Manufacturing Today Europe Issue 120 September 2015

BEST PRACTICES FOR INDUSTRY LEADERS

www.manufacturingtoday-europe.com

Time to

buckle up Automotive manufacturing is going to change, thanks to innovations such as 3D printing

Also in this issue:

Voice picking technology Health and safety Product cost management

today

EUROPE

120 September

MANUFACTURING

Editor’s Comment

Chairman Andrew Schofield Editor Libbie Hammond Art Editor/Design David Howard Studio Assistant Barnaby Schofield Staff Writers Jo Cooper Andrew Dann Ben Clark Production Manager Fleur Daniels Production studio@schofieldpublishing.co.uk Advertising Administrator Tracy Chynoweth studio@schofieldpublishing.co.uk

Business Development Director David Garner Operations Director Philip Monument Editorial Researchers Laura Thompson Jeff Goldenberg Mark Cowles Tarj D’Silva Emily Claxton

Hands-free

technology

T

he article on page 10 of this issue looks at voice picking technology in the warehouse and the benefits it brings.

It sounds quite a simple idea, and I very much like the idea of being hands free – I’ve even tried dictation technology for writing articles for MTE, but sadly not with much success.

I am sure I failed because I didn’t have the right technology and isn’t that true of so many projects? Without 100 per cent commitment and the right foundations, they are bound to fail, and then we feel disappointed.

The right tools are out there to help solve so many issues out there in the manufacturing arena – how could you benefit?

Advertising Sales Joe Woolsgrove - Sales Director Tim Eakins Dave King Darren Jolliffe Mark Cawston Emma Kerton

BEST PRACTICES FOR INDUSTRY LEADERS

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today

EUROPE

MANUFACTURING

120 September

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

Time to

buckle up Automotive manufacturing is going to change, thanks to innovations such as 3D printing

Also in this issue:

Voice picking technology Health and safety Product cost management

©2015 Schofield Publishing Ltd Front cover image courtesy of Magna Steyr Design

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, 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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Features

6 Time to buckle up 4 News

12 Need to know

Updates and announcements from the manufacturing arena

Proposed changes to health and safety guidelines have implications for the manufacturing sector

6 Time to buckle up The industrial use of 3D printing is one of the new game-changers in the automotive manufacturing sector

10 The voice Happy and motivated workers product better results, and voice-directed work in the warehouse can help

12 Need to know 14 Modern manufacturing challenges Best-in-class manufacturers are leveraging new product cost management tools that equip employees to remove costs at every opportunity

10 The voice 2 www.manufacturingtoday-europe.com

14 Modern manufacturing challenges

CONTENTS

Profiles 18 Stadco

18 Stadco

34 Sulzer Pump Solutions Ireland 40 Collini 44 Hi-Force 47 Laufenberg 50 Kel-Tech Engineering 53 Skamol 34 Sulzer Pump Solutions Ireland

56 TOMRA Sorting Solutions 59 Salop Design and Engineering 62 Valtra 64 Airius Europe 66 Burgess Furniture 68 Kannegiesser UK 70 Rexnord FlatTop 72 Tandom Metallurgical Group 70 Rexnord FlatTop

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Machine investment

Making the mark Portasilo is urging specifiers and plant managers to make sure they check their steel components suppliers are CE compliant to ensure all purchases meet the performance, health and safety requirements of their projects.

CE Marking for fabricated structural steel products has been mandatory since the deadline on the 1 July 2014. The mark demonstrates a product meets EU safety, health or environmental requirements, and was originally introduced as a consumer protection device to ensure manufactured goods were made to harmonised standards across the EU. Over a year on from the deadline for compliance there are still many manufacturers working towards this goal. It has been illegal since 1 July 2014 to sell any fabricated structural steelwork products within the EU without CE marking. The implications for manufacturers and their customers can be severe, affecting their ability to trade and insurance policies respectively.

“Our ability to guarantee all our steel products with the CE mark is instrumental to us remaining a preferred supplier to many organisations who have stringent standards when it comes to the quality and safety of steel components in their plants,” said Neil Gardiner, Portasilo managing director.

“The time has elapsed for manufacturers of Execution Class 2 and above products not to conform to the standards, and plant managers, engineers and other specifiers need to be sure they can rely on their supply chain to deliver compliant solutions.”

Henton Engineering Ltd, machining and fine grinding specialists and part of the Nasmyth Group, has invested in an additional 5-axis milling machine at its plant in Hinckley, Leicestershire. The extra capacity and efficiency that this investment has created will be utilised primarily to produce component parts for the aerospace industry, gas turbines and for other applications within the energy sector.

Henton Engineering specialises in the production of large, complex, sectioned ring and prismatic components, typically in the 200mm to 2m range, used in the aerospace, space, oil & gas and other precision engineering sectors. The company has the expertise and capability to produce parts in aluminium, titanium, nimonic and stellite as well as other exotic and high temperature alloys.

Chairman and CEO of Nasmyth Group, Peter Smith, commented: “This new investment in Henton Engineering is part of an ongoing programme of strategic investment designed to ensure that the Group has the resources and the technologies needed to meet customers’ needs across all of our global markets.”

Cost of home working The vast majority of the UK back office manufacturing home workers are having to meet the associated costs of equipping and maintaining their workspace themselves according to the latest research by leading global workplace provider, Regus.

The survey of over 4000 UK senior business people found that under a third of people working from home received contributions from their firm towards kitting out their home office. Eighty per cent say most companies that encourage their employees to work from home do not cover all the costs of creating and maintaining a professional workspace.

Richard Morris, UK CEO, Regus comments: “The cost of furnishing a home office is substantial so if this expense is passed onto employees, companies could find themselves flouting health and safety laws as well as lacking the necessary insurance cover.

Nevertheless, the financial benefits of remote working for both staff and employer are clear.

By cutting commuting times and working more flexibly staff become more productive and more likely to remain loyal.”

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No driver required For Lindab Ventilation, working with Autopilot forklifts from Toyota Material Handling Europe (TMHE) is a tradition that began when the factory started production back in 1988. Lindab’s ventilation production unit in Båstad, Sweden has two warehouses with 1400 pallet places - 3000 pallets are transported out of the factory every week. Servicing customers across North Europe as efficiently as possible is Lindab’s everyday challenge.

The Autopilot concept allows for driverless operation and has been specifically designed for repetitive movement of goods. “The Autopilot forklifts from TMHE are easy to use. All you have to do is press a button and they come to the picking place as requested. Then they place one box on top of the other and transport the load out of the factory,” says Tony Ivarsson, Autopilot Project Manager.

These machines are also a safe solution for a busy working environment. “The laser system integrated to the Autopilot forklift trucks means that we do not need to install cables in the factory floor. This gives us a lot of flexibility, allowing us to easily change the picking route, if necessary. The traffic flow is smooth, especially since we never allow manual forklifts to work near the automated ones. This is safer for the forklift drivers and contributes to keeping the Autopilot forklifts intact, too, by preventing collisions. The laser-guided trucks further increase the safety of our workers, since their sensors detect obstacles, and therefore, human presence, causing them to stop,” says Tony.

Additionally, TMHE’s automated solution also brought considerable cost decrease in Lindab Ventilation’s operations. “The job is done by the machines alone, which means that our workers can concentrate on other tasks, helping us to use our internal resources efficiently,” adds Tony.

MANUFACTURING NEWS

Give your opinion UK manufacturers are being invited to have their say on the effect of the engineering skills gap as part of a major industry survey, supported by Lloyds Bank Commercial Banking, which has been launched by MHA, the association of accountancy and business advisory firms.

The 2015 MHA Manufacturing & Engineering Survey will look at the barriers to growth - and the longterm implications of failing to invest in engineering talent at every level.

“Engineering UK estimates that as a country we need either to double the number of engineering graduates we produce or take other measures, including supporting STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics) students and apprenticeships, in order to compete on the global stage,” says Chris Coopey, Head of MHA’s Manufacturing Group.

“The reality is that many engineering and manufacturing businesses are finding recruitment difficult if not impossible, and not just for graduates and experienced engineers but even at apprentice level. This skills gap means a growth gap for the sector - and it will get worse the longer we fail to address the obvious.”

Assessing the effect of the skills gap on growth across the regions of the UK is one of the primary aims of the 2015 MHA Survey. The survey report, available in late September, will include analysis by the prestigious WMG - the Manufacturing Group at the University of Warwick - and from Philippa Oldham, Head of Transport and Manufacturing at the Institution of Mechanical Engineers. The report will be used to encourage government and other public and private bodies to develop policies that meet the needs of industry.

Manufacturers can contribute to the survey by going to: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/75L8XGP

Must act fast on pensions Many of the country’s 1.8 million small employers approaching their pensions auto-enrolment staging dates are in danger of missing deadlines by underestimating the amount of data needed to complete the process, warns Lighthouse Group, one of the UK’s leading financial advisers.

Tens of thousands of manufacturing and engineering SMEs and micro employers are now starting to grapple with the complexities of employer pension schemes for the first time. The Pensions Regulator recently stated that only 29 per cent of those staging in 2016 were fully aware of their date and only 46 per cent of those staging in 2017 were aware of their responsibilities.

Pensions expert and Managing Director of Lighthouse Group Employee Benefit, Roger Sanders, OBE, cautions business owners to familiarise themselves with the requirements and assess their business as soon as possible, even if their staging date is two years away. “Employers’ autoenrolment duties go far beyond setting up a pension scheme and enrolling staff in it,” he said.

“They must assess their workforce, work out who to enrol and decide how much they and their employees will contribute. They also need to keep records of all this information, together with any changes, all of which represents a significant amount of work for smaller employers.

“However, we are finding many manufacturing and engineering firms lack the accurate, up-to-date information on employees vital to completing enrolment smoothly. Firms that leave their enrolment preparation too late will be in for a shock when they discover years of payroll and employee data needs to be sorted before they can properly begin.”

SMEs should begin the process at least six months before their staging date, starting with checking what data their payroll function holds and how to export it, as well as what information is missing and must be tracked down. At three months before the staging date, businesses must have a process to collate all the information needed in a suitable format and on a timely basis. Data must be in a standardised format and should cover all employees, even if they will not be enrolled automatically.

Roger adds: “The data challenge doesn’t end once everything is in place. Businesses also need to run a data check for every pay period, to verify employees’ eligibility criteria, new joiners and contribution levels. This will ensure that any employees who become eligible later are enrolled, for instance because their earnings have increased or they have reached the age of 22.

“Automating as much of the data gathering, collating and transmissions as possible will significantly lower both the margin for error and the overall cost to the business. Choosing a pension provider that offers locally-based support in person as well as from an administrative centre will also make all the difference. While there may be a small additional cost, being able to concentrate on running their business while knowing they are meeting the requirements, and are therefore unlikely to be fined, can make it worth every penny for SME owners.”

Meeting the energy challenge An international leader in filtration and separation believes that the global energy challenge will be increasingly met through triedand-tested gasification, thanks to rapidly evolving technology.

Porvair Filtration Group insists that the combined effects of environmental accountability and the feedstock availability will continue to drive innovation across the gasification industry.

Other market drivers are the diminishing options of waste storage, and enhanced energy security needs - a chief concern of almost every sovereign nation.

Porvair states that this demand is driving a need for more efficient filtration of syngas produced from the gasification process.This is due to the char becoming finer and the feedstock becoming more complex - often a blend of coal with petroleum coke, coal with biomass, biomass and MSW, and the conversion of used automotive tyres.

Filter media must therefore evolve to be more surface retentive, mechanically robust, permeable and with enhanced chemical inertness and thermal stability.

Porvair’s Gasification Business Manager, Andy Bevis, said: “Today’s advanced gasification technologies incorporate significant improvements over the early versions; greater flexibility, vastly increased scale, and new applications are driving gasification technologies to gain more prominence than ever before.

“Porvair has been working on gasification filtration technology for 20 years, and is excited to be involved in the industry’s development.

With increased feedstock complexity, filtration technology must keep pace with industry demands.

“The challenge will be met through the combination of surface-orientated media filtration technology and the alloying of differing materials in specific forms to achieve the necessary improvement in characteristics.

“Porvair’s recent innovations promise greater efficiency, reduced operating cost and more flexibility than what the market currently offers, and we expect that the coming years will fully unlock the potential that we’ve known has existed for decades.”

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Time to

buckle up L

ittle-known fact: Ransom Olds (as in Oldsmobile) actually patented the assembly-line concept and delivered the first mass-manufactured automobile. But when Henry Ford and his team revolutionised the assembly line with the addition of a conveyer belt a little over ten years later, an affordable car was suddenly within reach of most Americans for the first time.

There was a necessary downside to offer this product accessibility, though. Ford’s new approach to mass manufacturing and its cost efficiencies left room for only a one-size-fits-all approach.

The Model T was for everyone, but Ford Motor Company made all the design decisions right down to the colour. Black, black, or…black?

Fast-forward 100 years and enter a company called Local Motors. It just unveiled a 3D-printed electric car - the Strati - for which people from all over the world submitted

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their design ideas. With 40,000 users strong and a massive number of new ideas crowdsourced daily, the company has taken an unheralded open approach to vehicle design and manufacturing.

This is just the beginning for the future of the automotive industry.

These kinds of changes are impacting industries across the board. The relationships between product designers, manufacturers, and consumers are becoming incredibly intertwined. Views

What’s driving the future of the automotive industry?

Andrew Anagost explains why Model Ts and 3D-printed cars hold the keys on intellectual property (IP) and innovation are evolving, as well. There will soon be the emergence of a ‘supercomputer for everyone’ (more on that in a minute). And the way things are manufactured - like Local Motors’ use of 3D printers and microfactories - is defining an entire landscape shift. Industries - especially automotive are shifting into whole new gears.

The walls of IP are tumbling down. Patents and IP will remain important components to society.

Automobile manufacturing But the growth of the open-source movement shows how community-driven development can spur even more innovation. Walled corporate gardens of research and development are beginning to wither.

Last summer, Elon Musk announced that all patents for Tesla technology would be freely available to use and, hopefully, spur even more electric vehicle (EV) innovation.

“Given that annual new vehicle production is approaching 100 million per year and the global fleet is approximately two billion cars, it is impossible for Tesla to build electric cars fast enough to address the carbon crisis,” Musk wrote in his blog announcement of the news. “By the same token, it means the market is enormous.

Our true competition is not the small trickle of non-Tesla electric cars being produced, but rather the enormous flood of gasoline cars pouring out of the world’s factories every day.” If Musk didn’t take this preemptive strike, the company could actually limit future consumer demand, the overall market opportunity to produce more EVs, and, really, its own growth as competition to the ‘gas guzzlers.’ With that move, the doors have been blown wide open. A modern-day Henry Ford can now take on patent-free EV innovation.

Image courtesy of Magna Steyr Design

A supercomputer for everyone In the near future, any designer or engineer with a good idea will be able to review multiple, alternate versions of their idea (some suggested

by the computer itself), and make the right design decision much earlier than ever before. Will it work or not? Can I manufacture it? Will it last as long as it needs to? No more question marks.

You’ll know the answer to these questions ahead of time.

