MADE IN THE UK
GESIPA UK: Demonstrating excellence As the centre of excellence for threaded fasteners, GESIPA UK plays a key role – alongside GESIPA’s German operations – in developing new technology to guarantee the group stays ahead of the fast-moving industries it supplies.
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ased in Keighley, Yorkshire, since 1972, GESIPA UK initially produced eyelets, before adding the production of mandrels – growing steadily as part of the group. In 2013, the Group strategy was changed and GESIPA UK became the centre of excellence for threaded fasteners and structural rivets – enabling it to focus on these products and their requirements – which made a significant difference to the growth of the UK operation. “Originally the threaded fasteners were made at Keighley and Thal, Germany,” explains Diana Scholefield, managing director at GESIPA UK. “However, with so many experts based in Keighley it was decided that we would build on this expertise and grow it even further, which has proved very successful. Whilst we have become the centre of excellence for threaded fasteners, Thal is now the centre of excellence for blind rivets, Mörfelden-Walldorf the centre of excellence for setting tools and Olpe the centre of excellence for solid riveting.” Concentrating on threaded fasteners has enabled GESIPA UK to steadily grow over the last five years – adding new machinery and equipment to continuously improve efficiency across the entire production process. “Today, GESIPA UK produces almost twice the number of parts than it did two years ago,” mentions Diana. Whilst different divisions, GESIPA UK still works closely with the German sites on product developments, machinery and tooling, training, as well as sales – enabling it to service customers globally and develop new products and services to meet ever-changing demands. “Over the last 4 – 5 years there has been a real shift in customers wanting more value,” says Diana. “We are constantly working on adding value through the fasteners – can we do something different or change the process – rather than just supply a standard fastener.”
Blind rivet nut setting process
58 FASTENER + FIXING MAGAZINE // ISSUE 111 MAY 2018
Diana continues: “We get customers coming to us with an application and they need a solution. That is why we are committed to our technical sales team working with customers and visiting their operations. It is only by seeing the customer’s operation you can truly understand the problems they are facing. On the phone, it is a bit more difficult because you cannot see the whole process.” So are end user customers more willing to involve fastener companies at the design stage? “From our experience, customers are happy for us to work alongside them,” states Diana. “They are understanding more the role fasteners can play and the possibility of huge cost savings. We especially see it with the process control tooling we can offer. Customers now want proof fasteners do what they have been designed to do and the process control tools we supply provide this guarantee and ensure the function of the fastener is correct.” As a topic, process control tooling is attracting an increasing amount of interest from GESIPA’s customers. “Process control tools are becoming smarter and smarter and provide traceability that guarantee each fastener is installed correctly,” mentions Diana. “Being able to offer the rivets and the tools, including process control, is a big benefit for us, as it underlines our capabilities and means we can provide a complete service.” To showcase the wide variety of tools, GESIPA UK has a demonstration centre at its Keighley site, which includes battery powered hand tools in its Bird Series – including AccuBird® and PowerBird® – as well as its popular Taurus® series of pneumatic hydraulic blind rivet setting tools. There are also robotic riveting systems on display, such as the GAV range of automatic riveting machines.