The Manufacturer March 2011 issue

www.themanufacturer.com March 2011 Vol 14 Issue 03

www.themanufacturer.com March 2011 Vol 14 Issue 03

Cultivating What seeds should companies sow today to ensure feast, not famine, tomorrow?

Interview Mike Turner

Chairman, Babcock International plc

Regional Focus – Wales

Orchestrating collaboration – business and government dance to the same tune

Automation and Robotics

UK slips down the automation league table

Leadership, People and Skills

Paternity leave extension puts SMEs at risk

83 page Manufacturing in Action section Featuring CNH, Bespak and more

In partnership with:

14 - 24 March 2011

Amy Pryce Firth Rixson Apprentice

more details at:

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Headline Sponsors:

Editor’s comment

Bottom of automation league while Taiwan’s tech surges Ni hao from the Taiwan International Machine Tool Show.

Within an area of about 30km2, Taichung City is home to over 200 manufacturers of machine tools. This cluster, which makes everything from big 5-axis machining centres to forklift trucks, is unique in the world for its density and collaborative ethic, says the Taiwan Machine Tool & Accessory Builders’ Association. If you want a machine built to an exact specification and Company A has the machine but can’t make the tooling, a few phone calls and someone down the road probably can. Taiwan is the world’s fourth largest exporter of machine tools and the Taiwanese don’t plan to stop there. The industry has achieved this with little government support, as I understand it, just a deep understanding of manufacturing technology, access to both China (47% of exports) and the rest of the ASEAN region, and good business ties with Europe and India. It’s an inspirational model of a vertically integrated, advanced manufacturing industry.

www.thema nufacturer.co m March 2011

www.thema nufacturer.c om

Vol 14 Issue 03

Cultivati ng

March 2011

Vol 14 Issue

This issue is packed with good stuff. As the publication of the Government’s Growth Review approaches, it’s important to recognise the factors that hinder growth. Mark Young writes about three companies who face different barriers to growth and are overcoming them. Proposals to extend paternity leave that will take effect from April mean that fathers will have a legal right to take the place of the mother at home for the last three months of her nine-month maternity leave, and a further three months unpaid.

While this has not provoked a mass revolt, some firms, SMEs especially, are concerned that it will affect their competitiveness, as Jane Gray reports on page 46.

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What see feast, not ds should com famine, panies tomorro sow tod w? ay to ens ure

The UK has one of the lowest adoption rates of automation and robotics in Europe.

Suffocating in manufacturing technology in Taipei, surrounded by machines that eliminate human operations, I’m reminded that companies cannot sit still in the productivity race. The evidence suggests that an aversion to invest in automation systems, rather than ignorance of the systems’ benefits or a Luddite-like view that automation means job cuts, is responsible. People like Mike Wilson of the British Automation and Robot Association are worried that UK companies are losing ground to European competitors as a result, see page 52.

Interview Mike Turn

Chairma er n, Babcock Internatio Regiona nal plc Orchestra l Focus – Wa governme ting collaborationles nt dance – to the sambusiness and Automa e tune UK slips tion and Rob dow otics Leadershipn the automation leag ue table , Peo Paternity leave exte ple and Skill s nsion puts SMEs at risk 83 pag Featuringe Manufacturin CNH, Besp g in Action ak and more section

A quick word in recognition of Sahaviriya Steel Industries’ purchase of Teesside Cast Products – brilliant. We can only imagine what this must mean to many residents of Teesside, especially as the deal could create a further 800 jobs as the plant is brought back online.

In partn ership with:

The Cover image this month has been supplied by Factory of the Month CNH

Will Stirling, The Manufacturer

The Manufacturer in partnership with EEF, the manufacturers’ organisation.

Working together to secure the future of manufacturing.

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News and features 04 News

Manufacturing news

13 Manufacturing appointments

Find out who’s heading where in manufacturing

14 The big picture

NPD: Manufacturing’s blood supply

42

Burcu Felekoglu of the Institute for Manufacturing talks about the factors that influence the successful development of new products

15 Economics

Be accountable – give us a Growth Mandate

EEF’s Steve Radley on how the Government should turn its Growth Review into a Growth Mandate

16 The legal low down

The Corporate Manslaughter Act Following the first case of its kind, Thomas Eggar LLP explains why it is crucial for manufacturers to be aware of the requirements of this new piece of legislation

17 Business as unusual

Let the manufacturing Renaissance begin Anand Sharma on the signals that show manufacturing in the UK and US is reborn

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18 Lead story

Growing pains Manufacturers face myriad obstacles to their growth plans – here Mark Young reveals the solutions to these problems employed by three UK companies

24 Regional Focus with EEF Wales

Tim Brown discovers a cohesive and responsive approach to help improve Welsh manufacturing

32 Interview

Jet propelled career Mike Turner CBE, Chairman of Babcock International plc, laments the feeble efforts to embed a Defence Industrial Strategy and talks about how the support services sector is benefiting from public sector cuts

42 Lean manufacturing Platitude or possibility?

Jane Gray asks if lean thinking plus green intentions is a new recipe for success in supply chain operations and manufacturing

45 EEF Insight

Safety by the score Edward Machin reports on EEF’s health and safety online management tool

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46 Leadership, People & skills Daddy don’t go

New legislation that increases paternity leave is coming into force. Jane Gray discovers the implications for male-dominated manufacturing firms

48 JCB Academy diary

Student Rhys Bradbury tells TM about learning to design an engine fuel pump

Contents 49 Employee of the month

64 IT in manufacturing

ERP is one remedy for growing pains

Gary Billson, a 2nd year apprentice at BAE Systems in Glasgow, on contributing to the construction of a warship with software tools

John Stephens talks to Craig Such of Access about the ways ERP systems can help companies out of their inertia and set them on a growth curve

52 Systems and automation

68 IT News

UK automation battles to catch up British companies are slower than their European competitors when investing in automation. Brian Davis talks to the experts about the benefits of more automated production processes

Keeping you abreast of what’s new in manufacturing IT

72 IT in manufacturing Object of desire

58 Finance and Professional Services

Export Enterprise Finance Guarantee Scheme TM investigates the government’s strategy to boost UK exports through finance

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Malcolm Wheatley finds out that rapid prototyping technologies are competing with virtual prototyping software, but this is offset by the growing market for making genuine components

h e a lt h a n d S a f e t y supplement

Manufacturing has the highest rate of work-related accidents of any sector in the UK. The Health and Safety Executive, the Institution of Occupational Safety and Health and British Safety Industry Federation discuss measures to reduce H&S risks at work.

Manufacturinginaction Sponsored by Applied Angle

Factory of the month

86 CNH UK Tractor boys pull in the right direction CNH UK is using the knowledge of parent company Italian giant Fiat to make its Basildon site a prime example of operational efficiency.

114 Bespak Fit for purpose 134 Sealine International Better and brighter 143 The Hadley Group Steeled for the future 149 Pelican Have a care 154 Invacare The wheel deal 158 SPTS Talk is chip 166 Fascia Graphics Limited 3 is the magic number

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Newsinbrief AEROSPACE

A|D|S published a summary and forecast for the UK-based aerospace sector from its chairman, Ian Godden. He said: “Throughout the last recession there was one sector in the UK that continued to grow: Aerospace. In 2009, it grew by 5%.” There were two reasons for this, according to Godden: the rest of the world continued to buy aircrafts throughout the last three years and the market is not dependent on UK demand.

The UK is number two in the world in the sector, with 17% global market share, employing over 100,000 people and generating over £22bn in 2009.

SKILLS AND EDUCATION

A leading SME trade body called on government to extend its Graduate Internship Scheme, currently scheduled to end this month. The scheme sees Government help pay towards the cost of setting up internships and matches candidates with suitable businesses. The Federation of Small Businesses said 8,500 internships have been taken through the scheme since its launch last February and 25% of these have resulted in permanent employment. It urged government to extend the scheme with another £8m to support a further 5,000 internships.

EXPORTS

The Government announced its trade strategy, which includes increasing finance and insurance services and lobbying to cut EU red tape. The Trade and Investment White Paper places particular emphasis on helping small and medium sized enterprises to expand and export. The Government pledged to improve and expand the trade finance and insurance products it offers, bringing them into line with the services provided in other countries, and to lobby European partners to radically enhance regulations in the Single Market for SMEs – including exempting them from unnecessary EU regulation.

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GOVERNMENT

EEF sends recommendations to Government EEF, the manufacturers’ organisation, submitted its recommendations to the Government in advance to this month’s Budget.

They include: For the tax regime: extending the competences of the Office of Tax Simplification; reforming the R&D tax credit; minimising the cost burden of environmental taxes; modernising the capital allowances regime; committing to the ‘New approach to tax policy making’.

For access to finance: improving transparency and businessbank relations; providing tax reliefs and alternatives to bank lending; setting an action plan for ICB recommendations.

For skills: supporting SME collaboration on industry

placements; reviewing future demand and funding for 14-19 diplomas.

For regulations: launching a review of regulatory thresholds; committing to review and reform entire regulatory domains; ensuring a robust challenge to regulatory proposals; setting a timeline to include EU regulation in accounting systems.

With these measures, EEF advises the Government as to how it can achieve the delivery of an internationally competitive business environment that can support private sector efforts to invest, innovate and export.

GOVERNMENT

MPs urge MoD to leave ‘cycle of failure’ The Commons’ public accounts committee accused the Ministry of Defence of having squandered over £8bn of taxpayers’ money on delays to four major projects.

After analysing the cases, the budget, it doesn’t matter if it including the one of scrapped will cost more over time as long Nimrods, MPs on the committee as you we have got it in’. There is urged the MoD to keep its no final arbiter of decision-making, budget under control, saying and there is also the issue that procurement is currently trapped no individual is responsible from in a “cycle of failure.” start to finish for a project. Nobody Margaret Hodge, chair of the owns a project, so nobody is committee, said: “The Labour accountable. That is not politics, government got things wrong, that is culture.” but it is naive to presume you can simply blame a bunch of politicians.

There is a culture MPs criticised MoD of optimism over waste of money dominating the MoD: ‘Get something into

ManufacturingNews ENVIRONMENT

Manufacturers tell Treasury to rethink CPF UK manufacturing industry called for a re-think of potentially damaging proposals for a Carbon Price Floor.

Manufacturers’ organisation EEF stressed the importance of a CPF based on a full assessment of the damage to competitiveness, a proper regulatory impact assessment and a more coordinated approach to climate change policy.

Responding to the HM Treasury Consultation on the CPF, the organisation said it supports measures to accelerate a move to a low carbon power generation mix and accepts that there will be some costs to bear. However, it believes that the Carbon Price Floor as it is being proposed will have the unintended consequence of increasing costs for manufacturing, especially energy intensive sectors.

EEF chief executive, Terry Scuoler, said: “Industry accepts that addressing climate change comes with a price tag but we are rapidly reaching a tipping point where companies who are internationally mobile will say enough is enough.”

Industry already faces costs from the EU Emissions Trading Scheme, Climate Change Levy (CCL), the Renewables Obligation and the Carbon Reduction Commitment (CRC). Scouler added: “The policy objective should be to provide greater certainty for investors, not raising taxes at the expense of Industry, especially at a time when government is expecting the sector to help drive economic growth.”

METAL

Forgemasters records £7.7m profit Sheffield Forgemasters International Ltd published its annual figures for 2009/2010, recording increased profitability despite a reduced turnover.

SFIL’s operating profits reached £7.7m, with turnover dropping to £104.8m. Tony Pedder, chairman of SFIL, said: “The figures reflect a considerable achievement during a period of unfavourable trading conditions, which saw the company’s order book

Forgemasters reported record profits in 2009/2010

reduce in the year by 14% due principally to a fall in demand for its products.”

In a bid to rectify a long period of under-investment, the company has supported two major projects: the completion of the new 4,000 tonne press and the development of a new North Machine Shop, primarily for ultra large castings.

The Group is actively pursuing strategies for diversification and growth.

Mr Pedder said: “It is with technical innovations and ongoing expertise that our worldwide reputation is enhanced and our future safeguarded.”

Newsinbrief BUSINESS

Briggs Equipment celebrated a new £5m contract to supply nearly 400 trucks and other materials handling equipment to Travis Perkins, the builders’ merchants and home improvement retailers. The company has supplied a wide range of counterbalance and reach trucks, as well as low level order pickers and other smaller handling products.

A key element of the deal is the replacement of 250 trucks with the latest vehicles from Briggs’ partner, Yale Materials Handling.

EXPORTS

The Government announced its trade strategy, which includes increasing finance and insurance services and lobbying to cut EU red tape. The Trade and Investment White Paper places particular emphasis on helping small and medium sized enterprises to expand and export. The Government pledged to improve and expand the trade finance and insurance products it offers, bringing them into line with the services provided in other countries, and to lobby European partners to radically enhance regulations in the Single Market for SMEs – including exempting them from unnecessary EU regulation.

SKILLS AND EDUCATION

Cogent has urged employers to act quickly as sector skills councils open new doors to skills funding for a limited time only and Train to Gain shuts up shop. It joined forces with the National Skills Academy Process Industries and with private enterprise to secure over £2m of support for training in the Cogent sector. The new Joint Investment Programme aims to create a fund which will contribute up to 50% of the costs of training across a range of qualifications considered to have strategic importance.

DEFENCE

BAE Systems reported a rise in profits in 2010 but sales growth was poor following a decline in government spending in the wake of the strategic defence spending review. Pre-tax profits were £1.4bn in 2010, up from £266m in 2009. But ignoring exceptional items, underlying profits were up only 0.8%, while sales rose 1.8% to £22.4bn. The minimal growth was due to tighter government spending in the UK and US, which caused sales at BAE’s land and armaments unit to fall 6%.

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Newsinbrief BuSINESS

Insight, the company established by the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills and tasked with improving the image of manufacturing careers, has closed. It was set up in 2009 to promote manufacturing as a valued career choice to 14-19 year olds.

Insight was a limited company designed to be self-financing and operate independently from the Government’s business department.

It planned to raise money through industry sponsorship activities. BIS said that it failed to adequately finance itself.

Renishaw saw record results in revenue and profit in the second part of 2010, company figures showed. Total group revenue for the six months to 31st December 2010 was £129.3m, 75% ahead of the £73.9m for the corresponding period last year and, more significantly, 26% above the previous highest first half year revenue of £102.7m reported in 2009. All geographic areas saw good progress, with China becoming the Group’s largest market. Group profit before tax for the period was £35.5m, compared with £7.1m last year.

METAL

UK steel production in January bounced back strongly from the previous month but steelmakers say that restocking is responsible for much of the rise. According to the latest data from UK Steel, a division of manufacturers’ organisation EEF, steel production in January was 35.4% higher than in December 2010. There were sharp increases across the big steel producing regions. Production in the Yorkshire and Humber area increased by 50%.

AUTOMOTIVE

The UK automotive industry experienced a healthy start to 2011, with new registrations up 8.9% in January, compared with the same month last year. According to figures released by the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT), a total of just over 120,000 new UK made cars were sold in January of which just shy of 100,000 were exported – a 24.5% rise on last year. The figures are even more encouraging considering the Scrappage scheme was still in place in January last year.

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EQUALITY

Davies’ report calls for more women on boards Lord Davies’ report on women in boardrooms urged firms to aim for a minimum 25% female board representation by 2015.

A survey earlier revealed that growing evidence to show that most people do not support the diverse boards are better boards, idea of enforced quotas for the delivering financial out-performance number of female executives. and stock market growth.”

Conducted by the Institute of Carmen Watson, managing Leadership and Management director of Pertemps Recruitment among 3,000 managers, the Partnership, a £280m turn over survey found that 47% of women business and one of the UK’S and only 23% of men said largest independent recruitment quotas would be a good idea. agencies, said a change in According to Cranfield School of the UK business culture to Management, only 12 per cent of support womens’ routes into the FTSE boardroom positions in the boardroom is needed, rather UK are currently filled by women. than just a specified amount of Lord Davies said: “Currently female presence.

18 FTSE 100 companies have no female directors at all and nearly half of all FTSE 250 companies do not have a woman in the boardroom. Radical change is needed in the mindset of the business community if we are to implement Lord Davies urged companies to have 25% female boards the scale of change by 2015. Pictured is Jan Ward, CEO of Corrotherm that is needed. There is

METAL

Thai giant buys Teeside steel plant Tata Steel UK has sold part of its Teesside Cast Products (TCP) site to Sahaviriya Steel Industries, Thailand’s largest steel producer, after a year of negotiations.

The £291m deal could create up to 800 new jobs in the local area as well as protecting the existing 700 staff at the plant who have faced two years of uncertainty since a ten year supply deal was curtailed prematurely.

The assets covered by the sale include the Redcar Blast Furnace, the Redcar and South Bank coke ovens, TCP’s power generation facilities and sinter plant, and the Lackenby steelmaking and casting facilities. The deal will also result

in Tata Steel and SSI entering into a joint venture to operate Redcar Wharf (TCP’s bulk terminal).

Mr Win Viriyaprapaikit, president of SSI, said the deal “would not have been possible without the local community’s passion for steel-making and the help of the UK Government”.

Teesside Cast Products (TCP) is owned by Corus UK Ltd, part of the Tata Steel group. The completion of the transaction will take place by the end of March.

ManufacturingNews GLOBAL MANUFACTURING FESTIVAL

Manufacturing Festival goes to South Yorkshire Sheffield will host the Global Manufacturing Festival from the 14th to the 24th March, in association with the Financial Times and EEF. The event is being led by Square 5 Ltd, in partnership with Creativesheffield and Business & Education South Yorkshire; sponsored by Nabarro LLP and Firth Rixson, it will comprise of a series of focused events, workshops, exhibitions and conferences with leading representatives from the world of manufacturing, politics and education.

The Sheffield region invited businesses and individuals from around the world who are involved in manufacturing to meet in March 2011 in order to make new contacts, identify new opportunities and discuss common issues and best practice.

The national launch of the festival was held in London on January 18th. Mark Prisk, Minister for Business and Enterprise, described the ten-day event as “significant” and “timely” given that in December 2010 manufacturing grew at its fastest rate in 16 years.

The London launch, held in Westminster, highlighted the importance of advanced manufacturing and engineering to the UK’s economic future, the magnitude of inspiring the next generation of engineers and provided a sample of what’s to come during the festival in Sheffield.

The topics Sheffield’s Festival will be an opportunity for members of the sector to discuss several issues and possible solutions. It will tackle a range of topics, from women’s success in manufacturing to the need for an exporting culture.

The latter is a burning issue for Industry. A recent survey by the British Chambers of Commerce highlighted the reluctance of manufacturing SMEs to export. It showed that, out of 8,000 companies, most do not export and do not classify themselves as potential exporters and that, of those companies who do not export, about a sixth faced difficulties accessing trade finance and insurance.

Richard Wright, executive director of Sheffield Chamber of Commerce, commented “I am pleased to see that the Sheffield City Region, which is renowned as a leader in the field of advanced manufacturing and engineering, is leading the way in facing these issues head on. The Global Manufacturing Festival: Sheffield is set to offer valuable support to businesses to ensure that manufacturing and exports remain at the forefront of the UK economy.

Access to finance will also be discussed.

Professor Bill Speirs, The Master Cutler, said: “Given

government spending cuts, manufacturers must look beyond Whitehall for financial support. The Global Manufacturing Festival will highlight this issue and discuss alternative methods of securing investment – especially important for SMEs where injection of capital is essential for growth. Nabarro LLP will be hosting Investment in a Nutshell on Tuesday 15th March – an investment seminar where analysts, private equity, venture capitalists and banks will all talk about seeing manufacturing as ‘the next big thing’ and how manufacturers can better prepare for investment.”

What the sponsor says Firth Rixson, which sponsors the Global Manufacturing Festival together with Nabarro LLP, gives The Manufacturer its opinion on the event.

“Today, ‘customer focus’ means ‘global focus’ and Firth Rixson is helping to reshape global manufacturing. Growth is important, to the UK and regional economies, and this is why we fully support the Global Manufacturing Festival and are proud to promote the capabilities available within the sector.

Proactively addressing the skills gap is a key area that will help the sector prepare for growth.

The Firth Rixson Academy, created to coordinate our development streams, along with a structured Apprentice and Graduate Programme, will ensure that leadership, innovation and continuous improvement remain in the forefront of our business processes.

The two events hosted by Firth Rixson on March 18th 2011 as part of the Global Manufacturing Festival, intend to demonstrate the vital part that our Universities, Schools and the Work Wise Scheme play in the region, and how this contributes to putting manufacturing on a global stage.”

Firth Rixson sponsors the Global Manufacturing Festival

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Newsinbrief INDUSTRy

The members of new teams that will advise the Welsh Assembly Government on the economic development of Wales were revealed. They include some of the UK’s foremost industry experts. The sector panels are made up of business people from outside government who have an established record in their field. Each will advise on the best opportunities of the six key sectors identified by Ministers as having the best opportunity to grow the Welsh economy: creative industries, ICT, energy and environment, advanced material and manufacturing, life sciences, financial and professional services.

INNOVATION

Culham Innovation Centre celebrated 10 years of support for innovative startup business and technology transfer to commercial application. Senior representatives from the business, technology and research communities gathered at Culham, Oxfordshire to celebrate the help the Centre has given to the growth of innovative companies over the past decade. The Innovation Centre provides access to a technical support package offered by the UK Atomic Energy Authority, as well as office and laboratory space on flexible terms for start-up companies in sectors ranging from space transportation to software development and automotive technology.

Having condensed 30 people-years of research and design into a mere 36 months, the Bloodhound Project team announced they started constructing the ultimate landspeed record machine. The Bloodhound Project is an international education initiative focused around a 1,000mph Land Speed Record attempt.

The team found the particular expertise, vision and commitment it needed in the organisations helping to build this unique vehicle: Hampson Industries plc, Cosworth and Advanced Composites Group (ACG).

Thanks to their considerable support, 90% of Bloodhound SSC’s primary structure is now in the manufacturing stage.

ADVANCED MANUFACTURING

Sherborne Sensors reports record growth Sherborne Sensors, a specialist in the design and manufacture of sensors for military, aerospace and industrial applications, announced a record 63% increase in global sales orders, following a year of rapid expansion in the international marketplace, particularly in North America.

Based in New Jersey, USA, Sherborne Sensors has continued to attract and support new and existing customers with its range of high precision, ultra-reliable and long-life products. The recent addition of X Tronics as an authorised sales representative in Canada provides the company with an expanded distribution base, and will further drive its penetration in the region.

“We experienced unprecedented global success in 2010 and, with a host of new products in the pipeline, we look forward to further growth in 2011,” said Mike Baker, managing

ADVANCED MANUFACTURING

Irisys to increase staff by 20% Irisys, a specialist in infrared solutions, has embarked on a major recruitment drive. The 90-strong company plans to increase its workforce by over 20 per cent in 2011.

The Northampton-based firm, which doubled its revenues last year, is seeking engineering, R&D, manufacturing and technical staff.

The move follows strong growth in demand for its range of thermal array based products, predominantly from export markets, for a range of applications including

Irisys to increase its workforce by 20%

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director, Sherborne Sensors.

“This year, wireless and multiaxis inertial devices for use in civil engineering applications will be added to our product range.

Wireless communications simplify installation and allow users to save significantly on the expense associated with fixed cables, and we anticipate huge demand for these solutions.”

Following the significant rampup in global demand, Sherborne Sensors’ Production Facility is being upgraded. This includes expansion of the facility to accommodate state-of-the-art test and calibration equipment, and improvements to product flow and throughput.

retail, preventative maintenance and security. The company invests extensively in R&D and holds over 70 patents. One in six employees has a PhD. “We’re now seeking the UK’s brightest engineering talent,” said COO Dr Ian Wilcock. “We need graduate and postgraduate developers and engineers to work on our detection and imaging solutions for a wide range of commercial applications, based on our proprietary thermal imaging technology.

“They’ll be working on diverse projects involving image processing algorithms, pattern recognition systems, tools development, and customer facing applications.”

ManufacturingNews APPRENTICESHIPS NEWS

A week for apprentices National Apprenticeship Week, a five-day nationwide event organised to promote the talents and skills of apprentices and encourage vocational training in the UK, took place from February 7 to February 11.

The fourth edition included conferences and workshops for businesses and future apprentices, held throughout England. The advantages of training apprentices are numerous. Not only do they bring a fresh perspective to a company and constitute an important base of cooperation between the academic world and the job market, they also attract more customers – according to a survey by the National Apprenticeship Service, 80% of people are more likely to use a company if it has apprentices.

Many businesses are contributing to the development of young Britons’ interest in training in engineering, manufacturing and other similar areas. Higher university fees are also likely to contribute pushing more people towards apprenticeships. Skills Minister John Hayes and Business Secretary Vince Cable urged more employers to “follow the lead” of those companies that are investing in training programmes, effectively paving the way for the creation of a new generation of skilled workers.

This year, British Airways is expanding its engineering training programme to take on 120 students. Superdrug, British Gas and Procter and Gamble will create, combined, thousands of new apprentiships places; British Telecom’s focus on skills will translate into 250 apprenticeships. Supermarket

chain Morrison’s will train 12,000, while Jaguar Land Rover announced that it will double the number of Advanced (Level 3) Apprenticeship places available and that the 1,500 new recruits currently joining the workforce at the company’s Halewood plant to build the new Range Rover Evoque will be trained up to an Intermediate (Level 2) Apprenticeship.

A successful event The number of employers contacting the National Apprenticeship Service to take on apprentices doubled during National Apprenticeship Week compared to the weekly average.

This and other figures proved how successful the event was and how the interest in apprenticeships is increasing in the UK. The NAW saw wide media coverage, which contributed to raise awareness about training and skills.

George Kessler, co-chair at Kesslers International and a member of the Apprenticeship Ambassadors Network, a group of senior business leaders formed to promote skills and apprenticeships in the UK, said: “I think the National Apprenticeship Week was a success. Apprenticeships are growing and becoming part of the culture. Talk to people, and you’ll see that compared to two or three years ago there is much more awareness.”

Apprentices profiles We’ve talked about apprenticeships programmes. For a closer look at those benefiting from them and starting a new career path, visit The Manufacturer’s website. In the Apprenticeships section (themanufacturer.com/uk/apprenticeships/), you’ll get to know more about a number of apprentices, including BAE Systems’ Gary Billson, Bentley’s Louis Warburton, Nissan’s Andrew Lawson and Thales UK’s Aaron Smethurst. Also available– a film by AgustaWestland on apprenticeship opportunities.

National Apprenticeship Week took place last month

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News CARBON CAPTURE AND STORAGE

CCS, an opportunity for growth The Special Metals Forum and the National Metals Technology Centre published a bible on the technologies employed and the opportunities available within the Carbon Capture and Storage supply chain.

The CCS market is worth an estimated £6.5bn, and could generate 100,000 jobs in the UK by 2030. The procedure involves capturing the carbon dioxide from fossil fuels to prevent greenhouse gases.

At the moment the UK has no Advanced Supercritical Plant or Integrated Gasification Combined Cycle power generation plants in operation, but after 2030, Namtec says, 100 such plants will need to be built around the world each year, all running on fossil fuels and, thus, all each requiring CCS capability.

The document published by Namtec and SMF highlights the technologies that a unified UK supply chain can exploit to develop a leading CCS industry,

including oxy fuel capture and pre and post combustion carbon capture. It includes information on routes to market and the accreditations that are required to work in the industry.

Also included is a directory of organisations involved in metals manufacturing who have an interest in and capabilities relevant to CCS as well as support organisations and information on pilot and demonstration plant activities.

Peter Birtles, chairman of the SMF, said: “This unique publication will be invaluable for anyone wishing to equip themselves with the knowledge and insight required to thrive in the carbon capture storage supply chain at this early stage of development.”

Datesfor yourdiary March Throughout March: EEF is holding Employment Law updates throughout the UK, focusing on the changing regulations within employment law. For further information and to book call 0845 293 9850 Throughout March: The Global Manufacturing Festival is being held at various locations across Sheffield and South Yorkshire.

For further information contact Susanna Jackson on 020 7199 2200 or susannah.jackson@sevenhillsgroup.co.uk or visit www.globalmanufacturingfestival.com

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The CBI is holding a HR forum for the London region. For further information call Jessica Otto on 020 7395 8195 Consult CRM will be hosting a free seminar focusing on Microsoft CRM to be held at the National Motorcycle Museum in Birmingham. For further information and to register visit www.consultcrm.co.uk/contact_seminar_register.html

The National Metals Technology Centre, NAMTEC, is hosting A Balanced Portfolio: Future Opportunities and Challenges across the Advanced Engineering and Materials Sectors at Castle Park in Doncaster. The event will present delegates with the latest information on opportunities across a range of industrial sectors. For further information and to register visit www.namtec.co.uk/event/show/234

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UKTI will be present at Sustainable, Efficient Road Transport (SERT) 2011, to take place at Loughborough. The event will involve a significant interactive element and include a range of plenary sessions, seminars, panel discussions, workshops and networking events. For more information visit www.sustainableworld.com

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The National Metals Technology Centre, NAMTEC, is hosting A Balanced Portfolio: Future Opportunities and Challenges across the Advanced Engineering and Materials Sectors at Castle Park in Doncaster. The event will present delegates with the latest information on opportunities across a range of industrial sectors. For further information and to register visit www.namtec.co.uk/event/show/234

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SigmaPro is holding a free workshop focusing on Lean Six Sigma in London. For further information visit www.sigmapro.co.uk/workshops The CBI is holding its annual East of England lunch at The West Wing, Ixworth, near Bury St Edmunds, featuring a keynote speech from Andrew Sentence from the Bank of England. For further information, call Anne Collum on 01638 242 402

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ManufacturingAppointments UK Appointments John Myhill Northern Precision Engineering

Northern Precision Engineering, one of the region’s longest established precision engineering companies, has announced the appointment of John Myhill as operations manager. Myhill joins the NPE senior

management team from Exact Engineering, where he was founder and managing director.

NPE looks forward to benefitting from the immense wealth of knowledge and experience that Myhill will bring to the company.

Gerry Dunne MAN

Gerry Dunne, managing director of Westley Engineering, has been announced as the new chairman of MAN, an eight-strong collection of world class engineering businesses located in the West Midlands. Dunne is keen

to build on the group’s unique ability to provide complete manufacturing solutions for customers with combined expertise in all aspects of mechanical, electrical and electronic engineering processes.

Kevin Parkin R3 Components

Kevin Parkin has left the heavy engineering manufacturer DavyMarkham. After four and a half years as managing director, Parkin is to become chairman of a start up plastics

recycling company, R3 Components, in Sheffield. He also plans to invest more time in his management consultancy company, Parkin Ltd.

Martin Broadhurst The Centre for Engineering and Manufacturing Excellence The Welsh Assembly Government Sector Panel has appointed a new panel chairman Gareth Jenkins, who is also managing director of precision tooling company FSG Tool & Die. Jenkins will chair the panel for advanced materials and manufacturing and act as a conduit for advice from industry to government on the most pressing needs of the sector.

Rolls-Royce Motor Cars has announced that Giles Taylor has been appointed head of exterior design. Taylor will join the company from the beginning of April and will bring extensive experience gathered in several international design roles to the Roll-Royce team. Taylor moves to Rolls-Royce form Jaguar Landrover where he was head of design for two model series.

GB Innomech, specialists in the design and development of advanced automation systems, is strengthening its management board with the appointment of the company’s first commercial director. Tim Mead joins with immediate effect to take charge of Innomech’s new business activity, consolidating work previously dispersed across senior management several roles.

CRDM, the UK’s longest established provider of rapid prototyping and rapid tooling services, continues its expansion with the appointment of experienced sales professional Jonathan Bell to the position of Southern sales manager. Bell has over 12 years of experience in Rapid Prototyping, Tooling and Moulding and previously held sales manager positions with three other RP providers.

The Centre for Engineering and Manufacturing Excellence has appointed Martin Broadhurst, former chief executive of Marshall Aerospace, to be its new

chairman. Broadhurst will take on responsibility for furthering CEME’s support for innovative start-up engineering companies and industry skills development.

Gripple has appointed its first full time market researcher. The post will be taken up by 23-year-old Sunaina Nadkarni recently graduated from Lancaster University Management School. Nadkarni has gained experience working in India as a market research analyst of retail express products for logistics company, DHL. Nadkarni was selected for this role due to her excellent academic record, industry experience and linguistic abilities.

Industrial pumps manufacturer, Amarinth, welcomes Helmut Benigni, a leading engineer in the field of pump performance optimisation, to work with the company on its high profile Carbon Trust project to develop a high efficiency centrifugal pump. Benigni has been seconded from the Institute of Hydraulic Fluid Machinery at Graz University of Technology, Austria, to the Process Engineering Group in the School of Engineering at Cranfield University.

International Appointments Printronix, a leading industrial and business printing solutions manufacturer, today announced the appointment of Frans Ditmer as vice president sales and marketing, Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA).

Ditmer joins Printronix after holding a number of senior international sales, new business development and general management positions with Ricoh Europe BV and Wacom Europe Gmbh.

To notify The Manufacturer of your company’s appointments, please contact Daniel George at d.george@sayonemedia.com and 01603 671300

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The big picture NPD: Manufacturing’s blood supply Burcu Felekoglu Institute for Manufacturing

New products are the lifeblood of almost any manufacturing business, affecting competiveness and growth. But how can managers ensure the pipeline of new products is maintained and effectively managed?

Burcu Felekoglu of the Institute for Manufacturing explains.

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engineer and designer James Dyson recently stated that Britain was in “innovation deficit”. In an article in The Guardian he lamented that not enough was being done to generate new ‘patentable exports’ upon which our economy could be rebuilt. In essence, putting an emphasis on new products and R&D is what is required.

Dyson’s assertion won’t be lost on manufacturers.

New products are vital in sustaining competitive advantage. Innovation, he says, is crucial to the continuing success of UK PLC, but the big question is how to help facilitate innovation and new product development (NPD)?

The first thing to accept is there is no secret formula which guarantees success in NPD, we only have to look at Hollywood for an illustration, Just because a movie like Gladiator is a commercial and critical hit, it doesn’t follow that similar sword and sandal epics will be able to simulate this success. However, research has highlighted some common factors within successful NPD projects.

Most academic studies on best practice and success factors have stated successful NPD benefit from both a structured process and an open culture which fosters good communication within NPD teams. Most projects tend to be multidisciplinary in their approach, requiring good co-operation between technical and non-technical staff, so in most cases NPD is not only a technical but also a social process.

In a multidisciplinary environment it is important that people from different functions as well as hierarchies within the company can interact openly and honestly.

In fact this cultural aspect was stressed by a number of companies, drawn from a range of sectors, studied as part of an ongoing research project at the IfM. In particular, the absence of blame culture was particularly valued, perhaps most eloquently expressed by this senior manager from a specialist vehicle manufacturer sector: “If the project manager and team are nervous, frightened, or think that the senior management only wants to hear good news it is dangerous. Culture must be open, must be honest. People have to know what is going on.”

Most research over the last 20 years has also stressed the importance of the role of senior management in NPD. The active support and encouragement of senior managers has been seen as an integral part of this process, not only in ensuring

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For more details visit: www.ifm.eng.cam.ac.uk

the provision of adequate resources, authoritative decision making or ensuring the project is in line with company objectives, but also to create the flat organisational structures which better facilitate interaction and communication between members of NPD teams. However, research also suggests that most managers tend to limit their involvement in NPD to the functions mandated in the internal company processes, such as authentication and control.

A good example is Domino’s Pizza. The company’s product development team were tasked with improving its core product, the team were given a clear objective by senior management, a high degree of autonomy allowing them to focus on the details of the new product, while senior management concentrated on the broader business objectives and goals. Contrary to many other businesses where the development team would need extensive preparation and have to wait for weeks for a review meeting with executives, in Domino, they had the chance to just walk into their senior managers’ office when they needed.

There are other examples, like Google, Microsoft or Apple, who have a similar ethos, fostering a culture of openness to generate innovation. Of course, it’s all very well to state that to generate more innovation we need to create an open culture, nurtured by senior management. What we can’t do – at least not yet – is to provide a set of tools to show you to replicate the success enjoyed by some of the case studies.

There are still crucial gaps in our knowledge which prevent this. We still don’t have a clear definition of what actually constitutes managerial involvement in NPD and we don’t understand the significant roles senior management can play or how their involvement affects the success of NPD projects.

We also need to develop a clearer idea of to what extent communication between management and the NPD team influences success. It is this important topic that is currently being explored by research at the IfM. Returning to Hollywood, Oscar-winning screenwriter William Goldman observed that when it comes to predicting success “nobody knows anything”. As the need to deliver sustained success becomes increasingly crucial to the prospects of companies, more emphasis will be placed on NPD and unlike the movies, we hope that research will ensure everyone knows something about creating successful products.

To find out more about the NPD research project visit www.ifm.eng.cam.ac.uk/dmg/projects/top.html

Economics Be accountable -

give us a Growth Mandate Steve Radley, Director of Policy, EEF

In

Tax, regulation, access to finance and skills.

Get these right and business has a chance of stepping up to the budget balancing act that is required of it. EEF asks the government to be accountable to a formal mandate for growth.

just a few weeks, the government will set out its second Budget and publish the conclusions of the first stage of its Growth Review.

This will be very different to last summer’s Emergency Budget which, together with the Spending Review, set out the government’s plan for meeting its Fiscal Mandate to reduce the level of government borrowing and debt over this Parliament.

The focus of this Budget must be on growth and generating the kind of growth our economy needs.

This must come from investment, innovation and trade. But generating such a change from the unbalanced growth we saw in the last decade will not be straightforward. In particular, the government will need to create an environment that encourages business to invest and to do it in this country. It has made a good start by setting up the Growth Review and tasking all government departments with indentifying where they can reform policies that are blocking growth, and where new ones should be implemented to support growth and job creation.

This joined-up approach suggests a different type of thinking across government about how it needs to engage and work with the private sector It now needs to take this work forward by transforming its Growth Review into a Growth Mandate.

This would embed the process within government by setting out the progressive steps that it would take to dismantling the barriers to growth over the course of this Parliament. It would commit the whole of government to addressing these priority areas and report on the progress it was achieving at each Budget in the same way it does with the Fiscal Mandate.

But, of course, a Growth Mandate will only deliver results if it is addressing the right issues. It is also important that, as well as mapping out a course for the rest of this Parliament, the Growth Review takes early steps to dismantle these barriers. The Chancellor should therefore match the transparency of the Growth Mandate with specific measures in four areas – tax, regulation, access to finance and skills.

The governnent has already taken some useful steps on taxation such as lowering the rate of corporation and setting up the Office of Tax Simplification. But given the potential mobility of much manufacturing investment, it needs to go further to create a truly competitive tax regime.

For example, manufacturers tend to replace their machinery and equipment every seven to eight years but the reduction in capital allowances next year means it will take 33 years for the full cost of business investment to be written off against tax. We need a new approach that recognises the true cost of modern machines with short lives.

Bring tax credits in line with competitors Similarly, the R&D tax credit needs to go beyond its current support for the research stage of innovation to include the significant development costs and risks borne by manufacturers. Environmental taxation also needs to be made simpler and more competitive. If the government goes ahead with its current plans for a carbon price floor, some manufacturers will see their electricity use taxed four times. Other environmental taxes would therefore need to be scrapped or reduced.

