the list of state-of-the-art solutions that Haigh manufactures, it is apparent that a dedication to invest significantly into research and development (R&D) is a top priority for the business. Its latest innovation is Wipe Grind Ultra, which has been designed to solve the wet wipe challenges faced by today’s municipal waste water market in America.

Wipe Grind Ultra is designed for installing into an existing sewage system that deals with flushed wipes. Its performance is based on proven Pipeliner technology and is the most effective disintegrator of wipes for ultimate pump protection.

The systems described above can be supported by Haigh’s fully qualified Mechanical and Electrical engineering site teams, which are available to provide a nationwide after-care service at a competitive price. Maintained by fully stocked parts sources for all Haigh systems and in conjunction with its UK based repair, maintenance and production facilities, Haigh is able to offer peace of mind through an efficient and responsive service. As part of this side

Haigh Engineering Company Ltd

Services: Designs, manufactures, assembles and installs a range of macerators and waste water treatment systems

www.haigh.co.uk

www.manufacturing-today-europe.com 57

One of the key visuals of the Bystronic glass communication strategy

Examples of double and triple IG units

Glass half

full

T

he story behind the Bystronic glass Group is one that is steeped in both tradition and change, and one that can be traced back to 1964 when its founders, Messrs Byland, Schneider and Troesch, established a company by the name of Bystronic Maschinen AG in Bützberg, Switzerland.

The objective of the company was to manufacture machines for the flat glass industry, a task that it soon built a prized reputation for, specialising in cutting machines for flat glass in the 1970s and being responsible for developing the first machine for automotive glass preprocessing in 1981. The company would also embark on a programme of targeted acquisitions, including the incorporation of Lenhardt Maschinenbau, Germany, in 1990, eight years after said business had presented the first fully-automated insulating glass line. Four years

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For more than five decades Bystronic glass has contributed to its customers’ success by providing industry leading, tailor-made systems and services for glass processing later, in 1994, Bystronic glass became a part of Conzzeta AG, a renowned Swiss industrial holding company that boasts over 100 years of tradition.

In the decades that have followed, Bystronic glass has come to symbolise innovation with machinery, systems and services, for the processing of architectural and automotive glass focused on tomorrow’s market. From basic requirements through to entire, tailormade, customised installations, the group provides pioneering solutions, all to the highest of quality standards.

As the group proudly declares: “We use our technical expertise to develop products that are better in terms of performance and quality than those of our competitors. We have developed a passion for holistic economic solutions, and when it comes to performance and quality,

Bystronic glass Bystronic glass champ’speed – quick and precise cutting, breaking, grinding and drilling of automotive glass

Precise cutting and gentle glass breaking of automotive or appliance glass

we set ambitious objectives that repeatedly challenge us, and constantly motivate ourselves to make changes and improvements.”

The group’s products typically fall into two categories; architectural glass and automotive glass. In the former it provides innovative solutions for architectural glass processing, whether that be individual machines or modular units through to the complete manufacture of insulating glass (IG). Bystronic glass is the inventor of the TPS® IG production technology.

It differs from conventional IG production systems thanks to the direct application of the thermoplastic spacer TPS® onto the glass plate.

Products offered within the architectural glass business include efficient handling systems for all sectors of flat glass and plate processing, and complete solutions for efficient flat glass cutting.

The last of these is carried out in co-operation with its partner HEGLA. Just as impressive is Bystronic glass’ offering of complete, individually developed turnkey system solutions for the efficient pre-processing of automotive glass. Its tailor-made production lines are consistently designed to meet its

Fast glass edge grinding and alternating production in the highest quality

customer’s unique needs, and are characterised by their productivity. In the group’s opinion, the ideal solution for the pre-processing of automotive glass is its champ’speed technology, specifically its champ’speed 2in1 version.

Combining a high degree of automation with short changeover times, the champ’speed 2in1 enables the quick and precise cutting, breaking, grinding and drilling of automotive glass. Arguably the most unique feature of this version is its outstanding flexibility with regard to the premium edge break, making it the first machine in the world that can break glass with or without a template.

In its never-ending drive to redefine profitability in automotive glass pre-processing, the group has also devised a new generation of machines under the B’CHAMP brand name. By optimising the key components for the glass processing in a linear manner, these machines dramatically improve changeover times. B’CHAMP has been created to provide users with an edge over their competition by greatly enhancing efficiencies when it comes to daily production. For said users this means

a yield that is greater than 98 per cent, minimised glass transportation times, shorter cycle times, excellent cost-per-unit ratios and proven thin glass capabilities down to a 0.4mm glass thickness.

Adding to the group’s product line is its service and support offering. Right from the original point of contact with its customers, Bystronic glass is on hand to assist with facility planning, with its customer service teams available to call upon anywhere in the world to facilitate the delivery of spare parts and on-site support. Individual training, planning and consultancy sessions are also provided to both new and existing customers.

2017 was a highly prosperous year for the group, summarised by the announcement in June that it had received one of the largest orders of automotive glass pre-processing equipment ever made. The order involves the delivery of a considerable number of Bystronic glass champ’speed cells, a programme which continues into 2018, to several production plants owned by a world-renowned, but otherwise anonymous, glass manufacturer.

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Bystronic glass Bystronic glass IG production line B’VARIO – an individually configurable IG production line for conventional spacers

Having celebrated its 50th anniversary in 2014, the focus of Bystronic glass has turned to what the next half a century holds for itself and the wider industry. It is accepted almost universally that in the future every aspect of manufacturing will be more closely connected, from machines and applications to data and processes. It is this belief that encouraged a new way of thinking that the group has christened ‘Bystronic glass 4.0’. With this thought

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process in mind the group has implemented an integrated data management system to enable it to connect the entire process chain within glass processing, including the upstream and downstream processes to provide considerable competitive advantages.

All of the group’s measures, services, products and business models aim to guarantee the quality of its customers’ final products.

Bystronic glass 4.0 is just the latest in a long

line of initiatives designed to provide these customers with improved production output, shortened process times, reduced costs and increased revenues.

Bystronic glass

Product: Architectural and automotive glass

www.bystronic-glass.com

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