Wait a minute: How will that work exactly, you ask? Everyone will have a ‘supercomputer,’ even if it’s just your laptop. Seriously. The ultimate supercomputer is not just accessing the cloud. It’s the cloud, plus an entire

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Automobile manufacturing Image courtesy of Technicon Design

galaxy of information, algorithms, and human collaboration.

Take something that’s seemingly simple - but in reality extremely complex - like the interior handle of a luxury car. There’s so much more to it: The aesthetic, the materials, the size, the mechanical componentry, durability factors. Software will soon help describe the idea in 3D without the constraints of how to manufacture it. Both the designer and manufacturer will already know ahead of time that the machine will actually work (or not) to produce the handle. This is huge. The days of retooling - a consistently major headache for both the industrial designer and mechanical engineer - will be gone.

Then it goes to another level: The supercomputer will answer questions you didn’t even know to ask. It all comes down to insanely smart algorithms. What if the computer suggested, ‘Why don’t you try this new shape for the handle to accommodate the average size of a human hand?’ You didn’t ask the question, but the computer provided an incredible solution for you.

Don’t worry, this isn’t going to be a 2001: A Space Odyssey HAL type of reality. Beyond the algorithms, the human element of design

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and manufacturing will actually grow, too. Go ahead and crowdsource talent from wherever you need it. Global collaboration will hit new heights. Anyone can access that product expert in Australia . . . or trade partner in Singapore . . . or manufacturer in Detroit. This will all be thanks to the cloud and an entirely new information galaxy.

Factory in your own backyard Finally, accessibility to manufacturing is also transitioning from the need to produce something thousands of miles away. ‘Microfactories’ with research and production all under one small, local roof and ‘manufacturing-as-a-service’ (manufacturing what you want, when you want it, and where you want it) are taking root. There will soon be a whole ecosystem connected to whatever tool you need to use and allow you to produce a product locally, quickly, and to scale.

Of course, 3D printers garner a lot of headlines.

But it’s deservedly so. Case in point: Local Motors 3D printed a Strati car in around 44 hours on the actual show floor at the 2015 Detroit Auto Show last month.

For a reality check, do I think every car will be 3D-printed in the future? Absolutely not. The

industrial use of 3D printing is the real gamechanger here, and the technology is going to enable new shifts in production - just like Ford innovated on Olds’ assembly line.

The road ahead Bearing all of this in mind - from IP to the supercomputer to the ‘new’ manufacturing - here’s the net-net: What it takes to bring a product to market is never going to be the same. Like history has shown with the evolution of the design and manufacturing of cars, it’s time to buckle up once again. It may be a bumpy ride, but the destination will be pretty incredible.

This article originally appeared on Line Shape Space (http://lineshapespace.com/driving-the-future-of-theautomotive-industry).

Andrew Anagost Andrew Anagost is senior vice president of industry strategy and marketing at Autodesk. Autodesk helps people imagine, design and create a better world.

Everyone - from design professionals, engineers and architects to digital artists, students and hobbyists uses Autodesk software to unlock their creativity and solve important challenges. For more information visit autodesk.com.

Workforce wellbeing

The

voice

Productivity and morale in the warehouse. By Darrel Williams

The concept of talking to a machine may not sound like a great motivator, but voice technology has been found to have positive effects on warehouse workers’ work-life balance and overall wellbeing

I

t’s a well-known fact that happy and motivated workers produce better results, as illustrated in findings from a study by Warwick University. The study, carried out in laboratory conditions, found that happier workers were 12 per cent more productive than their counterparts. It underlines staff morale and wellbeing is not just an HR goal: it’s fundamental to business performance levels.

The logistics sector employs over 1.7 million workers in the UK and must actively manage morale to ensure it attracts and retains the best employees. The warehouse is a key focus here, and traditionally may not be seen as the happiest of working environments. But warehouse managers do now have the tools to keep workers motivated, in both what they are doing and how they are doing it, without even physically being there.

Keeping the workforce motivated The concept of talking to a machine may not sound like a great motivator, but voice technology has been found to have positive effects on warehouse workers’ work-life balance and overall wellbeing.

How? Through providing clear guidance and direction over the course of the shift, and enabling greater efficiency.

Through voice-directed work, warehouse staff use small belt-worn portable devices and headsets, leaving them hands-free and eyes-free, focused on the task at hand. Instructions from the warehouse

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Working with both hands free also makes it easier to lift heavy items safely, and having both eyes free means better awareness of your surroundings, thereby reducing the risk of accidents

management system are delivered through the headset, one simple command at a time. The picker confirms each instruction verbally and the system is updated in real time. As instructions are given on an as-needed basis, pickers can concentrate on single actions without distraction or delay, thereby reducing errors.

Compared to manual processes, which involve checking lists or screens while simultaneously trying to carry out high volumes of goods without making mistakes, a great deal of the stress associated with warehouse picking can also be removed.

The result? Businesses adopting voice have seen an average increase of 20 per cent in worker productivity compared with previous systems. At the same time, accuracy rates have risen up to 99.98 per cent, critical when considering that the cost of returning an incorrect item is up to five times as much as processing a new sale.

Incentivise But how does being more efficient make workers happier? It’s the responsibility of the warehouse manager to ensure that a good job does not go unrewarded. But again, voice can help.

With voice in place, it is possible to introduce

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competition and gamify elements of the working day, offering rewards for completing additional tasks or meeting all targets for a set period. With precise instructions given by the warehouse management system, there can be no suggestion of bias towards workers, levelling the playing field for all.

By viewing workflows in real time and monitoring progress, employers can also adopt a more flexible model, re-directing staff onto particularly busy tasks in order to help teammates, for example. This way, the work is completed quicker, which quite simply means that staff are required to work less overtime and can restore the work-life balance.

This use of incentives, better informed by technology, contributes to the overall wellbeing of the workforce, while creating more fully rounded employees.

Health and safety Health and safety should also be considered as important to overall worker morale. Warehouses can be inhospitable at times but the increasing use of technology is helping to produce safer working environments.

For example in freezer picking, wearing a voice headset means no need for workers to remove gloves to type information into a mobile

Workforce wellbeing

computer, a small yet incredibly strong benefit through the course of a working day.

Working with both hands free also makes it easier to lift heavy items safely, and having both eyes free means better awareness of your surroundings, thereby reducing the risk of accidents.

Cumulatively, all of this has a profound effect.

Workers have been shown to be less tense at the end of the day. Their daily tasks become that much easier to achieve, there is a reduction in their worry of making a mistake, and they know they are working as efficiently as possible, allowing them to leave on time.

Is technology the deal-breaker?

The use of technology can therefore be seen as an enabler for the productive warehouse. With the industry reported to be booming at over £55 billion in the UK alone, it’s clearly in the warehouse manager’s interest to develop the most efficient working models possible. Happier workers will be a by-product of this.

So does technology therefore become a factor in a worker’s decision of which company to work for? The choice between using more traditional methods of picking and voice technology, with the benefits as we have outlined, could become a tipping point to securing the best people.

Securing these skilled workers, rewarding them and retaining them allows warehouse operations to run as smoothly as possible. By having the more attractive workplace environment, companies are more likely to attract and retain the best candidates, ensuring quality results.

Meeting peak demands Having a more skilled and motivated workforce will truly pay dividends when seasonal peaks arise. For retailers this is undoubtedly in the lead up to Christmas, as well as e-commerce bonanzas such as Black Friday. By ensuring better accuracy, and putting people at the heart of the process, voice technology can help tackle these peaks without impacting negatively on workers.

By being able to plan for peaks, voice customers have reported they don’t experience issues or see them as a major concern, citing the fact that they are able to upskill new workers quickly and effectively – and meet demands as normal.

Happy workers: Happy managers?

As the logistics industry continues to expand, working environments will doubtless come under further scrutiny. The use of voice in the warehouse means that companies can ensure the process of picking is being done in the most efficient way, allowing managers to focus on

human elements including employee morale and wellbeing.

But of course, having these efficient processes will have already started to make the positive impact managers are looking for. Through allowing warehouse functions to perform at optimum levels, voice systems are building better working conditions, for both employees and employers. One Honeywell Vocollect solutions customer, commented that after implementing the system, they found that the performance of the better, more experienced and motivated staff increased ten per cent. At the same time they saw the performance of the less experienced and sometimes less motivated staff increase by 20 per cent. As everyone is working to similar levels of productivity it’s made managing the workforce much more predictable and accurate.

Darrel Williams Darrel Williams is regional director, Northern Europe and South Africa, Vocollect by Honeywell.

Honeywell is a leading provider of innovative voice technology solutions enabling nearly one million global mobile workers annually to save companies more than $20 billion. Vocollect solutions integrate with most major WMS, ERP, materials handling systems and supports the industry’s leading mobile computing devices. For more information, visit www.vocollect.co.uk or www.vocollectvoice.com.

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Need to

know Crispin Kenyon and Zoe Harris discuss the new health and safety sentencing guidelines and their implications for the manufacturing sector

Given that British manufacturing is on the rise and the sector typically has a higher risk of accidents, it is essential that companies have a working knowledge of relevant health and safety legislation and the new implications of failing to maintain safety standards

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T

he Sentencing Council is due to publish new guidelines for corporate manslaughter, health and safety and food safety cases by the end of this year. The guidelines are likely to have a dramatic impact on the level of fines imposed on businesses and the likelihood of custodial sentences for individuals such as company directors is set to increase. Higher fines tend to attract greater media interest, with further unquantifiable reputational damage. Given that British manufacturing is on the rise and the sector typically has a higher risk of accidents, it is essential that companies have a working knowledge of relevant health and safety legislation and the new implications of failing to maintain safety standards.

Implications for businesses The proposed guidelines apply to organisations breaching sections 2 (duties of employers to their employees) and 3 (duties of employers to persons other than their employees) of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 and breaches of health and safety regulations. For any business with an annual turnover in excess of £50 million the new norm will be fines of millions, rather than thousands, of pounds.

The stated aim of the proposed guidelines is ‘to ensure that all sentences are proportionate to the offence committed and in relation to other offences’ while following the principle that any fine ‘should be sufficiently substantial to have a real economic impact which will bring home to both management and shareholders the need to comply with the legislation and achieve a safe environment for workers and members of the public’.

The Council makes clear that the starting point for its recommendations is that any fine must reflect: the seriousness of the offence, the culpability of the offender and take into account the financial circumstances of the offender so that it meets, ‘in a fair and proportionate way, the aims of punishment and deterrence.’

Health and safety alarming results. A ‘large’ organisation is proposed to be one with an annual turnover of £50 million.

There are categories for medium, small and micro businesses below this.

An assessment of very high culpability with a high degree of risk created or significant harm actually caused will lead to a ‘large’ organisation looking at a fine on conviction of: l For corporate manslaughter £4,800,000 to £20,000,000 (starting point - £7,500,000) l For H&S offences £2,600,000 - £10,000,000 (starting point - £4,000,000)

For businesses, the guidelines recommend that a number of steps should be followed by the judiciary in determining sentence in each case.

Step 1 - will determine the offence category by looking at culpability and harm factors. In other words how serious is this offence taking account of matters such as the risk it created; how serious was any injury actually suffered; how far short of appropriate standards did the defendant fall, and how widespread was the non-compliance.

Step 2 - will focus on the turnover of the offending organisation to determine a starting point for the appropriate level of fine. It is anticipated that corporate offenders will be required to provide comprehensive accounts for the last three years to enable an assessment to be made of financial status. Normally, only information relating to the convicted organisation before the court will be relevant, ‘unless it is demonstrated to the court that the resources of a linked organisation are available and can properly be taken into account’.

The suggested ranges into which fines will fall depending on corporate turnover, leads to some

This is serious for business. Fines by law cannot be insured. Make no mistake, these fines are intended to be punitive, not to mention the stigma of being identified through a conviction as having caused an injury to or death of an employee. They come straight off the bottom line, as do the prosecution costs that on conviction are also normally ordered to be paid by a convicted defendant.

Furthermore, if annual turnover of the organisation convicted ‘very greatly exceeds’ £50 million, ‘it may be necessary to move outside the suggested range to achieve a proportionate sentence’. Logically it would seem that a business with an annual turnover of £100 million might expect to receive double these fine bands.

Step 3 - will involve a consideration of whether the fine suggested by steps 1 and 2 is ‘proportionate to the means of the offender’. This will allow the court to take into account: l The profitability of the business before tax, directors’ remuneration, loan accounts and pension provision, and l The assets of the business Those factors might push the suggested fine up or down, or might simply lead to the court allowing more time for payment, or for payment by instalments.

Step 4 - suggests other factors will then be considered that may warrant further adjustment of the proposed fine. If the organisation for example is a charitable or public body the fine is likely to be reduced if it can be shown it would have a significant impact on the provision of that organisation’s services.

Steps 5 to 9 - broadly set out matters which you would currently expect would form part of any reasonable plea in mitigation to reduce the penalty. This includes such matters as a discount for an early guilty plea, previous good record, and consideration of whether the total sentence is just and proportionate where more than one charge has been brought. There is also encouragement for consideration to be given, for example, to making a compensation order to anyone injured or damaged by the breach.

The final step suggests that there is an obligation for the court to give reasons for, and explain the effect of, the sentence on the convicted defendant.

Implications for individuals, directors and others The proposed guidelines apply to breaching sections 7 (employees at work), 36 (individuals) and 37 (directors) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974. The approach in the proposed guidelines is a retreat from the traditional sentencing regime and appears to increase the likelihood of custodial sentences for individuals such as company directors. For example, where the individual was negligent and committed an offence ‘through act or omission which a person exercising reasonable care would not commit’ but the offence involves the highest category of harm, for example, a fatality, the starting point would be a 26-week custodial sentence. The message of the Sentencing Guidelines Council is therefore clear – they mean business.

The development of the Sentencing Guidelines Council’s Guidelines are surely a reminder for any manufacturing organisation to review its approach to safety management, and to ensure it is supported by robust documentation, to minimise the risk of a health and safety related incident occurring.

When implemented, these guidelines will apply at the time of sentence (and not at the time the incident occurred), so insurers and their clients will also need to make careful and considered tactical decisions about case strategy to ensure minimal impact to the business.

Crispin Kenyon and Zoe Harris Crispin Kenyon is a Partner and Zoe Harris is a Solicitor at national law firm Weightmans.

Weightmans is a top 45 law firm with over 1300 people across offices in Birmingham, Dartford, Glasgow, Knutsford, Leicester, Liverpool, Leeds, London and Manchester. Weightmans is dedicated to providing results for its clients and success for its people. www.weightmans.com.

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Modern manufacturing

challenges Why manufacturers need to change how they manage product profitability. By Tobias Tauber

M

anufacturers must address several conflicting requirements to succeed in today’s marketplace: increasing customer demand for new features and functions; tighter time windows for new products; volatility in materials and labour markets; and the availability of trusted suppliers in different regions to meet dynamic market needs.

All of these factors have a significant impact on product profitability.

To address these challenges, manufacturers must have the ability to closely manage costs across their product lifecycle. It requires a more different, more strategic approach to product cost management (PCM) but it’s one that can not only reduce costs but also accelerate their time to market and increase their product innovation.