The governnent has shown it is serious about reducing regulation by introducing a ‘one in, one out’ approach and by ensuring that all new regulatory proposals are scrutinised more rigorously. It should now add some extra transparency to this by ensuring that the final opinions of this scrutiny body, the Regulatory Policy Committee, are published before any new regulation is laid before Parliament.

In addition, rather than trying to unpick individual items of regulation, it should examine entire areas to address unnecessary complexity, duplication and contradictions. Its current review of employment law is a good start but waste policy and climate change are other areas that are crying out for attention.

Growing businesses will also only be able to fulfil their ambitions if they can get access they finance they need to, for example, develop new products or markets. Requiring the banks to publish a new lending code and setting up the Independent Banking Commission is a good start but the government should now introduce independent monitoring of whether the banks are keeping to these principles and start to develop an action plan for implementing the Commission’s proposals.

As part of the Growth Mandate, government needs to regularly track progress on dismantling barriers by reviewing progress in areas such as the tax and regulation costs faced by business.

Have your say at www.themanufacturer.com

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Thelegallowdown First corporate conviction under the Corporate Manslaughter Act Manufacturing accounts for approximately 9% of the British workforce but it also accounts for 21% of work-related fatalities. The Corporate Manslaughter and Homicide Act 2007 is a recent and imposing presence on the Health & Safety landscape and manufacturers must remain fully aware of its requirements, together with the interpretation of those requirements by the courts.

Particularly

as the long awaited decision in the Cotswold Geotechnical (Holdings) Ltd case was delivered on 15 February 2011 when members of the jury at Winchester Crown Court found the company guilty under this Act. The company had denied the charge of corporate manslaughter.

This was the first prosecution brought under the Act and it is now the first conviction. Under the Act, an organisation is guilty of corporate manslaughter if the way in which its activities are managed or organised causes a death and amounts to a gross breach of a duty of care to the person who died. The organisation can be convicted without the need for a successful prosecution against a senior individual within the organisation, as had been the case prior to the Act.

The case The company was found guilty of failing to ensure the safety of its employee, Alex Wright, a geologist who tragically died on 5 September 2008.

Mr Wright had been investigating soil conditions in a deep trench, 3.8 metres below the surface of a development plot, when the sides of the trench collapsed.

The case against the company was that its systems had failed to take all reasonably practicable steps to protect Mr Wright from working in dangerous conditions.

There have been many delays with this case due to concerns regarding the health of managing director, Peter Eaton. He was originally charged, in his personal capacity, with gross negligence manslaughter but a judge ruled that he was too unwell to stand trial.

The company, a small organisation that employed only 8 people in 2008, returned to court

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on 17 February 2011 to be sentenced and was fined £385,000.

The judge, Mr Justice Field, said the gross breach of the company’s duty to Mr Wright was a “grave offence”. He said the company, which was described in court as in a “parlous financial state,” could pay the fine over 10 years at a rate of £38,500 per annum.

The fine marked the gravity of the offence and clearly this should have a deterrent effect on all companies, including manufacturers, to adhere robustly to health and safety guidance.

After the trial, Gloucestershire Constabulary said: “As a result of our investigation we found the company had a cavalier attitude towards health and safety. The way it taught and supervised junior engineers was inherently dangerous and the methods of working were outdated.”

Practitioners had been awaiting this result to see how the courts would implement the Act and follow the sentencing guidelines. There is no limit on the fine that the court can impose and the court could also have made a Publicity Order, requiring the company to publish details of the offence and conviction. Given the high levels of publicity that this prosecution had already attracted, however, such an Order was not required in this case.

Are you doing enough?

With 2.4 million working days lost in the manufacturing industry to workplace injury and illhealth during 2009/10, a lack of attention to health and safety will have an impact on a manufacturer’s bottom line even if the manufacturer is fortunate enough not to experience a fatality.

This case serves as a message and stark reminder to manufacturers and directors to ensure that risk assessments are carried out, complied with and updated continually.

For more details contact: Andrew Jackson, partner and member of the firm’s manufacturing team at andrew.jackson@thomaseggar.com or 0870 160 1300

businessasunusual Let the Manufacturing Renaissance begin Anand Sharma, Chairman and CEO, TBM Consulting Group

Based

on buoyant industrial reports from both the UK and the United States, the long, steady decline in manufacturing appears to have halted, at least for now. Increases in both output and exports have not yet translated into new hiring on a large scale, but jobs will come if markets continue to grow through 2011.

Recent years have exposed the lack of value created by the financial re-engineering industry. With the commoditization of the software industry, it should now be obvious to our political leaders that there is no such thing as a “post-industrial” economy that can weather any type of storm or create long-term wealth.

Export growth, trade balances with greater equilibrium, rising capital expenditures, and increases in foreign direct investment are standard macroeconomic indicators of manufacturing well being. Here are some other signals that will indicate that the rebirth of manufacturing has begun: A national war on waste – Whitehall pushes spending cuts but couples them with a national education and process improvement plan that increases transparency and reduces everyone’s tolerance for inefficiency. Manufacturing companies that have fully embraced lean manufacturing and operational excellence would be recognized as standard bearers of the new economic model. This pursuit of excellence would be endemic at all levels—executive suites, middle management, union leadership and the factory floor—in all industries. The war on waste would include a clear and universal commitment to safe work practices and environmentally sustainable products and operations.

Government that ‘gets it’, and gets out of the way – Government policies would support globalisation and free trade, but also recognise and penalise those nations that erect trade barriers, and provide swift recourse for theft of intellectual property. Tax structures would be globally competitive, and regulations and trade policies would not push manufacturing offshore or inadvertently encourage imports.

Examples of countries where clear industrial policies and cultural priorities clear the way for a vibrant manufacturing industry—and which have weathered the recent recession remarkably well—include South Korea and Canada. Closer to home, consider that total German exports exceed those of the United States; and that on a per capita basis that country’s exports are four times greater that the US, and two and a half times greater than the U.K. Innovation Nation – Policymakers recognise that scientific and technical innovation is the engine of

US-based consultant says that recent market strength in manufacturing could signal an end to the shortsighted policies and cultural attitudes that have shrunk the UK’s manufacturing base to dangerous levels. economic growth, not more low-level service jobs.

They would provide and extend tax credits and other incentives for higher scientific education as well as research and development and commercialisation.

Other symptoms of an economy that values manufacturing innovation would be more direct partnerships between industry and academia that drives basic research as well as practical applications of new knowledge. It’s no accident that many of the top solar panel companies are based in China.

In a culture that values manufacturing…. “everyone in manufacturing would be regarded as “cool,” like the folks who work at one of today’s most widely admired manufacturing companies: Apple Talent for today, and tomorrow – Government and the private sector would make a joint commitment to retraining workers and management for the skills required today, including collaborative management practices. Starting in primary school, educational institutions and market forces would encourage more students to pursue advanced maths, science and engineering degrees, shifting away from law and finance to fields that focus on innovation and scientific advancement that create real value. Students wouldn’t shy away from engineering and science concentration because they are hard, but embrace them because such talents are in high demand with a virtual guarantee of lifetime employment.

A popular culture that values manufacturing – The UK would elect more engineers and scientists by education to high-level, political and business leadership positions. Manufacturing management jargon – gemba and kaizen – would be mentioned regularly by business media and industry analysts.

And—this might be a stretch—everyone in manufacturing would be regarded as cool, like the folks who work at one of today’s most widely admired manufacturing companies: Apple.

These are some of the cultural and policy changes that would put manufacturing back where it belongs, at the heart of a growing economy. We have a long way to go. What would the rebirth of manufacturing look like from where you’re sitting?

Have your say at www.themanufacturer.com

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Manufacturers seek alternative remedies to keep on growth course

With the findings from the Government’s Advanced Manufacturing Growth Review due imminently, ahead of next month’s Budget, Mark Young finds that manufacturers are facing myriad barriers to climbing higher up the growth curve.

‘Growth’

can surely stake a claim as the biggest business buzzword of the year so far. Government is focusing much of its efforts on private sector growth, principally to help close the budget deficit and mop up the hundreds of thousands of jobs that will be lost in the public sector over several years.

Whitehall released a list of actions for how that growth can be achieved in November through its paper ‘The Path to Strong, Sustainable and Balanced Growth’, which focussed mainly on creating the right business environment in terms of taxation, collaborations between academia and business, and cutting red tape. A week later, in place of a longawaited Manufacturing Framework which was dropped at the last minute, a Growth Review Framework for Advanced Manufacturing was launched and business and stakeholders were invited to have their say on what each government department should focus on to remove the barriers. That was followed by a behind-closed-doors manufacturing summit in January where Business Secretary Vince Cable and Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg hosted 100 manufacturing delegates

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to debate the best structure of a strategy. The results of the Growth Review are imminent.

Companies want to grow regardless of the political or economic need. And, while there are barriers to growth, manufacturing is on an upward trajectory. The February Purchasing Managers’ Index from the Chartered Institute of Purchasing and Supply, an index based on new orders, output, delivery times, employment and inventory, was 62 – a series record high. Any reading above 50 denotes growth.

Recent figures from the Manufacturing Technologies Association show orders for new equipment rising steadily over the last few months, a good sign that companies are increasing capacity and capability. And although Jonathan Lee, chairman of Jonathan Lee Recruitment, recently warned that manufacturing is likely to stage a “largely jobless recovery”, companies in high tech sectors are more optimistic.

In its recent High Tech Manufacturing Index Report, based on a survey of 400 UK manufacturing executives, General Electric said that 95% of companies will look to hire or maintain current staffing levels this year with 48% looking to swell their payroll by an average of 12%. A third of respondents to a Barclays Corporate job creation survey in February said they will be looking to hire full time permanent staff this year but 62% said they don’t expect the private sector to be able to fully compensate for the reduction in public sector headcount.

Leadstory Growing Pains

Alumet

Barriers to growth – Construction industry hit by recession Solution – Realign business to enter renewables sector

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Inflation is rising, though, and this could impact negatively on manufacturers, especially on higher prices to key inputs like steel, food and energy. “The hackles of the hawks on the Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee will no doubt be raised,” said Rob Dobson, senior economist at research firm Markit and author of the PMI report.

However, as recently as December, a report by EEF said that the cost of raw materials was fairly low on the list of the biggest barriers cited by companies looking to grow.

People-related issues were much more prevalent, including finding employees with right skills, communication with customers and suppliers, and management capability.

On an individual company level, manufacturers are achieving growth in multiple ways, though they are ready with examples of the challenges and obstacles they’ve faced along the way. Here are a few examples from UK SMEs:

arwickshire-based aluminium walling fabricator and installer Alumet decided to move into the renewable technology market as a stabilising response to the volatility of its main industry, construction.

The construction market for Alumet is still strong but the company lost a couple of public sector contracts during the recession, which produced a £6m gap in its order book to fill. It saw that its operation could easily be realigned to also serve the renewables market; specifically, manufacturing the mounting systems for photovoltaic (PV) solar panels and installing the panels themselves as well as solar thermal and air source heat pumps. Consequently, the diversification play could be worth £30m for Alumet this year, supplying to its existing commercial customers, as well as residential homes.

“There are 26 million homes in the UK, a third of which could be in line for a retrofit of solar panels with government funding [Feed-In Tariffs], so we quickly realised what a lucrative market this could be,” says Lee Summers, co-director of Alumet Renewable Technologies, formed in January 2010.

Mr Summers says that one of the biggest problems encountered in this venture is finding appropriately skilled employees. “The universities have been somewhat short-sighted in recent years and there are now very few electrical engineering graduates coming through,” he says. “There are fewer still, if any, with specific

knowledge of the [PV] technologies we are working with. We’ve had to invest heavily in training the people we’ve brought in but we are in the process of establishing partnership programmes with Coventry University and the University of Warwick to get the right skills on their engineering agendas.”

Alumet now has a dedicated team of 14 engineers to install the PV products and is confident that its university collaboration will mean it is not short of relevant talent as the business grows.

The aforementioned Feed in Tariff solar panel funding scheme is currently under review, though, because the Department for Energy and Climate Change is concerned that with funding for solar panels available up to 5MW, all of the funds could be sucked up by energy companies selling electricity to the grid. “This shouldn’t affect us too much but we have to wait to see what gets agreed before we properly define our strategy,” says Summers. “You could say this was a lack of foresight on the last government’s behalf but the figures have not been a secret and they’ve only just been questioned.”

There is also the small matter of money. “We’re lucky that as a successful company with ambitions for growth that we have the facilities to make this project happen,” says Summers. “With the training, office space conversion, purchase of transport equipment and the new production machinery we’re talking about hundreds of thousands of pounds.”

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Antonov

Barrier to growth – Difficulty in breaking into a mature automotive supply chain Solution – Take advantage of the burgeoning Chinese car market.

Established a joint venture to make automatic transmissions cheaper than US imports

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ransmissions specialist Antonov, also based in Warwickshire, recently decided to move into manufacture. The company spent the last 20 years designing gearbox systems which were licensed to automotive component producers.

But Antonov won’t be making product in the UK; the company found that the major car OEMs have too much invested in their existing supply chains to upset the applecart.

Instead, Antonov entered into a 50-50 joint venture with Chinese company Landai and is building a factory in the region of Chongqing – China’s West Midlands, in automotive terms, with

Simon Roberts, MD, Antonov

a population of 32 million. It will build automatic transmissions to supply the rapidly expanding Chinese car market which is already the biggest in the world. At the moment there is a split of around 80/20 manual to automatic cars in China; in five years, research suggests that ratio will be reversed. And currently there are no major manufacturers of automatic transmissions in the country. At around $1,500 dollars per unit to buy from the US, to be placed in cars worth an average of around $8,000, importing is too costly.

In China the joint venture will build Antonov’s design, the TX6 – a dual

shaft, six-speed automatic transmission system that is as narrow as possible to make it space efficient for use in front wheel drive cars. Antonov is also applying this technology to the development of multi-speed traction motor transmissions for electric cars.

Destined for the UK and US, it is likely to license out the design for manufacture but in China, with the foothold it has secured, it has a strong position to build and supply directly to car makers when the electric car market in China grows.

“This is about spotting opportunities and taking advantage of them,” said a spokesperson for Antonov. “There is a gap in the market in China for supplying automatic transmissions. Once the supply chain is established in China there will be the same problems [for others] trying to break in as there are in the West, so it’s vital that we got in early. For the electric gearbox, we’re a small firm in Warwickshire with 40 employees but we’re getting interest from all over the world – we must be doing something right.”

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Lead story Growing Pains

Htogo

Barrier to growth – Difficulty obtaining grants and government support Solution – Battle on!

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outhampton-based hydrogen generation experts Htogo has developed a new system for commercial vehicles, from small vans to HGVs, which creates controlled amounts of hydrogen and adds it to the diesel combustion process, making the fuel burn quicker and more efficiently. It has received a lot of interest from fleet operators for retro-fits and OEMs. Company director Paul O’Neill and his three business partners have spent about £300,000 of their own money developing the technology and, despite the clear environmental benefits, have had little luck obtaining help from government and support agencies.

“We are not very good at grants applications,” says Mr O’Neill. “I’ve applied for Carbon Trust grants and others in the past and we haven’t got them. It’s a real mystery. We know this technology can save thousands of tonnes of CO2 emissions and it reduces fuel consumption massively.”

He says that as well the distraction of having The Manufacturer Ad_N11MANU_AD #Page 1 27/01/2011 09:53:12 to fill out the forms, some grants require that you

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Talking to government is an absolute maze. There should be someone within it whose job it is to really fight businesses’ corner and demystify the options Paul O’Neill, Htogo He says that while he and his partners have been in a position to fund their own project, there are many who can’t and their innovations could be wasted as a result. “You’re looking at five figures just to get fully patented.”

Getting the product in front of automotive customers is also difficult. “It’s a very schizophrenic situation,” says O’Neill. “On one hand they really want to believe you, on the other they are sceptical because there have been any number of different products that have come and gone over the years but they’ve mostly only worked on a short term basis or they’ve interfered with other aspects of the normal running of the vehicle.”

O’Neill is now confident that the product is well on the road to being fully tested, reliable, safe and environmentally and cost-effective. He hopes to see full scale production begin next year, with all components suppliers already identified and premises ready for assembly in Southampton.

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can’t start work on the project until the grant has been awarded, or not, as the case may be. “That process can take months,” says O’Neill. “That’s ludicrous in a commercial environment.” To rub salt into the wound, O’Neill says he’s often been left with no explanation as to why his application has been rejected.

“Talking to government is an absolute maze,” he says. “There should be someone within it whose job it is to really fight businesses’ corner and demystify the options.

There should be a mock application procedure with feedback afterwards, like with school exams. At the moment you only get one bite of the apple.”

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Diversification to tap the green economy, offshore joint ventures and entrepreneurial belligerence are three ways in which companies can overcome barriers to growth. But with inflation rising, and now interest rates likely to rise, and public sector cuts set to suppress consumer spending, other challenges to growth await manufacturing. Will the findings of the Growth Review provide the systemic solutions that are needed, or will manufacturers face further growing pains?

Have your say at www.themanufacturer.com

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24TH MARCH 2011 Ansty Hall Hotel, Coventry, 09:00 to 17:00 The Lean Management Journal and The Manufacturer magazine invite all lean and operational excellence professionals to a unique one day event of lean networking and learning. Whether you are well advanced on your lean journey or just starting out this event will challenge the way you think about lean best practice and organisational change.

The Lean Management Journal (LMJ) provides valuable insight into thought leadership and real life implementation challenges for all companies and individuals seeking improvement. With contributions drawn from across the public and private sector the diversity of information and inspiration available in LMJ makes it the ‘must read’ publication for those lean leaders in all environments.

Who should attend LM Connect?

• Champions and sponsors of lean/ continuous improvement programmes

Lean Management Connect will put delegates in touch with a diverse range of lean and operational excellence service and support and allow them to identify the right external resources they need for their lean

• Global or multisite operations and production directors

programme whatever its maturity.

• Trainers and coaches

By attending delegates will be able to:

• Process/Operational excellence directors and managers

Listen to over 10 lean best practice case studies and keynotes. Share ideas and approaches and learn from battle scarred lean leaders in panel debates and networking sessions

• Lean Managers and directors

Discover the approaches and methodologies for lean success through best practice case study presentations and thought leadership keynotes

• Leaders in HR, Procurement, Supply Chain

Identify new services, products and approaches to support their companies or individual lean journey

• Change management managers and directors

CONNECT FORMULA One to One focused meetings

The connect element enables each attending company to meet vendors across the spectrum in short one to one meetings. Delegates attending the one to one networking meetings will receive the discounted networking rate of £95 + VAT per delegate, which included lunch and refreshment, delegate pack and access to all the breakout case studies and presentations. The nonnetworking delegate rate is £295.00 + VAT.

LEAN MANAGEMENT PROGRAMME – 24TH MARCH 2011 This workshop will teach you the steps to do it right the first time (or at least THIS time) and connect you with organsiations who can support you and your company on your lean journey.

SPEAKERS INCLUDE: CONNECT CHAIRMAN Jeff McGowan, Johnson and Johnson

Jeff’s presentation will give insight into the intricacies of planning your improvement trajectory. Do you really understand your current state? What are the intrinsic policies and practices within your business that mean previous programmes for efficiency and effectiveness have not been sustained or failed to return the anticipated results?

MORNING KEYNOTE: BUSINESS AND LEAN ACUMEN AND THEIR PART IN DEVELOPING A LEAN AND SIX SIGMA STRATEGY Keith Copeland MBE, Nissan Motor Manufacturing (UK) Ltd

The presentation will discuss the importance of good Business and Lean acumen. Keith will explain what the two terms entail for both at a strategic level and for critical players in lean and continuous improvement programmes. Failure rates for lean initiatives are still high and Keith will give insight into the reasons why this is so.

THE CHALLENGES OF CREATING A LEAN STRATEGY DESIGNED TO EXPLAIN, ENGAGE AND ALIGN THE BUSINESS TO THE REQUIRED CHANGE. Richard Lloyd, General Manager, Constellation Park The presentation will aim to highlight challenges of creating a lean strategy based on real experiences in the competitive and fast paced FMCG industry. Richard will offer ideas for how these challenges can be overcome and couple his insights with the latest views and thinking from lean academics such as Mike Rother and David Mann. The persistent problems of senior management buy in, aligning functions within a business, the balance between tools and behaviours will all be addressed.

BUILDING AND EMBEDDING A BUSINESS WIDE LEAN CULTURE THROUGH EDUCATION AND ENGAGEMENT Ben Salder, Senior Business Improvement Manager, BAE Submarine Solutions

Build durations of 6-10 years, takt time of 26 months, some of the staggering statistics at BAE Submarine Solutions. In this presentation Ben will illustrate their approach to building a lean culture, The Transformation Toolset Programme (TTTP). Over the past three years this training programme has been aimed at building internal capability and facilitating change and improvements across the site. Ben will give insights into this lean learning model and the lessons learned from the development of TTP.

To view all the speakers and case study presentations visit

www.themanufacturer.com/lmconnect

THREE WAYS TO REGISTER: 1: Book online by visiting: www.themanufacturer.com/lmconnect 2: Telephone Ben Walsh on: 0207 401 6033 3: Email: j.tudor@sayonemedia.com RESEARCHED BY

SPONSORED BY

RegionalFocus In association with:

Manufacturing value added 200?: £7.8bn No. employed in manufacturing: 130,000 No. of manufacturers: 5,470

Key facts and figures Approximately 130,000 people employed in Manufacturing in Wales, contributing 13.4% of Welsh GDP Major International companies such as: Biomet; Airbus; ConvaTec; GE Healthcare, GE Aviation; EADS; Sony; Logica; BAE; Nordam; Siemans; Ford, Toyota and Dow Corning Wales has one of the UK’s best established sustainable technologies sectors, worth £3.2bn Welsh productivity in areas including biomedical and advanced engineering and materials (automotive, aerospace, chemicals) is 8.6% above the UK average Welsh Assembly Government supports academicindustrial collaborations such as: £50m Institute of Life Sciences by IBM £30m Institute for Advanced telecommunications £25m Centre of Excellence for Technical and Industrial Collaboration programme connecting companies to the latest developments on science, engineering and technology The long industrial heritage of Wales is the backbone to its engineering knowledge base – now supplemented by 30,000 graduates a year coming out of its universities, keen to apply their new-found skills with forward-looking businesses.

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Wales Orchestrating collaboration Business and government dance to the same tune

While a trip to the acclaimed land of song won’t necessarily include a recital of uplifting melodic harmonies, there is an optimism in the nature of Welsh industry that takes centuries of adversity in its stride. Tim Brown reports

Through

a cohesive and responsive approach industry leaders along with political representatives are working to improve Welsh manufacturing strengths. But restoring and surpassing the current industrial strength of the area is, of course, not likely to prove easy. In 1997, manufacturing in Wales was responsible for 28% of gross value add. This declined over the subsequent decade to hit a low of 10% in 2006.

Today, the total Welsh GVA contribution is approximately £44.5bn with manufacturing making up 17.5% (£7.8bn) — a sizeable increase in five years. Although, according to 2009 figures, the Welsh manufacturing contribution is the third smallest after Northern Ireland and the North-East of England, its contribution to the local area’s total input is significantly above the national average of 12.4%. This figure is encouraging in terms of the importance of manufacturing but belies the larger issue of the overall status of the Welsh economy. GVA per head of population here is only

RegionalFocus Wales

£14,842 – 25% less than the UK average. This per capita disparity has increased 10% over the last decade and recently saw Bridgend council leader Jeff Jones label Wales as the ‘basket case’ of the UK. On the flip side of the coin, following the announcement of a £14million contract that will bring 22 new jobs to the JCB factory in Wrexham, Chancellor George Osborne said on February 10 that he believes the region’s private sector will grow in 2011.

From the middle of the 19th century until the post-war era, the mining and export of coal was the dominant industry in Wales. At its peak of production in 1913, nearly 233,000 men and women were employed in the South Wales coalfields, mining 56 million tonnes of coal. Cardiff was once the largest coal-exporting port in the world but from the mid 1970s the Welsh economy faced massive restructuring. Most of the mines closed during the 1980’s.

Since then, jobs in traditional heavy industries have been replaced by new ones in light industry and services. Although the move to a more serviced based economy is typical of many advanced countries, due its dependence on coal, when the industry collapsed the Welsh economy suffered greatly. This sudden economic decline, coupled with the lack of a national banking sector, such as in Scotland and particularly England, has meant a heightened difficulty in accessing finance.

Core support Today, with 130,000 people working in manufacturing in Wales, the strength of the sector is seen as a vital component of the Welsh economy. Major international companies along with SMEs in important industries like automotive, sustainable technologies, biomedical and aerospace litter the region, with many located in the vicinity of the capital.

Capitalising on its micro-political climate and the vested interest of actual manufacturers representing industry bodies such as EEF, Welsh manufacturers have achieved a high level of buy-in from local government on manufacturing issues. As a result the local decision makers tend to be more responsive and forthcoming in progressing business initiatives than their counterparts in Westminster.

Welsh Assembly Government support has resulted in the successful implementation of initiatives such as the automotive supply chain scheme, Accelerate, which was first commissioned in Wales. Likewise the recession proofing Proact regime was developed by industry groups in conjunction with the Welsh Manufacturers Forum and supported by government.

The scheme was developed to assist the fortification of the Welsh manufacturing industry against the impact of the recession and help it emerge even stronger. The Welsh Assembly used European fund money to offer cash to companies suffering declining sales to retain staff by putting them through training courses rather than downsizing.

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title 15: d Age ‘Beyon EEF is h in th – Im d the oldin e W plica Def g a s a a Brid terton tions fo ult Re emina t r g ire r T end ech E Ma . ww nolo mploy ment rch e 16 w.e g m ef.o y Cen rs’, 201 eet th : The a r g 1, w eb n .uk tre, nu u i Hot ll be h yer ev al aer el a eld o e t He at t nt, Ae space nso he V rolin l ne a k ar C le Res ard ort iff

Welsh assembly government building in Wales

Key people Gareth M Jenkins, Chairman of Wales Council, EEF

Currently Managing Director of FSG Tool & Die Ltd in South Wales, the UK’s leading design and manufacture Toolmaking Company. The former President of EEF Western and Chairman of the Wales Council is also a main board Director of EEF. During his 38 year career in manufacturing he has always been passionate about the development of young people. In particular as a former apprentice himself he has championed Modern Apprenticeships on behalf of the Sector Skills Council, the Welsh Assembly and the Wales Manufacturing Forum. He has been actively involved in the creation of ProAct, Skills for Growth Wales, Pathways to Apprenticeship, Young Recruits, and World of Work Initiatives in the Principality.

The Welsh assembly has also passed favour on a number of academic-industrial collaborations including: the £50m Institute of Life Sciences by IBM; the £30m Institute for Advanced Telecommunications; and the Centre of Excellence for Technical and Industrial Collaboration programme. The latter was designed to perform the important task of connecting companies with the latest developments in science, engineering and technology.

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Gareth Jenkins is managing director of automotive manufacturer FSG Tool & Die and is also chairman of the Welsh branch of the manufacturer’s organisation EEF. He has also recently been appointed to chair the Sector Panel for Advanced Materials and Manufacturing for the Welsh Assembly Government.

He says that the manufacturing community in Wales is undoubtedly facing many issues in the short and medium term. “In meeting these challenges, clarity of the level and nature of government assistance is vital. In addition to transparency regarding support, we are clearly looking to government to be a good partner to business.

In our ongoing discussions with the Welsh Assembly Government, we have highlighted that the availability of skills, access to affordable finance, and assistance for export sales for SMEs need close consideration as part of the economic renewal programme for Wales.”

Jenkins says that as a member of industry and a business owner himself he welcomes the recent announcement regarding the ongoing funding for apprenticeships in Wales. Yet Jenkins goes on to asser that further clarity is required on the funding position for skills growth within companies that are key to Welsh manufacturing: “We have achieved a great deal in the past two years in very difficult circumstances. Now is the time to build on these achievements, so that manufacturing can grow, and achieve its full potential.”

Facing up to the future Despite a good level of input from local government there seems to be a consensus in Wales that there must be more comprehension by the national legislature of the challenges facing manufacturing, both in Wales and elsewhere in the UK. Recent issues such as the abolition of the default retirement age and the introduction of more flexible paternity laws (see paternity article on page 42) are burdens that will likely impact on the small and medium sized businesses that are already suffering the most.

In a boost to the private sector credentials of the new business support model the Welsh assembly last month announced the creation of six sector teams which will advise the Government on the economic development of Wales. The sector panels are made up of business people from outside government who have an established record in their field. Each will advise on the best opportunities of the six key sectors identified by Ministers as having the best opportunity to grow the Welsh economy.

The panels were set up following the announcement of the Assembly Government’s new economic policy – ‘Economic Renewal: a new direction’ – which sets out the role devolved government will play to support the private sector and the economy of Wales.

Onetowatch The Royal Mint

Opened by the Queen in 1968 in readiness for the introduction of the decimal coinage, the Royal Mint’s headquarters in Llantrisant, South Wales, employs more than 700 people.

The Royal Mint is the world’s leading export mint, making coins and medals for an average of 60 countries every year. However, its first responsibility is to make and distribute United Kingdom coins as well as to supply blanks and official medals.

The Royal Mint’s Chief Executive is Adam Lawrence and the Ministry of Defence Police oversee the security of the 35-acre site, which operates round-the-clock for 52 weeks a year.

The Royal Mint can produce 90 million coins and blanks a week – almost five billion coins a year. Recently the Royal Mint revealed the official design of the £5 Alderney coin commemorating the engagement of Prince William to Catherine Middleton and has also been awarded the

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The Royal Mint can produce 90 million coins and blanks a week

contract to produce athletes’ medals for the London 2012 Olympics. To celebrate the London Olympics, the Royal Mint has also created 29 different 50p collector coins depicting the sports of the Olympic and Paralympic Games.

This year the Royal Mint will complete a £16.5m development project which will see the construction of an onsite effluent plant and the addition of two new nickel plating production facilities. This will double the organisation’s nickel plating production capacity.

Regional focus Wales

Each of these sectors will have their own panel, made up of five private sector business people, including the chair. It will be their job to provide advice to Ministers on the opportunities and needs of the different sectors. As mentioned earlier in this article, Gareth Jenkins has been announced as chair Advanced Materials and Manufacturing sector. Other advisers include one of the UK’s most successful biotechnology entrepreneurs, Sir Christopher Evans (Life Sciences); Chief Technical Officer at RWE nPower, Kevin McCullough (Energy and Environment); Founding partner at Capital Law, Chris Nott (Financial and Professional Services); and managing director of Logicalis, Thomas Kelly (ICT).

The appointments will be for an initial period of three years (providing the member remains a sector practitioner) and will be renewable, subject to satisfactory review, for up to a maximum of 10 years. Initially their priority will be to map out the shape of the sectors and work with businesses of all sizes in order to identify opportunities. As Welsh industry looks to grasp back some of the ground lost following the demise of the region’s mining sector – this link between business and industry will hopefully assist in making the region a more favourable place for business. With manufacturing providing an improved contribution to the Welsh economy, such an environment may indeed result in further growth in the engineering sector.

Onetowatch Ford Bridgend Engine Plant

The engines that Ford manufactures in Bridgend, Wales, are being exported around the world. The engines power the new generation of Ford vehicles that are designed to be sold globally. Ford’s UK manufacturing plants (Bridgend and Dagenham) are gearedup to produce two million engines a year as well as transmissions and commercial vehicles.

In late 2009, the Bridgend plant made its 15 millionth engine and many more milestones are likely to be reached at the site.

Ford Bridgend in Wales is now producing the new 1.6-litre Ford EcoBoost petrol engine, which offers CO2 and fuel savings of up to 20% compared with conventional petrolengine technology. The engine will make its debut in the new Ford C-MAX range this autumn.

Key people Paul Byard, Head External Affairs Wales, EEF

Paul has 30 years’ design, manufacturing and general management experience within Welsh companies and in the consultancy and business support environment. His appointment with EEF represents a new development role to ensure the voice of industry is understood and translated into credible long term sustainable support for business growth. Prior to EEF Paul was Managing Director of ProGen and has extensive experience in providing practical support to manufacturing businesses throughout Wales. He has helped businesses identify and prioritise improvement opportunities, introduced them to international best practices and provided ‘hands on’ support to deliver significant tangible performance gains. This was achieved by holding the position of Chief Executive for the Manufacturing Advisory Service for Wales for almost 4 years.

The Ford of Britain site in Bridgend, Wales

The 1.6L EcoBoost engine produced at Ford Bridgend

Have your say at www.themanufacturer.com

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Automotive Sector

An engine moves down the production line at the Ford of Britain Bridgend plant

Newsinbrief As Ford of Britain enters its centenary year – marking 100 years in the UK – it is celebrating 34 consecutive years of car sales leadership and an astonishing 45 years of UK commercial vehicle sales leadership. Ford’s top-selling vehicle range secured almost 15% of the UK’s total 2010 market for the blue oval.

GE Aviation will create 100 aircraft engineer jobs at its facility in Nantgarw, Cardiff. The jobs are being created to fulfil increasing demand for servicing of the GE90 engine – one of the world’s most powerful engines, fitted to the Boeing 777 aircraft. The Nantgarw servicing facility already employs 1,100 people and has an annual turnover of nearly £1.25bn. Over 100 apprentices and interns work at the site. Adrian Button, managing director of GE Aviation Nantgarw, said: “GE has continued to invest in technology and jobs at GE Aviation Wales.”

MORE than 4,000 people visited the Airbus factory in Broughton in February to find out more about careers in engineering. The company’s annual apprentice open day was held at the West Factory during National Apprenticeship Week.

Visitors had the chance to talk to recruiters and training managers about how to become an apprentice at Airbus and the qualifications they can receive once training is completed. Mark Stewart, human resources director manager, said: “The number of visitors shows that people recognise an apprenticeship can offer a path to a challenging and rewarding career. (Source: Ellesmere Port Pioneer).

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The Welsh automotive supply chain comprises significant OEMs, international tier one manufacturers and a growing group of technology companies with strengths in materials, electronics and engineering.

Made up of a total of 268 companies including 40 international automotive players such as Ford and Toyota, the sector employs a workforce of over 25,000. This includes 4000 workers at Corus which makes steel products, manufactured by parent company Tata Steel, used in vehicle manufacture.

The sector alone contributes approximately £3bn to GDP which accounts for about one third of the manufacturing contribution for the area. Wales is focusing on future technologies and is recognised as a European leader in research and development of low-emissions technology.

The Welsh Automotive Forum represents component suppliers in Wales who provide parts for the world’s vehicle makers. The Forum showcases its member’s products and abilities at international events and campaigns or lobbies on their behalf on local, national and international platforms. It also works with the Automotive Council to further the business interests of members and its website features a comprehensive directory of member companies and products

Aerospace Sector

Comprised of 160 Companies including Tier 1-4, the aerospace sector in Wales employs more than 22,000 people. Key players in the market include GE Aviation which contributes £1.1bn, as well as Airbus, Babcock (see interview with Mike Turner on page 30) and British Airways. Overall the hightechnology and highly skilled sector contributes £4bn to GDP. Wales is a centre of excellence for aerospace and in particular maintenance, repair and operations related activities. State-of-the-art facilities now manufacture, supply, maintain, repair and overhaul, civil and military aircraft from around the world. The aerospace sector in Wales is a dynamic growth industry operating using best practice techniques, and is supported directly by Team Wales (Welsh Assembly Government and the Aerospace Wales Forum).

Situated in Denbighshire, north Wales, Qioptiq is a specialist in the design, development and manufacture of modules and components for the military, aerospace, civil and industrial markets.

It employs over 450 people, of whom a high percentage are qualified engineers and a number acknowledged world experts in their specialist area.

Regional focus Wales

Life Sciences

Competing on a global stage, the life sciences industry features companies and world leading universities driving research to create new technologies. Wales is also home to leading players in the medical arena such as GE Healthcare, Biomet, Invacare (see profile on 158), Pelican Healthcare (see profile on 155) and ZooBiotic. The industry is further supported by contract research organisations such as Biotec Services and Penn Pharma. There are approximately 330 life science companies in Wales which employ 15,000 people between them and contributes more than £1.3 billion to the Welsh GDP. Invacare’s UK operations were founded in 1856 and the company now employs over 200 people.

Based in South Wales, the company is ideally placed to provide the UK healthcare market with a range of products and services that meet the demands of both the public and private sectors.

Over the years Invacare UK has selected and merged with a number of UK based manufacturers in order to offer a selection of wheelchairs, scooters, beds, bathing, mattress and cushion products.

Invacare’s commitment to product design and quality has resulted in a comprehensive range of solutions for independence and mobility.

The Manufacturer.indd 1

19/05/2010 13:43:19

Onetowatch Nuaire

With over 90 years in the ventilation industry, Caerphillybased Nuaire has developed a strong market presence in the UK and globally.

Over the course of the downturn the company has made some important investments to allow it to emerge from the recession in the strongest possible position. Perhaps most importantly has been its investment in IT which has included a sophisticated and integrated selection and design system. The company hopes that the system, which allows quotes to be given almost immediately and also cuts lead times down by 75%, will facilitate considerable growth over the next 24 months.

Have your say at www.themanufacturer.com

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Making

connections On March 24 TM will be hosting LM Connect, a key event for lean practitioners and all professionals responsible for driving business improvement in their organisations, both in traditional environments and far from the factory floor. Jane Gray talks to speakers and delegates about their expectations for the event.

What

potential do you see for the application of lean principles in your organisation? For many manufacturers the application of core lean tools and techniques on the shop floor is now second nature and terms like SMED, kaizen, 5S and kanban are part of the day-today language spoken behind factory doors.

Achieving this conversance with lean has brought great improvements to many businesses, increasing efficiency and effectiveness in production and throughout the order fulfilment process. But is this where the benefits have to end? Not according to the growing ranks of organisations outside the manufacturing sector who are finding lean thinking is revolutionising the way they manage processes in sales, marketing, finance, IT, business development and more.

Richard Draper, head of lean at insurance broking giant Willis and a keynote speaker at the forthcoming Lean Management Connect Event being hosted by The Lean Management Journal and The Manufacturer magazine, is among those who would argue that some of the greatest scope for lean improvement lies in environments far removed from those where it has become traditional. Looking forward to LM Connect, Draper says: “I never had

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Specialfeature LM Connect

any doubt that lean would fit or work for Willis but I know that some people are sceptical about the kind of application we are doing. I hope I will get to exchange opinions and perspectives about this with people at the event.”

Giving a little more detail about just what Willis have been doing with lean and what insight he hopes to give during his presentation at LM Connect Draper explains: “We had some big perception challenges to tackle when we first started introducing lean.

We had to be very aware of the language we used, about whether of not we talked about the use of certain tools.”

One of the greatest difficulties experienced by the Willis lean team was in engaging employees in any process improvement initiatives since ‘creative’ workers in sales, marketing and customer care roles did not see their work as a process at all. