6 minute read
The technology within
from M51
PRECISION PRODUCTS I PROFILE
Where there are engines, there are pistons, all of them requiring piston rings. Enter Precision Products (UK) Ltd: one of the world’s leading piston ring, metallic and nonmetallic sealing solution manufacturers. Its tagline, ‘The technology within’, perfectly describes the company’s spe ciality in engineering some of the world’s biggest, most widely-used, complex and technologically advanced piston rings and metallic/non-metallic sealing solutions. Precision Products’ Sales Director Dominic Rogers, and Sales Manager Paul Ballin, sat down with Richard Hagan to talk about the big business of keeping the world’s biggest two-stroke engines running smoothly. technology within® the
Precision Products (UK) Ltd (PPUK), is a leading manufacturer and supplier of low speed two-stroke, medium speed four-stroke, industrially applied piston rings and metallic and nonmetallic engineered sealing solutions.
From its advanced factory in Chesterfield, Derbyshire, the company manufactures and supplies products to companies around the world in both marine and industrial markets.
PPUK was established in 1994. Just over a decade later, the company was acquired by the Indutrade AB group in 2008. With over 200 companies under its umbrella, Indutrade is an international industrial group that acquires and develops companies that are characterised by high-tech know-how and an ability to build enduring, close relationships with customers and suppliers. Indutrade’s business philosophy is based on entrepreneurship and decentralised leadership, and PPUK fits perfectly.
As of the end of 2021, PPUK had 92 employees, a number that grew even in the midst of Covid. It operates from a single, modern factory loaded with all of the technology and facilities required to make some of the world’s most advanced piston rings and valueadded engineering solutions.
With the support of substantial investment from Indutrade, PPUK has developed its facility significantly in the last three years. This includes the addition of Arc, Plasma & HVOF thermal spray capability and expanded hard chrome and ceramic chrome capacity, supported by advancements of CAM turning and grinding technologies through working closely with machine tool manufactures to develop bespoke solutions to some of the industries toughest challenges.
Aligned with several other capacity-based investments, this period of development has significantly underpinned PPUK’s growth strategies. The facility also had a complete overhaul to improve its sustainability offerings in parallel with 50% growth of its manufacturing footprint.
Award-winning growth
In 2021, PPUK was recognised by the coveted MakeUK, North East Yorkshire and Humberside Manufacturing Award, for its contribution to the sector in terms of its strong business growth and strategy.
“We were recognised for our very structured strategic growth program, excellent sales growth, strong order book, and growing our market share despite challenging business conditions,” explained Dominic Rogers, Head of Sales at PPUK.
PPUK credits its recent growth with its technical agility in the market, industry diversification, and new product introduction.
“We are able to manufacture engineered solutions for both the marine and industrial market base of up to 2m in diameter,” said Dominic.
Engineered to succeed
The company embraces the difficulty of developing and engineering bespoke solutions for customers.
Traditionally, PPUK’s work was dominated by the manufacture of solutions for OEMs including some of the world’s leading twostroke engine manufacturers.
“We manufacture large-bore diameter piston rings for the two-stroke engine
PRECISION PRODUCTS I PROFILE
market,” noted Paul Ballin, Sales Manager for PPUK. “We have a number of approvals from two OEMs – the biggest in the world – and are dedicated to developing solutions with them.”
Another market PPUK has been highly active in is the wind turbine industry, which sees the company manufacturing large metallic rings of up to 2m diameter.
“We’ve been manufacturing them in various sizes, quantities and materials for over 25 years,” said Dominic.
While PPUK will continue to support those long-standing customers and markets, it is actively pursuing opportunities in developing bespoke, custom-engineered solutions for new, diverse customers around the world.
“We are evolving into an engineeringled organisation so we have recruited highly-skilled engineers to support our customer demand,” Dominic revealed. “We will develop, with our customers, technological solutions to meet their specific application requirements.
“We were a make to print organisation,” he continued. “Now we are growing the company’s capability. The engineers we have employed have the exact skill-set required, and we’re adding further value by having a full engineering suite available for customer projects. We want our customers to have faith in what we do and have it add value to the relationship between us and their designers. In general, we are an engineering-led organisation.”
Rising costs, rising challenges
Dominic and Paul both highlighted raw material and energy price increases as a major challenge for everyone in the industry.
“Raw material prices have become a challenge due to the global commodities market affecting us and our supply chain partners,” Dominic explained. “Energy price increases have also started to present additional challenges. We are therefore working hard across our networks, suppliers, and customer partners to manage this. It is certainly a tough balancing act!”
In dealing with rising prices, the company leans on its historically close relationships with its customers and suppliers, both of whom are regarded as partners within PPUK.
Despite the challenges inherent to Covid19, the company achieved impressive growth of 28% in 2021, all whilst navigating the restrictions and difficulties of the pandemic. In essence, PPUK has clearly made a material difference in the industry, both in supporting the global customer base and its employees in the local area.
Evolving with the market
“The industry is ever-evolving,” Dominic stated. “This is especially true within the marine market. There are new fuels coming down the pipeline, so to speak, either with a reduced sulphur content or alternative, environmentally friendlier fuels. The piston ring has to be able to withstand these different kinds of fuels. The industry is
trying to optimise the best solution that fits these alternatives.
“Our customers will be looking for the optimum solution in the engine to support their customers’ expectations,” he continued. “We have to be able to adapt and provide solutions to meet those demands. And we have the know-how and agility to do that.”
To complement its existing product portfolio, the company has begun to offer turnkey, engineered composite solutions. Dominic pointed out that OEM pump companies who want to maximise efficiencies and optimise electricity consumption are potential customers that would particularly benefit from lightweight and durable solutions.
Constant evolution is especially important given the surging global demand for the kinds of engineered solutions supplied by PPUK.
“Our biggest challenge is meeting the volume that customers demand and need,” he added. “The demand is high: however PPUK is able to meet its share of the market with attractive lead times as a result of our growth based investments.”
“Fortunately, we’ve optimised our manufacturing capabilities and reduced our lead time to an optimum level below the industry standard. At this point, when a customer has a breakdown or needs a component to support their customer, due to our determination to remain agile we can turn around and manufacture precisely what they need in a matter of weeks,” Dominic emphasised.
That’s all the more impressive when considering that as many as 30 operations are routinely required in the manufacture of a piston ring.
In concluding, Paul described PPUK as a very well-managed and ambitious company which always looks after its staff and customers.
“As we look towards 2022 and beyond, our mission is to always show our customers the added value that we offer, whether it’s through customer service, engineering excellence or supporting them in challenging times. And we will balance all of that with robust relationships with our suppliers – they’re partners too. You have to work as a team; you’re only as strong as the team around you.” n