Here’s how:

Global product development Many manufacturers are designing for the global marketplace such that a core design and components can be used in any geography, with customisations made to support local markets.

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This strategy requires that manufacturers understand the cost of feature tradeoffs necessary to do this profitably. Effective PCM helps decision makers quickly assess the cost tradeoff implications of different product variants at the complete product, functional group or individual component level. This is especially beneficial when de-featuring a product for an economically sensitive market.

Achieving cost targets for new product development Manufacturers consistently miss cost targets on new product development programmes. In response, many conduct painful, time-consuming and expensive value engineering processes to squeeze cost back out of products after they’ve entered the market. Product development leaders need to be able to calculate and assess cost from the earliest product concepts – before unnecessary costs get built in. With the right PCM tools, programme managers, engineering, sourcing and manufacturing personnel can quickly and precisely determine the cost of a new part or

complete product design in real-time. They can also roll-up the cost of an entire complex Bill of Materials, including the cost of carryover parts that have costs stored in other enterprise systems.

Developing more innovative products Product innovation is a key determinant for many manufacturers’ competitiveness. Yet, often, companies are forced to limit the amount of product design work they do because of the time it takes to estimate manufacturing costs for new designs. Effective PCM tools provide fast, detailed cost estimates in real-time as a design changes.

This rapid feedback enables engineers to develop and evaluate many more design alternative designs, and improves their ability to develop a more innovative design that adds greater value for the end-customer.

Maximising product profitability Most companies are cost optimising a small percentage of the products they design, manufacture and sell. There are simply not enough resources available to manually cost

IT in manufacturing

s

and MES systems into a single repository that is accessible by anyone that needs it. And access can be managed as needed for different users.

Accelerating time to market

large numbers of new parts moving through the organisation. Those that have dedicated cost engineering teams typically focus on the most expensive, highly engineered parts. There are PCM solutions available today that enable companies to dramatically increase the percentage of cost optimised parts in new product designs and significantly improve profit margins. Manufacturers can also batch cost production parts and identify outliers where they may be overpaying their suppliers.

Aligning cost management goals for product development teams For most major manufacturers, cost data is scattered across the entire organisation in PLM, ERP, SCM and MES systems. This makes it very difficult to get a single consistent view of product cost. As a result, different departments and product groups each have their own, often conflicting, cost goals and agendas. Ultimately this yields a sub-optimal profit margin. With the right PCM solution, manufacturers can integrate all the cost data scattered among their PLM, ERP, SCM

Most manufacturers rate being first to market as one of the most critical aspects in whether a product will ultimately succeed. Companies that source a significant amount of product from their supply chain often experience delays waiting for a quote on a new product design. Effective PCM helps manufacturers stay on schedule and accelerate their time to market by enabling users to generate detailed product estimates in seconds or minutes versus waiting hours or days for a quote to come back from manufacturing, purchasing or an external supplier.

Enabling more flexible supply chains Manufacturers that operate globally know how volatile material and labour markets can be. This can create difficulty in weighing important Make vs. Buy decisions or comparing suppliers in one region vs. another. The current wave of re-shoring has elevated this challenge even further and the decisions a manufacturer makes have significant implications on profitability and time to market.

Effective PCM tools leverage comprehensive cost data from around the world to enable users to quickly assess the tradeoffs of different manufacturing choices: in-house manufacturing vs. suppliers, supplier A vs. B, region A vs. B. Proper analysis will include important details such as costs for materials, labour, overhead and manufacturing.

Summary Best-in-class manufacturers are differentiating themselves from their competition with a systematic approach to product profitability. They are leveraging new product cost management tools that equip employees to remove costs at every opportunity and gaining real advantage in the form of improved profit margins, increased product innovation, faster time-to-market and improved product quality.

Tobias Tauber Tobias Tauber is a Senior Business Consultant at aPriori. aPriori software and services generate product cost savings for discrete manufacturing and product innovation companies. aPriori’s real-time product cost assessments provide informed decisions at preand post-production, enabling manufacturers to launch products at cost targets, maximise savings in re-work projects and avoid overpayment of sourced parts. www.apriori.com.

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www.manufacturingtoday-europe.com

Focus on: l Stadco

l Sulzer Pump Solutions Ireland l Colini l Hi-Force l Laufenberg l Kel-Tech Engineering l Skamol l TOMRA Sorting Solutions l Salop Design and Engineering l Valtra l Airius Europe Ltd l Burgess Furniture l Kannegiesser UK l Rexnord FlatTop l Tandom Metallurgical Group

y EUROPE

BEST PRACTICES FOR INDUSTRY LEADERS

EUROPE

MANUFACTURING MANUFACTURING toda y toda

Stadco

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A stamp of

success

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Stadco

Large mechanical press line located in Telford

Olympus Global

Olympus Global operate from a modern 38,000 sq ft purpose built facility located in the Black Country, the centre of Britain’s industrial heartland.

Through established world-class manufacturers we distribute OEM engineered, automotive components and assemblies.

Since 1974 we have developed, implemented and managed long-term partnerships with Stadco and other well-known OEM customers and their nominated tier 1 & 2 suppliers.

With two Mectron sorting machines, Keyence imaging devices and laboratory, we are totally committed to the everincreasing quality expectations of the automotive sector.

Our service is tailor-made to meet the specific requirements of each customer and the demands of their respective markets.

Continuous investment in people, facilities, equipment and service, drives Olympus Global forward to be a market leader in Kanban supplied automotive components.

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Stadco’s long and reputable history means that it is now in a position to reap the success of the extraordinary boom currently going on in the UK automotive industry

A

Stadco Ltd Products: Manufacturers of steel and aluminium stampings and assemblies for the automotive sector Sites: Four www.stadco.co.uk

stonishingly, Stadco is able to trace its history back to 1812 making it one of the oldest registered companies in the UK. Over two centuries, the company has been able to develop and grow throughout an ever-changing UK manufacturing landscape and now occupies a position as a major tier one supplier to the automotive sector. Today Stadco’s core business revolves around the stamping and assembly of products from structural parts through to skin panels and complex assemblies, in both steel and aluminium.

With the automotive sector as its focus, business for Stadco over recent years has seen significant growth. Serving predominantly the UK and German industries, the company boasts blue chip names such as Jaguar Land Rover, Ford, GM and BMW on its client list, highlighting the reputation for high quality product and service the company has established over its long history. With a surge in growth in the UK market, driven by Jaguar Land Rover, Stadco has seen sales increase from £60 million to £230 million between 2008 and 2014. This looks set to continue as the company proves it is capable of supplying the increased demand. As Sales and Marketing Director, Dinos Andreou sums up: “We see the long term prospects for the industry as very positive.

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Stadco

One of two 4000 tonne transfer press lines recently installed in Telford

“We have been a proud supplier to Jaguar Land Rover for many years and our relationship with them is built on mutual trust and co-operation,” continues Dinos. “The last few years have seen unprecedented levels of growth and integration in working methods with their organisation.

“The unique range of large press line facilities that we have are highly compatible with Jaguar Land Rover’s in-house press shops allowing us to take

‘‘

We have a mix of long serving individuals plus a large influx of new employees who have joined us in recent years tooling from them with minimal or no adaptation work. The capacity this provides has been an important facet as their internal facilities come under increased demand through the combined impact of higher volumes and model proliferation.”

The core strength of Stadco is in its ability to supply a rapidly growing market through its people. “We have a mix of long serving individuals plus a large influx of new employees who have joined us in recent years,” explains Dinos. “These are all highly motivated and passionate with a clear understanding of what is required to meet and exceed our customers’ needs. This is our key strength.” Complementing this is a unique range of manufacturing facilities and capabilities spread out across the UK to best serve its UK customers.

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Stadco The Telford premises

Extra Personnel

Stadco have had a successful working partnership with Extra Personnel for over six years, in particular supporting the significant growth for Telford. They recruit for a wide variety of positions including press operatives, CMM programmers and supply chain managers. Extra Personnel’s Shropshire office has expanded with Stadco, having recently been refurbished and doubled in size. They interview manufacturing candidates daily and also run job fairs and assessments days for volume recruitment campaigns. Extra Personnel’s innovative approach and lean practices compliment Stadco, the team work closely with our management team to ensure the needs of the business are continuously met.

Profil

Profil, part of Penn Engineering, has had a long and mutually successful relationship with Stadco for over 18 years, starting with BMW Mini and now through JLR projects. As the world’s leading developer and supplier of mechanically attached fasteners Profil takes a system supplier approach including fasteners, feeding equipment and installation tooling to enable stamping manufacturers to integrate fasteners into their customers sheet metal components. Profil is able to supply nuts and studs capable of working across a range of materials from aluminium to ultra high strength steel and even in CFRP and other composite materials.

Dinos outlines the company’s production capacity: “We have four sites in the UK, three of which are located in the Midlands and one in Powys – thus providing us with convenient access to the UK’s automotive OEMs. Within the group we have more than eighty presses with a range of capability to cold form everything from a bracket to the largest panels on a vehicle.

A particular niche of Stadco is our capability to produce skin panels, which is normally regarded as a core competence of OEMs and retained in-house. We also have more than 25 years experience in stamping aluminium. Aluminium is now widely applied in the automotive industry and its use is forecast to grow significantly. We are ideally placed to benefit from this. Complimenting this is our experience and capability to assemble

complex modules, up to complete body structures in both steel and aluminium. Across the organisation we employ a wide range of technologies including in-pressing nutting, spot and mig welding, robotic roller hemming, self-pierce riveting, powder coat, electro coat and adhesive bonding.”

In order to keep up with the extraordinary levels of growth in the market, Stadco has invested

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Stadco Product range

FAGOR ARRASATE

FAGOR ARRASATE is a world specialist in design, manufacture and supply of forming machine tools, from presses and complete stamping systems to lines for manufacturing, processing and cutting sheet metal or special complete lines for manufacturing complex sheet metal parts. With six plants worldwide, the company has a global market presence and sells its products to 70 different countries. Founded in 1957, it is now the industry leader in number of lines installed, prestige of its references, technology, quality, research and development.

Practically, all the world’s top automotive makers, stampers, manufacturers and processors of coils and blanks in steel or aluminium, home appliances, metallic furniture, forged parts or electric rolled steel have FAGOR installations.

I.Rob (UK)

I.Rob (UK) Ltd has been supplying innovative engineering solutions to Stadco for over 15 years. Central to this is the provision of complete turnkey solutions from system design, manufacture, installation and commissioning through to ongoing production training and site support.

I.Rob has partnered Stadco on numerous projects ranging from tooling fixture design and build to fully automated robotic assembly cells incorporating the latest manufacturing processes.

Together the two companies have developed an industry leading electrical & mechanical set of standards that have been successfully integrated into the latest set of BIW assembly cells.

I.Rob (UK)’s dedication and commitment to each and every project has ensured that it maintains the status of preferred supplier within the Stadco Group.

around £70 million into its UK operations over the last six years. “As we emerged from the recession in 2008 we quickly recognised that the prospects for the UK automotive market were set to improve. Therefore, we undertook a strategic review of our entire operation, including detailed customer feedback, as to which market segments we should focus our attention on. One of the key outputs of the process being clear direction that we should concentrate on the manufacture of large stampings and complex assemblies,” outlines Dinos.

In 2011, the company acquired an 18-acre facility in Telford, which included two large highspeed mechanical press lines, a fully equipped tool room and 20,000 square metres of covered factory area. Subsequent investments were made in two leading edge transfer press lines, each capable of delivering a press force up to 4000 tonnes. “The initial line was installed during 2014 and the second is currently being commissioned,” notes Dinos. “Our projections already see both lines fully utilised. Another example is our facility in Shrewsbury, which saw the installation of a fully flexible cross platform assembly cell during 2014, which manufactures complex rear floor assemblies across four Jaguar Land Rover vehicle models. This equipment is capable of producing up to 260,000 complex assembles per year and can accommodate any variation in the build mix.

“Underpinning all of the expenditure on facilities and equipment is our continuous investment in people and processes. We strive to become a

‘‘

Underpinning all of the expenditure on facilities and equipment is our continuous investment in people and processes Learning Organisation, to continuously transform ourselves and our processes,” highlights Dinos. “As organisations grow, they can lose their capacity to learn as company structures and individual thinking becomes rigid. When problems arise, the proposed solutions often turn out to be only short-term and re-emerge in the future. Therefore, to remain competitive we need to find ways of working more effectively. To do this we need to learn faster than our competitors, we need to maintain

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Stadco Konecranes

Konecranes UK Industrial Crane Division, East Kilbride, is supplying a specially designed crane for the existing Stadco factory at Telford. The 40 tonne crane will run on existing rails at 25.9 metres span and will incorporate many design features of Konecranes CXT range of cranes.

The crane will be fitted with KONECRANES DynA range of Invertor speed control on all motions, floodlights, cable chain cross crane cable system, DynaHoist and REMOX radio control with back up pendant along with ControlPro Condition Monitoring. The crane also has Konecranes’ TRUCONNECT Remote Monitoring service where the crane’s performance is being continuously monitored remotely.

Graduate learning on the job

knowledge about new products and processes, understand what is happening in the outside environment and produce creative solutions using the knowledge and skills of all within the organisation.”

To achieve this level of continuous learning, the company places a major focus on collaboration, communication and trust throughout its workforce to develop and maintain an obsession with continuous improvement. A major part of this is making sure that the working environment is perfectly suited for individual learning and to encourage and facilitate its people to develop.

With people as such a central and driving force at Stadco, the company invests £500,000 annually in training and development throughout the organisation. Dinos sums up some of the initiatives employed by the company to facilitate this. “We work with the Institute of Leadership and

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Focusing on in/offline 3D measurement technology, the free forum will show how top vehicle makers are improving productivity by moving quality assurance into the production process.

Among the highlights will be a demonstration of Hexagon Metrology’s 360˚ SIMS complete solution for fully-automated dimensional process and quality control. There will be presentations by auto industry specialists plus a tour of the centre. The event takes place in Wetzlar, Germany, from September 30-October 1.

Register at www.hexagonmetrology.de/eng/automationforum

Management (ILM) to train in partnership with the EEF (Engineering Employers’ Federation) eighty first-line managers to deliver enhanced leadership and management skills. This is then accompanied by further ongoing skills development to enhance essential management skills for one hundred staff, delivered by the EEF. We have joined the EEF national engineering apprenticeship scheme with a 2014 intake of eight new engineering apprentices, and are participating in the new advanced ‘Trailblazer’ apprenticeship programme as well as implementing undergraduate and graduate schemes.

“We run a comprehensive and disciplined personal development review process for all employees to recognise both specific targets and behaviours, and a business wide programme of Six-Sigma learning and professional qualification support for individuals. To top this off the company also runs legal compliance training and support employees seeking external educational enhancement including programme management, MBA and IOD sponsorship.”

With this programme of individual continuous improvement in place, Stadco is well placed to respond to particular market challenges surrounding talent. As Dinos points out: “There is a key challenge in finding skill in the market at the moment; to recruit, train and retain the very best people. The automotive industry and wider economy has been slow in reacting to this shortfall in key technical skills, although there is now recognition at a national level and a real push to address the issues.” With its unique and

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Stadco

Shrewsbury robots

‘‘

We are continually seeking to challenge how far we can push beyond the business plan

Mitie’s Roofing Refurbishment Contractors

Mitie’s Roofing team are the largest commercial roofing contractor in the UK with unparalleled regional coverage, so they can provide a local service from local offices, with locally employed labour.

Mitie Roofing are an award-winning commercial roofing company and pride themselves on delivering a world-class service to every customer. They have an outstanding record on health and safety as well as all the accreditations needed to deliver a service safely and to the highest standard.

Mitie’s relationship with Stadco began in 2012 when asked to refurbish the main office roof that was in desperate need of repair. Following our works Stadco’s Engineers had a dry place of work to plan their production facility.

Since then the relationship has developed further and Mitie regularly undertake roofing refurbishment across three sites, namely Telford, Shrewsbury and Llanfyllin.

The basis of the relationship – trust, safety, quality and value.

exemplary structure of personal development and opportunity provided, Stadco reports that it is successfully establishing itself as an employer of choice with people actively approaching the company.

Elsewhere in the market, Dinos sees continued opportunities in the rising growth of the UK automotive industry. “Our assessment is that there remains a significant shortfall in both stamping capacity and available assembly footprint to satisfy projected vehicle production demand in the UK. Stadco are well placed to benefit from this opportunity providing we continue to invest and satisfy our customers’ needs,” he says.

“We are currently in the middle of an unprecedented schedule of new programme launches, so over the next 12 months, in addition to the ongoing strive to improve all areas of the business, the successful delivery of these programmes is a clear priority for us. More strategically, our current business plan sees the

company continuing to grow on a similar trajectory to that which we have experienced in recent years. Even with this continued level of expansion we are far from complacent, continually seeking to challenge how far we can push beyond the business plan. Ultimately, however we recognise that long term continued growth is only sustainable with a workforce which remains engaged and motivated.”

With the levels of growth that are currently displaying themselves in the UK automotive industry, the future for Stadco looks particularly

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Stadco

Castle Bromwich, one of the largest press lines in Europe

bright. The company’s unfaltering commitment to offering a fully integrated product service and its ability to develop and maintain strong collaborative relationships with its blue-chip customers has enabled it to occupy the position it now sits in.

With this in mind it would be easy to expect the company to sit comfortably, yet it is clear that continuous improvement on individual, company and industry levels is a very obvious drive for Stadco not to sit still. “The organisation has been on a tremendous journey,” says Dinos, summing up the company’s current position. “We are very excited that the best is still yet to come.”

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Sulzer Pump Solutions Ireland

Improving the

flow

Sulzer Pump Solutions Ireland (SPIRL) benefits from the skills of a knowledgeable workforce

Sulzer Pump Solutions Ireland Ltd Products: Pump engineering and manufacturing Sites: Wexford, Ireland www.sulzer.com

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S

ulzer’s manufacturing facility in Wexford, Ireland has a rich and varied history.

The German company ABS Pumps, which had been manufacturing pumps and equipment for the wastewater industry since 1959, originally founded the site in 1973. By 2011, in a move to incorporate wastewater services into its portfolio, Sulzer acquired the company at that time called Cardo Flow Solutions and brought the Wexford site on board. Significantly, Sulzer brought to the table over 175 years of experience in the pump engineering and manufacturing industry. What results is a facility that has access to a vast expanse of experience and expertise within the industry, and this is very much reflected in the success the company has earned.

“In Ireland we focus primarily on the production of submersible pumps,” explains MD in Ireland, Juergen Deutschmann. “We support the municipal wastewater collection and treatment services, and

we are also strong in the domestic commercial wastewater segments.This includes products and service from initial collection to mixing and aeration within the treatment plant. Recently, after a footprint consolidation at Sulzer, we have also started producing pumps for the mining and construction industries.”

As a global organisation the Sulzer divisions Pumps Equipment, Rotating Equipment Services and Chemtech serve a wide range of industries. Within its pump offering, which accounts for more than 50 per cent of business, the company targets the oil and gas, power and water segments. “Wastewater was only introduced to Sulzer’s offering in 2011 and during the transition period the market did not offer any support, so we faced a number of challenges,” notes Juergen. “However, over the course of 2015 we have overcome these issues and are now experiencing some positive growth in the water segment.”

Left: Assembly area for Sulzer Dewatering range of pumps manufactured in Wexford Below top: Sulzer Wexford – Plant 2 building housing; main office block, pump assembly, machining, painting and shipping areas Below bottom: Section of paint spraying line at Sulzer Wexford

The strength of Sulzer in Ireland very much comes from the expansive global network and organisation. “The company works in many different strategic areas so all of that competence and expertise is brought to our products,” highlights Juergen. Another valuable capability offered by Sulzer that allows it to stand out is its approach to research and development. A product development (PD) team is located within the company, developing products and supporting the local and global organisation.

“We are fortunate to have a PD department in Ireland, supporting our products but also other products for colleagues around the world,” says Juergen. “A recent example of good collaboration is the introduction of a new progressing cavity (PC) pump line.This is a sludge pump to clear out

Roche Logistics Group Roche Logistics Group have invested over €10 million in recent years in our premises, fleet and computer systems, making us one of the most efficient third party logistics providers in the country. Over the last 20 years we have been committed to providing Sulzer Pumps with a customer focused solution that make their freight management and production line, user friendly, cost efficient & safe. With this close co-operation we believe we are an integral part of their production and success.

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Sulzer Pump Solutions Ireland

Bufab Ireland As Kevin Donnelly, managing director of Bufab Ireland explains, the transfer of Sulzer production from Nordmaling to Wexford was a perfect example of how Bufab’s global presence can provide benefits to its customers. “Bufab Ireland was able to supply all parts previously supplied to the Nordmaling facility by our sister companies in Sweden and along with these items provide further supply consolidation of another 400+ items to their facility in Wexford.

“Initially the project involved the transfer of 274 articles that were previously supplied by Bufab companies in Sweden directly to the Sulzer Nordmaling facility. Just one year on and Bufab Ireland are now supplying close to 700 articles to Sulzer Wexford via our Kanban VMI solution from our warehouse in Wexford. The range of parts supplied include standard fastener items along with branded distributed items, electrical and mechanical parts, rubber and plastic parts and also some items that were previously assembled in house at the Sulzer Wexford facility. We also worked closely with Sulzer to assist them with the design and set up of the new production line for the transferred production from Nordmaling.

“Within Bufab we refer to the above as ‘Global Parts Productivity’ or ‘GPP’ and we feel honoured that Sulzer Pumps Ireland has given us this opportunity to put ‘GPP’ into action at their Wexford facility. We are still working daily with the team in Wexford to consolidate the supply of further items which will bring benefits to both companies and certainly helps to demonstrate the core values of Bufab being put into practice as ‘Dedicated, Trustworthy, Solutionists’.”

Above: Cut through view of submersible pump from the Sulzer XFP range Right: XJ Submersible Drainage Pump – manufactured in Sulzer Wexford

Sulzer Wexford product Sanimat 100 Lifting Station

what is left after the water has been removed from the water treatment plant. Another excellent example of innovation achieved through global and local collaboration is the recent completion and introduction of the Contrablock plus hydraulic range on our large wastewater pumps.This involved PD, procurement and operations in Lohmar, Germany and Wexford working closely together to deliver a successful innovation to the market.”

As part of a world-leading organisation the Wexford-based factory operates to a level of product quality and reliability that conforms to the global reputation held by Sulzer.

To adhere to this there is in-house production of hydraulic components to maintain these levels. “We still machine components on-site especially for parts that are individually complex, so it is key to keep these manufacturing capabilities internal,” notes Juergen. “However, our main focus in Ireland is on the assembly and testing of products. Amongst other facilities we have a dedicated PD test department with capability for motor brake testing up to 45kW and a dedicated anti-clogging test tank, which includes a 1000 fps high-speed camera to visualise material

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Sulzer Pump Solutions Ireland

interaction with pump hydraulics.These are key core competences for our business. It has also recently completed an investment programme to install a new robotic paint line to deliver a high quality finish to the company’s products.

“We are much focused on lean production and have a global lean organisation set up to ensure that this is delivered in our facilities,” adds Juergen.

“This is about making sure that everybody in the factory understands the lean process, so that we can operate in a more organised and harmonised way. Ultimately, the organisation is looking at best practice – we don’t have to reinvent the wheel – and making sure these practices are delivered in all the right areas.”

As part of this focus on lean manufacturing, the Wexford facility has invested heavily into the new production line for mining and construction products. “We have utilised a new shape of production line in order to improve the manufacturing flow, reducing disruptions, recording and resolving problems and improving our first pass yield,” outlines Juergen. “We have invested into new workbenches, which are organised to ensure a constant flow of work from station to station. All

parts needed are already there and we have ensured there is a lot of transparency with things like pictures to make information clear about what is being done at each station.This is then accompanied by IT equipment to allow scanning and tracking to be monitored by everyone. Essentially, this is a demonstration of our lean capabilities that will be considered for a roll-out across the factory.”

Results from the new production line are already beginning to show as Juergen reports a 50 per cent increase in output within just a matter of months, yet he also remains aware of the dangers in becoming complacent with this type of achievement. “To truly be lean it is a programme of continuous improvement,” he says. “Therefore we have improved our communication methods with the introduction of our one minute boards to the production lines to make sure everyone is aware of where we are and where we want to go both internally and as a part of Sulzer. We also have a number of key performance indicators (KPIs) in

Sulzer Wexford main entrance and security office

place to make sure we can track exactly where we are and see where we need to improve.

“We have quality and reliable products already but we would like to further reduce costs and use our global footprint to participate more in the market,” concludes Juergen. “In addition to this strategic goal we will also be focusing on growth areas like the increasing demand for municipal wastewater systems and opportunities in the mining and construction segment.”

NSK

NSK is one of the world’s leading manufacturers of rolling bearings, linear technology components and steering systems, and is a key supplier to the pump and compressor industry globally.

NSK has provided Sulzer Pumps with bespoke bearing solutions for their range of submersible pumps for over 15 years. Working closely with their design engineers, NSK has provided engineering expertise, together with production planning and logistics support to ensure quality product is delivered on time.

Reliability and long life are key requirements for submersible pumps, and bearings are critical pump components. Innovative NSK bearing designs such as the unique DDU ball bearing seal, high performance ENS grease and high load capacity HPS series angular contact ball bearings have all contributed to the outstanding reliability and long life of Sulzer’s submersible pump range.

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Collini

A strong

coating As it continues serving the market with a robust reputation, leading surface treatment company Collini is establishing strong manufacturing processes to keep up with growing demand

Collini GmbH Products: Provider of surface treatment solutions for metal and plastic Sites: 12 www.collini.eu

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W

ith 115 years of history behind it, it is no wonder that family-owned Collini GmbH is a leader in the European surface treatment industry. Through a series of acquisitions and successful organic growth, the company now operates from 12 sites in Austria, Switzerland, Germany, Italy, Romania and Russia, employs 1400 people and last year turned over a record 181 million euros in sales. Split into three divisions Collini specialises in electroplating, hot-dip galvanising and powder coating to offer a wide range of surface solutions. This is then enhanced by a heavily customer orientated service to innovate and develop new solutions to improve customers’ products.

Indicating the sheer volume of Collini’s operations and recent success are a number of

facts. Last year the company used 4000 tonnes of zinc, 600 tonnes of nickel, 1000 tonnes of copper, 200 tonnes of powder and paint, and 200kg of gold to facilitate a broad range of applications. As such, it delivered 200 million kilograms of parts to over 6000 customers and its trucks distributed products over a distance of five million kilometres.

The company’s stated goal reads: “The ultimate satisfaction of the specific needs of our customers. We do not sell products; we offer complete and target-orientated applications.”

By understanding its customers’ needs, Collini heavily focuses on assisting and challenging its customers to help improve their competitiveness in their respective markets. With a commitment to continuous improvement it also ensures to learn and adapt to further its lead in surface technology. To facilitate this development Collini operates around a set of core values: diversity of people, partnership, product innovation, social responsibility and ownership.

Innovation is a key part of Collini’s operations and CEO, Johannes Collini highlights his personal commitment to ensuring this is driven by the

company: “I see my task to develop visions, formulate clear objectives and to take the right measures to achieve them,” he says. “When we develop new solutions, the company relies on the co-operation of universities in Kiev, Moscow and Copenhagen, as well as a research centre in Wiener Neustadt.”

One example that particularly demonstrates the level of highly technical innovation delivered

by Collini has recently gained a very high profile. The European Space Agency’s Rosetta

IMR Metals (Metal Powder Technologies GmbH) IMR has been established as company for 25 years.

During this time it has developed into the leading supplier of industrial metals and semi-finished products, which it markets globally.

Active advice and supervision of suppliers and customers is the guarantee for securely supplying its business associates at a high quality level. IMR’s expertise is in the procurement, refinement, inventory holding, financing and hedging of raw materials and metals.

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Collini

spacecraft, which dropped the Philae Lander on to a comet in November 2014 after over ten years of travel, incorporated surface technology provided by Collini. Several components of the probe’s ‘Rosina’ spectrometer were made from a special titanium alloy and coated in gold by Collini. The gold coating on the surface provided the functional qualities demanded by the extremities of space travel in terms of conductivity and protection against thermal radiation. During the development of this specialist coating, Collini’s product underwent numerous tests to guarantee a successful mission in extreme temperatures under a vacuum.

To achieve this level of flexibility and also keep up with growing demand in the market, the company has also invested in innovating its manufacturing processes. As such in Collini’s Biel factory, which processes electrical applications on four reel-to-reel plating lines, the company has implemented a five-day factory process on its journey to become a leaner company with shorter lead times. The five-day factory process ensures that products are processed and delivered in five days from the point of order. “We try to solve problems and not just offer products. We want to co-operate with our customers on a different level in order to be the best in this area,” explains Head of Plant Maintenance at Biel, Ivan Stojanovic. “The challenge here is that in order to implement the five day factory we need to think like a world

leader and consistently process products in an optimised way.”

This supports a programme of continuous improvement across the whole of Collini’s manufacturing capabilities, which includes over 60 automatic coating lines. By striving for lean manufacturing in all aspects the company is able to eliminate processes and adapt to invent new ways of meeting its customers’ requirements.

“Already today we are able to improve the throughput time considerably to provide optimum support for the customer’s site, to think innovatively and then offer to the customer according to their precise need. We guarantee our customers more than just high quality coating,” said Ivan.

With such a comprehensive product and service offering, Collini delivers a highly regarded solutions package to the global market. Since 1990, turnover has increased seven-fold from 25 million and employee levels have risen from 400 to 1400 in order to keep up with the company’s success. With a number of awards under its belt, such as the VN Economic Prize, awarded by the Vorarlberg state in 2015, and a reputable apprenticeship scheme in place, Collini’s growth and success looks set to continue. To achieve this the company continues its dedicated focus on driving innovation into the market, working towards a lean manufacturing process and delivering high quality products to its customers.

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Hi-Force The Hi-Force UK manufacturing facilities in Daventry, England

In

demand

Hi-Force is the fastest growing hydraulic tools manufacturer in the world today

Hi-Force Ltd Products: High pressure hydraulic tools Sites: UK, UAE, Azerbaijan, Italy, Malaysia, the Netherlands, South Africa www.hi-force.com

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riginally introduced to the market in the late 1980s, the Hi-Force brand enjoyed two decades of moderate success before a management buyout and restructure in the early 2000s which resulted in the Brown family taking control of the business in 2006. “It was at this point in the company’s history that I relocated back to the UK as Group Managing Director, following a highly successful 14 year stint of setting up and managing Hi-Force’s Middle East operations in Dubai, UAE,” says Managing Director Kevin Brown.

Since then, the company has witnessed ongoing success and prosperity, with almost 190 per cent growth and a tripled workforce since 2009. Key to this incredible growth is Hi-Force’s strategic decision to progress into in-house manufacturing, which meant Hi-Force ended many years of dependency on sub-contractors.

In line with this development, Hi-Force relocated to a brand new, state-of-the-art facility, in 2010, which is in close proximity to its earlier, much smaller, facilities in Daventry, UK. The new site, at over three times the size of the previous facility, has enabled the firm to combine all

manufacturing and production facilities under one roof, alongside its sales, marketing, assembly, training, logistics and administration departments.

“We manufacture our products from within our headquarters and manufacturing facilities, in Daventry, Northamptonshire, where you can see the complete manufacturing process, from raw material being delivered by our steel and aluminium stock holders, to finished, boxed product being shipped out. Having everything on one huge site, spanning over 120,000 square feet, creates huge efficiency gains. For the business, plus allows our customers to see first-hand exactly how the tools, they buy and use, are manufactured, assembled, tested & certified, finished, packed and despatched,” confirms Kevin.

“To further support our business and our customers, 80 per cent of which is exported outside of the UK, we have established Regional Offices & Distribution Centres in Europe, the Middle East, Far East & Africa, with plans in place to open a Regional Office in the Americas, in 2016. We also receive fantastic support from over 100 strategically placed, authorised and appointed distributors, in over 80 countries, which

Top: A batch of TWH54N Hydraulic Wrench Drive Cylinders being assembled Bottom: Part of the recently shipped huge order for Riyadh Metro in Saudi Arabia, delivered within 14 weeks of order

provide the key link between Hi-Force and end users of our products,” he adds.

Used in a wide range of industries, including oil and gas, refinery and petrochemical, power generation, mining, railways construction, steel and aluminium plants, aerospace, ship building and ship repair, as well as sugar and paper mills, Hi-Force’s hydraulic tools can be relied upon to deliver optimum quality to the most challenging or hazardous of projects. Key to this reliability is the company’s commitment to research and development, which also ensures Hi-Force remains at the forefront of high pressure, hydraulic tool technology. “In the last two years we have invested hundreds of thousands of pounds in expanding our technical design and engineering team. We now have five full time design engineers compared to just two at the beginning of 2014, all dedicated to improving product designs and introducing innovative new products to our global customer market,” says Kevin. “We also use the very latest design software and currently have several new products in the pipeline that are due for launch in the coming months.”

Although it is too early to discuss these upcoming innovations, Hi-Force has recently launched a new range of 700 Bar, maximum working pressure, electric driven hydraulic torque wrench pumps; available with a choice of electric

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Hi-Force

or air driven motor, the pumps are used with the company’s hydraulic torque wenches. “The innovation comes primarily from the three speed design and operation of these pumps, compared to commonly used two speed versions that are offered by our competitors. Not only does the three speed design improve speed of performance, which thus saves operators valuable time, it also enabled Hi-Force to design and manufacture this innovative new product in-house, rather than using sub-contracted and proprietary brand components,” highlights Kevin.

He continues: “We achieved three major successes here: a better more efficient and lighter weight pump, with the added success of a lower manufacturing cost. Previously over 90 per cent of the component parts of our pumps were outsourced; now over 50 per cent of the components are manufactured in-house. Sales during the first half of 2015 have far exceeded our

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expectations and our in-house design engineering team are justifiably proud of the success of this project.”

Indeed, playing an integral role in Hi-Force’s accomplishments are its highly motivated and hardworking employees, who are all dedicated to supporting the Brown family in achieving all of its core objectives. “I believe our core strengths to be our people and our high quality products, both of which are absolutely vital to ensure we continue to grow and prosper,” confirms Kevin.

“The last ten years have been absolutely amazing for the business, as it has grown from being a small tools supplier to an innovative and market leading manufacturing business.”

As increasingly demanding industries call for higher quality products and Hi-Force remains in demand, it has made massive investments in machinery to ensure customer needs are met or

exceeded. “In 2014 we spent over £1 million on three new DMG Mori CNC machines and in 2015 to date over £300,000 has been spent on four Haas CNC machines and associated equipment.

In fact, the purchase of a huge new DMG Mori SL603 lathe machine last year proved pivotal in us recently executing a huge order for the Riyadh Metro Project in Saudi Arabia. The order was in excess of $2 million and, from date of order to date of despatch, was completed in less than 14 weeks. Five 40 ft containers full of hydraulic jacking equipment, manufactured in Daventry, are now en-route to Riyadh, Saudi Arabia! This is a very proud achievement for our business and our employees; we could never have met our customers’ demanding delivery schedule, without having our own in-house manufacturing capability,” enthuses Kevin.

Despite these major successes, Hi-Force has no plans to rest and enjoy the fruits of its labour and instead is looking to further expand in the near future before purchasing more manufacturing machines in 2016. “Whilst we are delighted with the growth we have achieved, since relocating to our current facilities in 2010, the next 12 months will see us re-evaluate our complete manufacturing processes, to better streamline our activities, to further increase efficiency and achieve a key element of our next five year plan,” says Kevin. “This is split into four key areas: gain market share, increase brand awareness, best in class ROI and cash flow and to be a respected employer. We are now well into the implementation phase, through a wide variety of initiatives to ensure we achieve our ‘must win’ battles and fully realise our vision,” he concludes.

Laufenberg

Sticking to its

values

As global demand for silicone coated release liners increases, Laufenberg’s commitment to continuous development puts it in a good position to secure a successful future

Laufenberg GmbH Products: Manufactures high quality silicone coated release liners Sites: One, Germany www.laufenberg.info

F

ounded in 1947, and moving into the production of silicone coated release liners in 1960, Laufenberg GmbH has climbed through the ranks to become one of the leading suppliers of release papers and films to a range of applications. With a focus on continuous development and a forward-looking approach to business, the company is now one of the largest family-owned manufacturing companies of release liners in Europe. In 2009, the company reached a significant milestone as it completed the acquisition of a competitor’s release paper business to bring on board a fourth coating line, and recently invested further into a new slitting and finishing building. Currently one of the coating machines for single side coating is being extended for double side release coating in one pass.

“The main customers for us are tape producers,” begins Managing Director, Jörg Soding. “Other major applications are medical, specialty graphics, composite and general industrial processes. Despite a diverse customer base the release liner is always used to cover an adhesive or resin. For example, the siliconised coating is used in the production of tape, including double-sided for applications like carpet installation, medical dressings and plasters, and composites.”

What sets Laufenberg apart in the market is the extensive range of products that it has on offer, and its attitude towards continuous development.

“We have a very wide offering of papers and films, with a variety of silicone coatings and release levels, which determines how easy it is to pull the adhesive layer off,” highlights Jörg. “With about 200 people employed here we have a lot of manpower working in quality control and a number of application engineers who work directly with customers and suppliers to develop the best and most appropriate products.”This ability to manufacture bespoke solutions for specialist applications is supplemented by the ability to process small production runs to suit the customer’s needs. “We are always trying to find the best solution for the customer,” he adds.

At present market conditions for Laufenberg are positive, down to a trend within the global industry to replace traditional processes with increasingly effective adhesive solutions. “We are currently experiencing an increase in demand across most of our sectors,” explains Jörg. “Use in medical applications is increasing, as it is in the composite industry with products such as lightweight carbon fibre for use in the aeronautic and automotive industries. More and more companies in many industries are turning to adhesive tapes as holding solutions over heavier screws.”

With demand increasing, Laufenberg is committed to maintaining its delivery of continuous improvement to bring to market a robust and competitive product offering. “One of our new developments, which is quite interesting, is our

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Laufenberg

Munksjö

Intelligent paper technology Munksjö is a world-leading manufacturer of advanced paper products developed with intelligent paper technology. Munksjö offers customer-specific innovative design and functionality in areas ranging from flooring, kitchens and furnishings to release papers, consumer-friendly packaging and energy transmission.

The transition to a sustainable society is a natural driving force for Munksjö’s growth as the products can replace non-renewable materials. This is what ‘Made by Munksjö’ stands for.

premium release product that has a very low release value against aggressive butyl rubbers as well as acrylic and rubber based adhesives.This makes it easier to release the adhesive from the liner where before the release force was not sufficient,” says Jörg.

Another significant development is the establishment of a dedicated medical line from Laufenberg, which adheres to a number of German and American medical compliances.

To facilitate this continuous development strategy

the company is currently in the process of upgrading the competencies of its coating lines. With four already in place, two were only capable of coating one side of the paper or film. “As an example, for label paper you only need one side to be siliconised because it is only that side that comes into contact with adhesive,” outlines Jörg. “However there are an increasing number of applications that require both sides to be coated, such as wound tape, medical, composite and industrial applications.The market demands from our customers are telling us that we need higher capacity to do two sides.Therefore, to react to this we are upgrading one of our lines so that we have three machines operating with the ability to coat both sides in one step.”

In addition to this a lot of attention is being focused on general efficiency improvements throughout the factory, as the company strives to achieve higher quality and higher speed with improved in-line control systems.The strategy currently being implemented with upgraded equipment aims to reduce setup times significantly.

The company is also looking closely at improving its internal logistics to better manage production flow across a number of sites. For instance, two sites that are separated by a busy public road have been connected by a fully automated transport system that bridges the two facilities.

The strategic vision for Laufenberg is centred on becoming the number one choice for more and more customers in silicone-coated release products.

To achieve this it remains committed to its values, and dedicated to innovation. “We try to be fast in finding out what customers want and fulfilling these wishes,” concludes Jörg. “Our approach is very much to continue having very close contact with our customers and maintain the conversation about how we can help them move forward. As a family-owned company we have a robust long-term thinking strategy, which starts with the product but is very much in line with the relationships we build with our customers over a long period of time. Reliability and long-term thinking typifies the way we operate.”

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Kel-Tech Engineering

The strategic

solution

Through years of supplying to major OEM brands in the UK and Ireland, Kel-Tech has developed a customer-focused strategy, which has lead to it being recognised as one of the top sub-contract suppliers in its industry

Kel-Tech Engineering Ltd Products: Contract manufacturer with core competency in sheet metal fabrication Sites: One: Waterford, Ireland www.keltechengineering.com 50 www.manufacturingtoday-europe.com

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ounded in 1987 and experiencing positive growth for much of its history, Ireland-based Kel-Tech Engineering has been able to establish a strong offering to the market and position itself next to some major players in the OEM industry. With cut, fold, weld, pre-treatment, painting and final assembly facilities all under one roof at its 90,000 square foot plant in Waterford, Ireland Kel-Tech offers a one-stop-shop to its customers. Its core offering can be split into four ‘sweetspots’: Acoustic enclosures and bases; integrated fuel and hydraulic tanks; overhead guards and integrated cabins; and integrated electrical control boxes.

Over the last 15 years the company has been successful in serving blue-chip customers in industries such as power generation, material handling, automotive and screening and crushing but to name a few with high quality pressures being placed upon Kel-Tech, which the company

successfully met. As a result, up until the economic crash at the end of the last decade, Kel-Tech was riding a wave of exceptional growth.

“The environments that we supply to are very affected by the world market,” begins Business Development Manager, Seamus Lawlor. “So when we had booms in the 2000s we were growing exponentially with some of our big companies.

However when the crash came between 2008 and 2012, our customers lost a lot of work that we would supply to.” With some OEM’s turning to low-cost manufacturers in the Far East, in 2012-2013 Kel-Tech lost about 35 per cent of its sales in a short period of time. Emerging from the crash has been tough for Kel-Tech, as Seamus explains that its industries can be slow to recover, however he is pleased to announce that in the first two months of FY2015, the company is roughly back to where it was in 2012.

“This has been driven by our new strategy,”

‘‘

Kel-Tech’s semi & fully integrated products improve the end customers tact time, reduce the OEM’s cost of ownership related to the product and all importantly lessen the work load on the buyer whom now has a one line item order related to the part approached them with a brief. “We’re trying to offer a 360-degree service,” adds Seamus.

“This new strategy has generated a lot of interest in the market as it solves a lot of the capacity and cost problems experienced by our customers,” he expresses. “So capacity problems on their side and increasing their machine output really drove the strategy. It’s also easier on their buyer who now only has to order one finished item with a fixed lead time, and the cost of keeping stock is lower too.” This flexible change in

he outlines. “We now class ourselves as contract manufacturers, before we supplied a piece part; now we supply the part. In the last two years we have realigned our strategy in order to climb up the supply chain as manufacturers that can supply fully integrated components. For example, before we would have just supplied a steel fuel and hydraulic tank, now we’re supplying a fully integrated tank flushed for internal cleanliness, painted and fitted with filters, site gauges, manifolds and everything else, so it is effectively a plug-and-play product.” This integration spreads across its product range, as it now supplies fully wired and glazed forklift cabins, wired control boxes and fully foamed and silenced acoustic enclosures. The company has also been able to use its design skills to further enhance this offering as it has completed full cabins and acoustic enclosure redesign programmes from concept to production after existing customers

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Kel-Tech Engineering

strategic direction has arguably been crucial to the regeneration of Kel-Tech as it battled through the tough spells of recent years, and whilst it has enabled the company to regain its pre-crash position, it still sees a lot of potential to grow.

As such, the company is currently undergoing a rebranding programme and will soon be launching a new website to help generate further sales within the industry.

This move also opens up wider markets for future expansion potential. As Seamus explains: “There was a lot of competition out there for just the painted metal work that we were doing

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before, so it was hard for us to compete beyond the UK and Ireland. However, as we have move up the supply chain to offer a more integrated solution, and differentiated ourselves, I definitely see a market for Europe and beyond. At the moment though, we are focused on exhausting the UK and Ireland before we look beyond.”

Another part of the company’s ability to emerge from the recent crash with strong levels of growth is the existing knowledge and assets already invested in the business. “We sit in the fortunate position where we have very up-todate machinery that is capable of servicing our

industries,” continues Seamus.

“From a people point of view, we are also the first manufacturing company in our sector in Ireland to set up a City and Guilds training scheme to help enhance the skills we have on the floor.

As a result we have a lot of employees progressing their competencies to a high level.”

The future vision for Kel-Tech centres on a continuation of implementing this strategy and creating more awareness about its offerings.

“Traditionally we would have been seen as a supplier to our customer base,” Seamus concludes. “Now we want to be a strategic partner to them. So by developing our core products, we can be a strategic advantage to them with a 360-degree type service. By working with us our customers will get the very best products in those areas. Therefore, the future focus is all about aligning with the customers’ requirements and taking steps on this journey to become the strategic partner of choice.”

Skamol

Precision

insulation

Skamol is a leading supplier of a wide range of insulating materials worldwide

Skamol A/S Products: Thermal insulation materials Sites: Denmark www.skamol.com

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ith over a hundred years of experience in developing, manufacturing and marketing thermal insulating materials for heat-intensive industries and passive fire protection applications, Skamol A/S has established a proven track record with clients around the world. The business was established in the Limfjord area of north-western Denmark as Skarrehage Molerværk I/S during 1912, with the purpose of utilising the region’s deposits of diatomaceous earth in the production of insulating bricks. Diatomaceous earth is also known as ‘moler’ and the moler bricks produced

by Skamol were originally used in house building and chimney linings. In the wake of the Second World War the company began to increasingly focus on the industrial application of its products and since beginning as a local supplier of insulating bricks, Skamol has become a leading global

supplier of insulating materials worldwide.

Today Skamol operates as a highly regarded industry supplier to clients across a spectrum of business sectors including applications within the aluminium industry; hearth and heating appliances; high-temperature industries, such as the cement, paper, pulp, lime, iron, glass and ceramic sectors;

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Skamol

passive fire protection, for example core material for fire doors, heat protection shielding around fireplaces and stoves and mold protection. As the company’s scope of industry applications has increased, so too has the range of insulation products and solutions that it is able to provide.

Presently Skamol maintains four plants that produce insulation bricks and boards in moler, calcium silicate and vermiculite. Plants are individually dedicated to the production of moler, vermiculite and calcium silicate products respectively, along with a second plant geared to the production of moler bricks in Russia that was acquired during 2009. Further to the products it manufactures in-house, Skamol also supplies nitride bonded silicon carbide slabs produced in China.

Over the course of over a century of close co-operation with clients operating within a broad base of industries, Skamol has established a strong market presence throughout Europe and beyond and is keen to expand its market share in regions including Russia, China and the Middle East. One of the strongest areas of the business has been its presence within the aluminium industry, which has traditionally generated a significant proportion of the company’s turnover, as Holger Østergaard, Business Director Middle East and Africa elaborates: “The aluminium industry covers a major part of our business and has been its strongest industry for decades, because we started out very early in this sector.

Since the 1960s Skamol has kept close contact with aluminium smelters and consulted with the

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aluminium industry regarding how it could improve its business processes. Skamol products also happen to fit very well with the aluminium industry – the smelting process takes part at 960 degrees Celsius, while all of the company’s products have a maximum service temperature of between 900 and 1100 degrees Celsius. So the company’s strength in the aluminium sector can mainly be explained by an early start combined with wellfitting and effective products.”

Its proven knowledge of insulating materials and its strong links with the aluminium sector have allowed Skamol to acquire a significant market presence.

Throughout Europe and regions outside of China and Russia, Skamol has established a market share of around 65 per cent and is present at most of the market’s aluminium smelters. The company also maintains a strong and growing presence with Russia and is actively seeking to expand its activity with clients within China.

“What is special about the aluminium business is that there are relatively few customers on a global basis. In China there are just over a hundred smelters, while in the rest of the world – including Russia there are 91 active smelters presently. This makes the industry unique and as such clients in the western world and Russia know and trust Skamol. The company has worked with them for many years and maintains close co-operation through regular commercial and

technical meetings with all major players.

“Within Europe, Skamol has a market share of around 65 per cent and in Russia it is working to grow its market presence,” he continues.

“The big challenge for us is China, which can be a challenging market to approach due to factors such as product requirements, business procedures and language for example. Skamol has worked within this market for the past two to three years and undertaken visits with technology suppliers, trials and so on, but this is still very much in the early stages. In terms of demand it appears that the market is stable, in that the global demand for aluminium is increasing. So from that point of view it is a healthy growth industry. However, 90 per cent of that growth is

taking place in China, while the remaining ten per cent is in the rest of the world.”

While the company continues to develop its global footprint within insulation products, Skamol will also seek to expand its sales of nitride bonded silicon carbide bricks throughout its entire market base in order to facilitate further growth, as Holger concludes: “With a market share of 65 per cent it is challenging to grow, because clients may not want to put all of their eggs in one basket, while regions may also have import taxes etc that make it difficult to grow above a certain level. Therefore around ten years ago Skamol began to deliver traded products such as nitride bonded silicon carbide bricks and these have become very successful. The company certainly expects to continue to grow in this area.”

Palabora Europe Ltd

Palabora is the single largest supplier of vermiculite in the world and has enjoyed a long and successful relationship with Skamol for more than +20 years. The relationship remains very important today, as they continue to buy this high quality, versatile mineral.

Vermiculite is a hydrated magnesium aluminium iron silicate, which resembles mica in appearance. Its principle applications are in the construction market, where it is used as fire protection or as an insulator in plasterboards. For Skamol’s applications, vermiculite is used in moulded shapes, insulating bricks, mortars and aggregates. They have a highly respected brand and are a leader in this field.

Palabora Vermiculite

Palabora Vermiculite is a hydrated, magnesium-aluminium-iron, silicate, which resembles mica in appearance. When heated (exfoliated) expands into worm like particles which is the origin of its Latin name ‘vermiculare’.

Palabora Vermiculite is one of the single largest producers in the world for this mineral, which is mined in South Africa and transported to the different markets around the globe.

Performance in 2014 for Palabora has been good with increased volumes. Through various initiatives at the mine, Palabora hope to improve their product offering and package as they look to produce and sell more vermiculite in the future years.

To ensure Palabora has a sustainable business for the future they will continue to concentrate their efforts on safety, production stability and costs. This renewed focus will promote a good solid business through to 2033 and beyond.

Palabora are physically extending the area of mining and therefore prolonging the life of the ore body.

Palabora have long standing relationships with service providers and with their support and professionalism this will continue to make the Palabora vermiculite package one of the best.

Market development of new products/applications in vermiculite, has in recent years slowed down. Palabora are keen to engage with businesses that are willing to explore new areas on the benefits vermiculite could bring to the world. Vermiculite is such a diverse mineral with regard to its end use applications. The question is have we exhausted the list of end uses? Below are just a few of the applications that vermiculite is currently used in: • Animal Feedstuffs • Lightweight Concretes • Bitumen Coated Vermiculite Screeds • Loft Insulation • Fire Protection • Refractory Products • Friction Linings • Silicate Bonded Shapes and Blocks • Horticulture • Vermiculite Plasters • Insulation in Steelworks and Foundries The vermiculite market is a very niche market but its challenges and strategies are similar to other industrial minerals. The market is much more competitive than it was 10 years ago and the Palabora product offering has had to improve to ensure Palabora keeps its place as one of the most sourced vermiculites in the world.

Palabora as a business must guarantee availability right across all of the different vermiculite grades.

Palabora strives for the highest quality vermiculite and that it is produced consistently and within their tight specifications.

The Company continues to have the vermiculite regularly tested by independent world renowned laboratories to certify that customers have absolute confidence in the product they are purchasing and receiving.

Having two strategic stock points, one in North America and the other in Northern Europe, guarantees customer delivery times. Coupled with their ability to send containers from South Africa to any port in the world, maintains a global coverage of 150,000 tonnes per annum.

Palabora pride themselves on a first class customer service. The ease of placing orders, makes the purchasing of Vermiculite, from the different regions around the world, an enhancement to the ‘Palabora Vermiculite package’.

Palabora Europe Ltd Sequel House, The Hart, Farnham, Surrey GU9 7HW UK Tel: +44 (0)1252 917341 Fax: +44 (0)1252 820334 email: richard.knight@palaboraeurope.co.uk

www.palaboraeurope.com

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TOMRA Sorting Solutions

Innovation for the Norwegian sorting equipment manufacturer TOMRA demonstrates the importance of innovation as it sits at the top of its field in a number of industries around the world

TOMRA Sorting Solutions Products: Designs and manufactures sensorbased sorting technologies for the food, recycling, mining and other industries. www.tomra.com

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T

world

oday’s TOMRA Sorting exists as a global leader of sensor based solutions with the highest market share across its sectors, supplying customers around the world with sorting and processing solutions to optimise resource productivity and deliver a more sustainable process.

The TOMRA group, with 2400 employees, turned over 550 million euro in 2014.The Norwegian company has cemented its position in the market through a programme of cutting edge innovation and rapid growth.The company began its life of success in 1972 when brothers Petter and Tore Planke set out to solve a problem encountered by businesses across the country that wanted a system to return empty bottles.The brothers set about producing their first innovation and by the end of the year they had 29 machines installed across Norway, and a year later they had distribution agreements throughout the rest of Europe and the USA. From that point on TOMRA has grown from strength to strength, remaining ever committed to its ability to innovate with new solutions that put it ahead of its competitors. At present approximately 11,500 TOMRA Sorting units are installed in over 80 countries around the world.

Throughout the start of the twenty-first century, TOMRA embarked on a strategy of acquisitional growth to diversify into the sorting industry to grow

the business and increase revenue. During this period the company added companies such as TiTech, Orwak, Commodas, Ultrasort, Odenberg and BEST Sorting into its portfolio, and the company entered the food, mining, and speciality products sectors and complemented its already strong recycling offering.

One thing that has remained a constant in TOMRA’s life is innovation. “Technology is the cornerstone of everything we do,” says Executive Vice President and CTO, Head of TOMRA Sorting Solutions,Volker Rehrmann. Illustrating this and indicating the success of the company’s move into the food industry; in 2015 TOMRA became the recipient of the Innovation Award at the World Nut and Dried Fruit Congress in Turkey.The award was for the company’s new Nimbus BSI technology, a free fall sorting machine with Biometric Signature Identification (BSI), which meets the high expectations and requirements within the food industry by removing unwanted material.

TOMRA also won an international design award for its common user interface.The TOMRA CUI is a new and innovative user interface design that makes TOMRA sorters more accessible, and easier to use and operate.

However, innovation at TOMRA does not stop with the machines.TOMRA Sorting Recycling has launched a new integrated range of support services

Mining equipment Com Series

to deliver enhanced commercial benefits to its customers.

Called TOMRA Care, the company now provides a comprehensive package of services, and has 28 component elements covering the areas: process consulting, system testing, financing, insurance, staff training and upgrades.The new offer has been specifically designed to ensure customers experience a tailored service that enables them to achieve maximum return on investment.

Peter Geisler,TOMRA’s Service Director Recycling, said: “We understand that the needs of our customers are driven by the requirements of the markets in which they operate.This has allowed

us to further enhance our existing strong customer service offer to reflect those needs. Our objective with TOMRA Care is to enable our customers to consistently achieve the highest levels of productivity with the lowest downtime, whilst simultaneously managing costs.”

In addition,TOMRA was recently recognised as ‘the European Business of the Year’ in the category of companies with a turnover of 150 million or higher.

“Innovation, ethics and financial success were all part of the judging criteria and are very important to TOMRA, therefore we were extremely happy to receive this award,” highlights Volker.

TOMRA Sorting has 16 test centres worldwide, a large research and development department and a shared service network to ensure its customers benefit from ongoing innovation and constant care.

Following a successful period of acquisitional growth, in 2012 TOMRA initiated a strategic programme of rebranding to bring the company’s new divisions under the TOMRA brand umbrella.

The new vision was set in place in order to galvanise the combined strength of the various subsidiaries.

Commenting on the rebrand VP Head of Brand Lorraine Dundon said: “By completing the rebranding process, we are significantly increasing the visibility of TOMRA worldwide.”

Comas

Comas, being the world’s leading company in tobacco machinery, understands the importance of delivering tobacco free from foreign matters.

As TOMRA is the most outstanding company in offering sorting solutions, it came quite naturally for the two companies to join forces.

Thanks to this co-operation, now a primary line can be provided with an integrated classification system that combines heavies separation, string removal, a mono-layer flow with a sophisticated optical sorting system.

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TOMRA Sorting Solutions TOMRA Care

Nimbus BSI

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Present market conditions are positive for TOMRA across its business streams with strong sales noted in the food, recycling and mining divisions.

To support this continued growth, the company has recently opened up a new subsidiary in the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) with a new office in Moscow.The new expansion begins with a focus on the company’s recycling division providing the latest waste sorting technologies to a market that contains over 250 million people.

However, as Volker highlights: “Our Moscow office will also support the continued growth of our mining and food sorting businesses in the market.”

The current atmosphere at TOMRA is marked by excitement and positivity as it heads toward what is likely to be another year of record sales. Innovation and quality of product and service has defined the company’s historic success and over recent years considered acquisition has complemented this as the company takes a journey to become a market leader in a variety of sectors around the world. Crucial to TOMRA’s future success however, is this ability to continue to innovate and provide a high quality product and service program. With this in mind, TOMRA Sorting looks set to maintain its position as a global leader for a time to come.

Salop Design and Engineering

A collaborative

approach

Not only does Salop Design and Engineering demonstrate a strong manufacturing capability and reflexive approach to the market, but also an exemplary attitude to the wider industry and local economy

Salop Design and Engineering Ltd Products: Manufactures metal pressings and assemblies Sites: Shrewsbury, Shropshire, UK

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ounded in 1960, Shropshire-based Salop Design and Engineering Ltd has grown from a design agency into a leading UK manufacturer of pressings and assemblies for a range of industrial applications. Mostly serving the automotive, white and yellow goods sectors, the company predominantly operates in the UK but currently exports 20 per cent of its production to Europe and the US. “Today we have mechanical, progression, hydraulic and transfer presses up to 1000 tonnes,” explains Commercial Director, Christopher Greenough. “We also have two state-of-the-art powder coating lines on site, and combined with our own haulage firm we are truly a one-stop-shop for all pressing and coating needs.”

With the automotive TS16949 quality standard in place Salop has developed a robust range

of processes to monitor and maintain delivery, quality and cost to its customers. “We project manage to the customers’ requirements and expectations,” says Chris. “We really pride ourselves on reacting to customer needs and being fully involved in the supply chain. We have a good name within the industry for metal presswork and have achieved remarkable results in growing the powder coating side over the last three years.” As a tier two supplier Salop deals with all of the major UK-based automotive facilities and Germany represents its biggest market outside of the UK. “We have bespoke, state-of-the-art hydraulic presses that can take customer tool concerns and provide real production options,” outlines Chris. “Supplementing this is a full project team that involves top management to make sure customer expectations are fully met.” As a result,

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Salop possesses the ability to process material from 0.4mm to 20mm in-house, as well as a deep draw capability.

With such a comprehensive technical capability behind it, the company has been able to offer a leading, specialist service to the market. Of note, major contracts in the company’s portfolio include the processing of all rear muffler boxes

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for the Rover 75 car produced in the UK until 2005, and all BMW Mini One and Cooper S rear muffler boxes up until production moved out of the UK in 2006. More currently Chris highlights: “We have taken on a customer’s concern about a fuel tank from their existing supplier. In 2004, they moved the tooling to Salop and within two weeks, we had turned the process around to give

Salop Design and Engineering

them a production process that worked.”

Despite reaching its leading position in the UK’s automotive industry, Salop still felt the full force of the economic recession. “In 2009 when the recession hit the UK automotive industry we relied on that industry for 90 per cent of the company’s turnover,” notes Chris. “This had a major impact on us, which meant that we had to make redundancies and revisit the site’s business model. As a result we invested into our first powder coating line the fourth quarter of 2012 in order to dilute the reliance we had on automotive presswork. Since then the powder coating customer base has grown and in 2015 a second line was added.”

An investment of £1.5 million was put into this diversification and is focused heavily on

high-end technology. The state-of-the-art facilities now include seven-minute quick colour change booths and 97 per cent recycled powder facility.

Such is the rapid success of the turnaround that by the end of 2015, Salop will see a 50/50 split in revenue between automotive and nonautomotive industries. “This diversification has not only helped to secure the current workforce, but has also really allowed us to grow,” adds Chris. “The predicted turnover for this year is on target and set to be a record year for the company.”

However, it is not just into its own manufacturing processes that Salop is investing heavily as the economy emerges out of a recession. It is currently in the middle of a £250,000 investment into renovating and kitting

out a training centre for manufacturing. “The centre will be run by In-Comm Training and Business Services and branded as ‘In-Comm Training Academy Shropshire’,” explains Chris.

“When it opens in 2015, it will allow employers in Shropshire to help their apprentices gain the real core skills of engineering. It is set to become a hub for manufacturing businesses to upskill their current workforce, and start their apprentices on the road to adding value to their business.”

This outward commitment to serving the wider industry is deeply ingrained in Salop’s philosophy as Chris himself is also the President of ‘Made in the Midlands’, an organisation promoting the local area’s manufacturing expertise. Combined with Salop’s attitude to continuous training and upskilling within its existing workforce, and an ongoing apprenticeship scheme, it is no surprise that the company became the recipient of the Manufacturing Excellence award at the 2015 Shropshire Chamber Business awards for its work with the local community and young people, and its commitment to the region.

“Since the recession in 2009, we have built the company back up slowly and methodically,” concludes Chris. “Whilst there are certainly still challenges ahead as customer demands and expectations are ever increasing, I see a great amount of opportunity for those manufacturing companies that have stayed around, and have become leaner and keener to make the UK a go-to place for manufacturing.” With this in mind, the future for Salop is very much driven by growth, with a target to increase turnover and exports by 40 per cent within the next five years by attracting new customers and remaining committed to its existing customers and core values.

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Valtra

Solid

success

With a global reputation for reliability and efficiency behind it, Valtra continues as a pioneer in the agricultural industry with award winning and innovative machines

Valtra Products: Tractor manufacturer Sites: Two – Finland and Brazil www.valtra.com www.agcocorp.com

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ow part of globally leading agricultural equipment and off-road engine manufacturer, AGCO Corp, Finland-based Valtra is the leading supplier of tractors to the Nordic region and enjoys a robust reputation in over 75 countries around the world. Able to trace its roots back to 1832, the company began manufacturing tractors as Valtra in 1951. Today, it employs 2100 employees around the world, and manufactures 24,000 individually tailored tractors a year from its two facilities in Finland and Brazil.

With a focus on continuous improvement and innovation, Valtra currently produces a wide range of tractors for a variety of needs and applications within the agricultural market. From the light and nimble all-purpose A- and N-Series machines

through the hugely successful T-Series workhorse to the large, heavy duty S-Series, Valtra is able to tailor each product with a range of AGCO engines and options to suit every demand.

The company currently operates out of two manufacturing sites, one in Suolahti, Finland and the other in Mogi das Cruzes, Brazil to serve the South American market where Valtra’s reputation is growing. Operating, testing and building lasting relationships with customers in both regions, which together represent opposite extremes in operating conditions, the company is able to develop the most reliable and efficient machines in the agricultural industry.

The strengths of Valtra dig their roots into its Nordic tradition. Developing agricultural equipment in harsh and variable conditions has resulted in a portfolio of products that benefit from innovative expertise in quality and reliability.

This is enhanced by the company’s commitment to forging strong relationships with its customers to help overcome any challenge. Innovation sits at the heart of AGCO and Valtra alike, and this is represented in the vast array of cutting edge developments in efficiency and practicality that permeate throughout the product ranges. From AGCO’s engines, which lead in fuel efficiency and reliability, and state-of-the-art dual fuel system, to a range of simple and enjoyable transmission units and articulated steering solutions, the Finnish company has not shied away from pushing the boundaries of the agricultural industry.

Demonstrating the effectiveness of Valtra’s commitment to customer service and innovation is its new T-Series tractor range. Launched in November 2014 and delivering its first vehicle a month later, the fourth generation T-Series tractor has reached record levels of sales for the company, with a full order book. The resulting machine is a product of extensive communication with customers over a five-year period before and during development. Over 40,000 hours of testing in all conditions have realised Valtra’s aims to produce a product that holds durability, high performance, low operating costs and driver

comfort as paramount to meets its customers’ needs.

The tractor is available in seven models ranging from 155 to 250hp from AGCO’s reliable 6.6L and 7.4L power units with SCR only, optimised turbo, EcoPower, SigmaPower and many other features contributing towards excellent fuel efficiency, low emissions and productivity.

Accompanying this are four transmission options to choose from to match every purpose and driver preference. The design of the tractor has revolved around creating a stylish, quiet and spacious environment with superior visibility, and driver comfort, ease of use, ergonomics and safety have been a top priority. The T-Series is also the only tractor to use AIRES+ pneumatic front axle suspensions providing unrivalled driving comfort.

Further indicating the success of the tractor is its receipt of the ‘Machine of the Year’ award, the most prestigious award in the industry, at the SIMA Show 2015. Recognising excellence in innovation, technology and total performance, Mikko Lehikoinen, Marketing Director at Valtra, said of the award: “This is an important recognition for Valtra and AGCO. We are

overwhelmed by the positive customer feedback, which we have received – this just proves that Valtra really has listened to customer needs and we have hit a jackpot this time with our new T4 Series.” The product also won the International Machinery Manufacturers Award for tractors at Cereals in June 2015, the same month that it delivered its 1000th T4 unit. Later in 2015, the company will be launching its new N-Series range, which the company hopes will replicate this success.

The way Valtra does business is summed up in its three-word promise: ‘Your working machine.’

By working closely with its customers across the world, the pioneering company is able to deliver the best, tailored solutions to its customer base and it is no surprise that it has secured such a reputable position in the market. Market conditions in the agricultural market on a global scale have been unfavourable and this has been reflected in the AGCO’s recent performance, however with new products developed from the same commitment to customer demand continue to enter the market, Valtra looks set to respond well as soon as the market springs back into favour.

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Airius Europe

Causing a stir and reducing heating and cooling costs Having proven itself with major clients around the world, Airius’ innovative energy saving products are just beginning to become accepted by the market and the future looks set to take off

Airius Europe Ltd Products: Manufactures specialist thermal destratification fans Sites: one (UK), one (US) www.airius.co.uk 64 www.manufacturingtoday-europe.com

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irius was established in 2004 and set out to develop a destratification product that would complement and enhance conventional HVAC systems. Unlike its competitors Airius’ unique nozzle design and patented stator vein technology creates a tight column of air from floor to ceiling in order to equalise the temperature.

Stephen Bridges, Managing Director of Airius Europe explains: “The unique way in which air is moved using the patented stator vein technology, encourages up to 15 times more air to be circulated through entrainment. This huge volume of slow air circulation achieves the most efficient and effective method of destratification available.”

A combination of innovative and continual R&D along with the use of the highest quality materials and motors enables Airius fans to achieve great results whilst requiring very minimal power usage making them very energy efficient.

Despite massive cost savings on energy claimed and an average return on investment for six to 24 months, Stephen admits it has been a challenge to get the message across and convince people of the technology’s effectiveness. “It took us five years to overcome the British conservatism and it is only when major companies like Marks & Spencer, Morrison’s and Boots conduct long-term trials and then buy, that anybody pays attention,” he says.

Today, however, Airius’ client list includes British

Airways, Mercedes Benz, Siemens and Jaguar Land Rover amongst a huge array of other high profile, international companies. Combine this with the fact that globally, the company has sold over 100,000 units, which have saved over a billion tonnes of carbon so far, and it is no surprise that the market is beginning to catch on and sales for Airius are increasing at a rate of 50 to 60 per cent every year.

“We supply the only destratification fan available that is suitable for ‘noise sensitive’ environments,” explains Stephen. “By that I mean they could be used in an office, a church, a retail outlet and so on, because they are quiet enough to avoid being disruptive. We have a standard range, which accounts for about 95 per cent of our sales, but also a designer range for architecturally sensitive applications and we have various bespoke items, which are specially designed to fit a particular purpose.”

One application where the company’s destratification fan solves a major problem is in the supermarket segment. “One of the age old problems has been the temperature variations in supermarkets caused by the ‘spillage’ of cold air from freezer and chiller cabinets which can result in extreme variations in temperature,” notes Stephen. “Conventionally this would be addressed by ducting to recirculate the air, but this isn’t hugely effective. We approached Morrison’s and suggested that we could solve this issue and they agreed to run a two-year trial, the results of which they didn’t

believe until they commissioned independent experts to evaluate the trial.

They even invited their freezer/chiller cabinet manufacturers to come in and evaluate their chiller units due to fears that the technology would adversely affect the equipment. However, they now claim that it actually increases their efficiency by 15 per cent, as well as significantly reducing heating/cooling costs.

As a result we have supplied well over a million pounds worth of equipment to over 400 stores in the last three years.”

Airius is also in a trial phase with Marks & Spencer to supply the new bespoke Narrow Aisle Series, which has been specifically designed to suit the narrow aisle configurations found in retail outlets. “This series has taken over two and half years to develop and we have invested about a quarter of a million into it so far,” outlines Stephen. “There are not many companies of our sort that can and will react like that to demand. On average, we launch two to three new products every year to address specific problems. I really want to get the message out there that if you have an air circulation problem, we will solve it for you, even if we have to develop a new product to do the job.”

To date, the company has spent $11 million on product development.

Trailblazing projects are rife in Airius’ ever-increasing project portfolio. By working with Boots it has demonstrated the products’ effectiveness at cooling solutions - it has reduced cooling costs by 40 per cent and overall running costs by 35 per cent. Internationally, Airius has recently moved onto the second stage of trials at the Petronas Towers in Malaysia, which Stephen is confident will lead to significant sales.

“We sell more destratification fans than other company in the world primarily due to our focus on what our customers want but we are still a very tiny player in the HVAC market,” concludes Stephen. “Our ambition is to become recognised by this industry as the first-stop solution to resolving a client’s building comfort issues and reducing HVAC costs and carbon emissions. We have begun to win people around and hope that over the coming years the reputation we have gained with our customers spreads out into being completely accepted by the HVAC industry.”

Our pallet and bulk storage warehouses have 12,000sqft of space.

Situated in the centre of the south coast just eight miles from Bournemouth with easy access to the ports of Southampton and Poole, and excellent road links to London, the Midlands, North and the West Country.

Our dedicated storage and distribution facility is equipped with STORE PRO which controls both inbound and outbound pallets and our Pick and Pack operation.

East Dorset Storage & Warehousing Ltd with it’s small dedicated management team and work force is committed to supplying a first class service to all our customers at all times.

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Services we provide: l Pallett Storage Pick and Pack l

Storage Warehouse

Tel: 01202 891091 info@eastdorsetstorage.co.uk www.eastdorsetstorage.co.uk East Dorset Storage & Warehousing Ltd Unit 79, Condor Close, Woolsbridge Ind Est Wimborne, BH21 6SU.

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Burgess Furniture

Built to

last

Having established a world leading position in the hospitality market, Burgess Furniture continues to innovate and meet customer demand to expand into an ever-growing industry

Burgess Furniture Ltd Products: Specialises in manufacturing steel and aluminium tables and chairs, including soft seating ranges and accessories Sites: Four www.burgessfurniture.com

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I

n 1959 Gerald Burgess was approached to make stacking aluminium chairs for the Mayfair and Metropole Hotel in Monte Carlo. The company’s first order was for 1000 chairs, half of which were to be exported to Monaco, and what followed was a long history of success founded on the core values of innovation, quality and value for money. Since then Burgess Furniture has supplied to some of the most prestigious venues around the world and now exports to over 50 countries every year.

“Burgess has a very clear focus and that is hospitality,” begins Sales and Marketing Director, Simon Richards as he outlines the company’s client base. “We focus very much on the hotel market, for conference and meeting rooms, as well as banquet furniture and we supply all the main brands such as Marriott, Radisson, Hilton, Starwood, Accor, InterContinental and so on.

We are also the brand of choice for many other businesses that have a need for seating and tables such as exhibition centres, training and meeting companies, and sports facilities like Wembley, Cardiff Millennium, Kempton Park, Sandown and Ascot.”

‘Innovation, Quality and Value for Money’, is the company’s strap line and is an ethos adopted across the business. “This sums up why we continue to be the leader in our market,” says Simon. “We spend a lot of time developing products in conjunction with our customers so

they get exactly what they need. Also because we are a manufacturer and not just a component assembler we are able to be very flexible in our approach to requests from our customers. We continue to invest heavily in design and machinery in order to maintain our competitive edge and offer the best value.”

Amongst its extensive range of chairs, tables & accessories, Burgess’s portfolio features some iconic and hugely successful products. Simon highlights some of the most popular from the company’s history: “The Turni was the very first chair the company made and has changed very little over the years; 56 years on people still want to buy it which is amazing.” In recent years Burgess has also launched the Vario, Orvia and Mendola ranges, which have all proved to be very popular.

All three are designed withfuncionality, comfort and lightness in mind. “The Mendola takes on board one of the latest innovations in seating, which is Probax,” he details. “This is a very clever system of foam inserts of specific geometric design, which leads to a much improved seating position for the user, giving greater comfort and posture. A highly comfortable seat is a major selling point for any venue.”

One of the company’s most recent successes is the Evosa range of chairs, which was launched in May 2015. “The reaction to this new range has been amazing,” expresses Simon. “It has a very slim chromed base and can be supplied as

a seat stacking or frame stacking chair. Its unique construction has meant we have taken a large amount of weight out of the chair. Lightweight products are a real selling point, as any operator moving 400-500 chairs on a daily basis will tell you.

It’s this design and innovation that I believe sets us apart from others in the market.”

Another exciting new development from Burgess is the soft seating range, for a more relaxed offering. “More and more hotels require meeting and breakout space that is flexible,” explains Simon. “Of course they still want the traditional meeting tables and chairs but they also want the flexible relaxed meeting space as well. We are starting to see these products used front of house and in hotel bedrooms as well, particularly in hotels with a more contemporary design.”

Current activity for Burgess illustrates a continued enjoyment of growth and success with a number of new contracts developing with major hotel chains. One particular area that is seeing major growth at the moment is the Middle East, and the company has now established a showroom in Dubai. As Simon highlights: “The Middle East and Africa are the major growth markets for the next few years judging by the number of hotel projects that have been announced. The reaction to this move has been excellent and we are getting hoteliers and owners come along to see the range of products we offer on a daily basis.”

The company’s global spread is growing all the time. With a joint manufacturing venture in the US, which caters for the American market, and opportunities emerging in the Eurozone as it leaves the recession behind, Simon is confident that this is only set to continue. “Our aim is and always has been to maximise our potential,” he concludes.

“We have some great customers and some great products. We will therefore continue to develop and innovate in our designs, keep our customer service at the highest level and focus our resources on growing markets as we move forward. To achieve this we will also carry on investing in our people and our production facility.”

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Kannegiesser UK

Innovations in industrial

laundry processing

With over 60 years of know-how in industrial laundry technology, Kannegiesser prides itself on its dedication to innovation

Ergonomic Sorting Solutions

Kannegiesser UK Ltd Products: Specialist laundry systems Sites: Hoya, Sarstedt,Vlotho, Schlema and Augsburg, Germany and Banbury, UK www.kannegiesser.co.uk

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ounded by Herbert Kannegiesser Dipl. Eng. during 1948, Kannegiesser GmbH has close to seven decades of experience in delivering laundry equipment and solutions. The business was incorporated near the town of Vlotho, Germany with just four employees and today has grown into a global venture with manufacturing bases within Hoya, Sarstedt, Vlotho, Schlema and Augsburg within Germany as well as Banbury, Oxfordshire in the UK. Within the UK Kannegiesser UK operates as the daughter company of Kannegiesser GmbH and sells and supports the entire range of Kannegiesser equipment to its UK customer base. “We can supply and install a single piece of equipment or provide multi-million pound turnkey solutions incorporating the complete range of Kannegiesser hardware,” elaborates Sales Manager Malcolm Goldie. “Our Banbury site is also a Kannegiesser manufacturing facility producing a laundry monorail system know as ‘Supertrack’. The Supertrack monorail system is a logistic delivery system that manages the distribution of laundry to washing equipment or operator finishing stations. We also produce sorting equipment to enable different classifications of laundry to be grouped together for optimisation in the wash process – these products are sold worldwide.”

The products produced by Kannegiesser are delivered to industrial laundries that provide laundering services to a range of industries including health services, hotels and food producers that collectively wash millions of items

every day. Kannegiesser manufactures a variety of industrial washing machines, ironers, tumble driers, folders and garment handling systems that all work together inside a laundry environment.

Soiled goods are delivered to the laundry to be cleaned and washed goods are then delivered back to the customers after processing. “There are thousands of industrial laundries worldwide that service this multi-billon pound industry and we provide them with the machines and solutions to service their customers,” Malcolm says. “Kannegiesser has built its business on a reputation of reliability and quality, with over 65 years of experience in this field - Kannegiesser sets the benchmark for our industry.”

As a leading laundry machine manufacturer, Kannegiesser is at the forefront of the development of innovative solutions and leadingedge equipment. It has recently pioneered a new range of folding and stacking machines that are manufactured in Germany and sold globally, while its Banbury site in the UK produces a new ergonomically designed laundry sorting system. “The new sorting arrangement has been developed to provide a more ergonomic working solution for laundry operatives responsible for sorting the laundry into classification groups,” Malcolm explains. “The ergonomic design is a modular sorting system that when compared with our previously manufactured sorting systems and sorting systems currently offered by our competitors, provides a more operator friendly working solution to help reduce the possibility of repetitive strain injuries. Earlier sorting solutions

Left: Washing Technology Below left: Monorail technology, Right: Sorting Technology

required the operators to throw items of laundry into sorting chutes, which in some cases required raising the arm in a throwing motion to project the item of laundry into the target chute.

This action when performed over several hours could in some cases cause operator fatigue and repetitive strain. To negate the need to throw an item of laundry into a sorting chute, we have developed this new sorting solution that only requires the operator to deposit an item of laundry into a sorting chute with a simple lift and drop action that does not require the operator to raise an arm into a throwing position.”

With an ever-growing awareness of unsatisfactory working conditions, ergonomic consideration is becoming even more important in the design of new hardware. Therefore the ergonomic sorting solution has been welcomed by customers that have the wellbeing of their operators to consider. As such Kannegiesser UK manages a research and development department comprising of four dedicated designers that are responsible for bringing new monorail hardware solutions to market from conceptual design and delivery to its customer base. All design projects embarked upon are managed within strict guidelines that involve all disciplines within the organisation, comprised of sales; manufacturing; and installation, service and support departments, that are all involved in the development of new products.

In an ever-volatile global economy, innovation is key to ensuring that businesses remain resilient and profitable. Kannegiesser works closely with its clients to understand the needs of the market and to focus on the development of its products to provide the best solutions. “Our customers are constantly striving to achieve lower production costs to gain a competitive edge against their competitors,” Malcolm explains.

“The biggest gain is reduced labour costs, so any mechanical hardware that can be introduced into an operation that reduces headcount is a major attraction to our customers. Kannegiesser manufacture a range of labour saving hardware solutions, and our objectives are to continually improve and develop our products to achieve even more labour saving solutions.”

Further to the development of labour saving products, Kannegiesser is committed to the development of strong relationships with its clients, which it maintains through a private exhibition held by Kannegiesser

GmbH every two years. This allows the company to showcase its new hardware, while giving clients the opportunity to meet with Kannegiesser personnel and industry peers to discuss market conditions and requirements. These events support the company as it continues to grow and moving forward it will look to emerging markets such as China and Russia as well as expanding its market share in established market locations. “Our strategy to achieve this has been the same for many years,” Malcolm concludes. “That is to continue development of innovative designs that help to keep us at the forefront of our industry.”

Vanriet Rohaco

Vanriet Rohaco specialises in the designing, manufacturing and installing automated conveyor systems.

Formed in 1990 to support the UK market, they bring together over 50 years of manufacturing experience and system design expertise.

A key part of their core business lies in the laundry sector where for the past 18 years they have enjoyed a fruitful partnership with the blue chip company Kannegiesser.

With Kannegiesser’s expert knowledge in the laundry industry and Vanriet Rohaco’s expect knowledge in the conveyor industry; they complement each other and together have completed many large and prestigious projects for laundries around the world.

Vanriet’s head office situated in Tamworth and Kannegiesser UK head office in Banbury, they can easily communicate on project achieving top class results with beneficial reward for customers and both companies alike.

Vanriet Rohaco’s Managing Director Theo van Riet says: “The partnership with Kanniegesser is very important to us and I am sure both companies will play a large part in the industry and will move forward in to the future together.”

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Rexnord FlatTop

Moving As a global leader in conveying components manufacture, Rexnord FlatTop is committed to driving efficiencies through its customers’ facilities with a focused and clearly defined innovation strategy

Rexnord FlatTop Products: Manufactures conveyer chain components for various industries Sites: HQ: Wisconsin, US www.rexnordflattop.com

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forward H eadquartered in Wisconsin, Rexnord is a global leader in delivering high quality products under two strategic platforms: process and motion control, and water management. Employing around 8000 people around the world and with over 120 years of experience, Rexnord has established for itself a robust reputation for delivering innovative, high

quality and durable products.Through a programme of continuous improvement across product development and manufacturing processes, the company aims to consistently create superior value for its customers, shareholders and associates.

Rexnord’s FlatTop division designs and manufactures standard and bespoke conveyor systems for the food and beverage, industrial and automotive markets.The company supplies OEMs, end-users and a network of distribution partners around the world and is currently experiencing significant success as its core markets grow. With global population rising and a middle class expanding in many developing countries, the global food and beverage industry is currently experiencing a period of positive growth, as to is the automotive industry.

“We listen to our customers and their voice is number one,” begins Rexnord VP and Business Manager for FlatTop, Rick van den Berg. “We are also very capable of problem solving.

With such a vast bank of expertise and experience we have a reputation for never walking away from an issue.” Rexnord FlatTop places itself firmly in the driving seat of the conveyors industry by delivering the majority of significant innovations and retaining technology leadership across the world. Innovation focuses revolve around four main drivers: safety, productivity, energy saving and water reduction. In a push to deliver this to the market for the last three years Rexnord FlatTop has been developing its Engineered Sustainability product programme.

“Engineered Sustainability is a product programme focused on developing and launching solutions around these four central topics,” explains Rick. “It is a product programme that enables our customers to utilise durable conveyor systems with components that guarantee optimum product handling solutions, without compromising the ability to meet our customer’s targets of safety improvements, productivity optimisation, energy savings, product protection and water minimisation.”

By working closely with its customers Rexnord FlatTop deploys its skilled engineers to help obtain low Total Cost of Ownership (TCO), resulting in cost savings by improving the overall operational processes.

Currently sitting amongst the Engineered Sustainability product portfolio is the ZeroGap Multi-flex Chain, which has a patented top plate design to allow for tight side-flexing with no gap opening on the surface.This unique design enhances product performance and results in less tippage, reduced debris trapping and improved safety. Accompanying this, amongst many others, is the 661 Series Chain which offers improved product handling with smooth running conveyors, optimal bottle stability and low noise levels. A 25 per cent reduction in chain weight also means lower headshaft tension. In October 2015, Rexnord FlatTop will be attending the annual Brau Beviale exhibition in Germany to showcase its Engineered Sustainability product range and will be launching its new generation of low backline-pressure solutions designed to help increase safety, offer optimum product protection and reduce noise levels in packaging conveying.

Innovation is at the heart of Rexnord FlatTop being able to deliver these industry-leading solutions to the market. “We offer industry standard products, which are designed around the latest industry needs.

This is a big portfolio of solutions, which are available off the shelf for low, medium and high speed bottling and filling,” highlights Rick. “Beside this, especially for OEMs, we are able to utilise and offer customisation to customers to optimise products for specific installations. We have continued our innovation drive in terms of materials as well and have just launched a hybrid material technology by combining engineered plastics with metals.”

To facilitate this level of continuous improvement across the global organisation, Rexnord employs a business operating system, which derives itself from Toyota’s renowned business system. Named the

Rexnord Business System (RBS), it ensures that all manufacturing plants around the world are focused on the same strategy. In essence, RBS creates a scalable, processbased framework that focuses on driving superior customer satisfaction and financial results by targeting world-class operating performance throughout all aspects of the business. “In terms of capability, we have metal processing, injection moulding, machining, extrusion, testing, assembly and shipping all done in-house,” outlines Rick. “We also do all of our research and development in-house, which is supplemented by working closely with our global suppliers of resins, metals and technology to ensure we are driving the industry forward in the best way possible.

“As for the future”, Rick continues: “Over the next year we will be focusing heavily on expanding our Engineered Sustainability offer for primary and secondary packaging applications. We will also be looking to further develp our product offering for the automotive industry. In the longer term, Rexnord is planning to take a leading position in providing and demonstrating manufacturing efficiency by continuing to offer the most reliable and durable products in the industry.

“Last but not least, we continue to ensure that we are easy to do business with.”

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Tandom Metallurgical Group

Strides

ahead

Unprecedented levels of growth define the short history for Tandom as it leads the way in an expanding and ever-diversifying market

Tandom Metallurgical Group Ltd Products: The UK’s industry leading provider of metal recycling Sites: Cheshire and Birmingham, UK www.tandom.co.uk

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aving been founded in 2008 from the merging of AL Resources Ltd and Integrali Ltd, both successful trading companies dealing in all grades of ferrous and non-ferrous scraps, and later Chinook Sciences LLC, Tandom has experienced unprecedented levels of growth to become an industry leader.

Dealing in the processing tolling and trading of recycled metal, the company offers a whole range of processes for aluminium, used drink cans, ferrous and non-ferrous scrap, drosses and stainless steel applications. Indicating the level of growth earned by the company, Tandom has grown from 10 to 85 employees since its establishment and currently forecasts to turnover £70 million in its seventh year, £30 million of which is to export markets. It has also featured regularly in the Sunday Times Fast Track and International Track, for the fastest growing companies in overseas sales, and achieved the number one spot for the latter in 2014.

Tandom has an extensive offering of services when it comes to its recycling capabilities, namely: melting, shredding, baling, toll conversion and factory clearance. However as Managing Director, Tom Muir explains, it is not solely the recycling that has rewarded the company with its success but its diversification within the sector.

“This diversification takes the form of supplying recycled die-casting alloys to the automotive industry, processing used aluminium beverage cans for recycling and processing copper bearing scrap and stainless steel scraps mainly for export

to continental Europe, China and India,” he says.

“We also produce specialist alloys for use in the primary aluminium sector as well as offering a toll melting facility to other metal melting companies whereby we recover metal from their furnace residue, which could otherwise be consigned for landfill.” With such an extensive range of processes in place, a diverse range of machinery with the capabilities to melt, blend and recycle materials has been brought into the company’s facilities.

Current market conditions are partly responsible for Tandom’s considerable few years as the manufacturing industry becomes increasingly aware of the need to recycle and the benefits associated with using recycled material, and there has been a particular surge of demand in the aluminium sector. As such, the company has processed over 50,000 tonnes of metal over the last 12 months. “Although it has required a great deal of investment in terms of plant and processing equipment this diversification provides us with some degree of protection from the vagrancies of each individual sector, for example the downturn in automotive production in 2008/2009,” expresses Tom. “In this way we hope to maintain a steady level of growth in terms of turnover and profitability over the coming years whilst minimising the risks associated with any downturn within any of the individual sectors.”

Whilst adopting this strategy has been central to Tandom achieving the levels of recent growth, perhaps even more core is the level of experience supplied to it by its level of in-house

expertise. “The key to the success of this strategy is very much down to the people,” outlines Tom. “We have a team of people with great expertise and many years’ experience in each of the sectors in which we operate. These are people who are very well known and very much respected within the industry. This experience and expertise is very important to us in terms of giving confidence to our trading partners and customers when dealing with Tandom.”

Based on the rapidly earned success that precedes it, the future for Tandom looks bright.

“All in all we are very happy with what we have achieved in the few short years since the company’s inception but even more importantly we are very excited by the possibilities of more of the same over the coming years,” says Tom. “We have very recently obtained planning permission to develop our recently acquired four acre site, which adjoins to our existing Congleton site. Whilst there will be no actual production here, it will allow us to expand our metal trading activities in the North West to hopefully replicate the success of our Birmingham trading operation in terms of export sales.”

By continuing to take advantage of the indepth knowledge and specialist facilities present at Tandom, the company is in a strong position to extend its lead in the market. Combine this with its dedication to quality product, service and unrivalled growth, and it is clear that Tandom is taking positive strides on the path to success. “Our aim is to be recognised not only as an efficient, well-run company but also as a trustworthy and honourable one. For example we want other companies to be able to do business with us safe in the knowledge that we are fully aware of our health, safety and environmental responsibilities, which will not be compromised in any way for commercial or

financial considerations,” concludes Tom. “To this end we have been, and still are, investing heavily in the latest furnace and environmental equipment to keep Tandom at the forefront of, and up to date with all, current and foreseeable environmental legislation.

“While we are not quite there yet we are

well on the way to achieving the original vision of Tandom, which is to become one of the most modern, efficient and respected recycling organisations within the UK.”

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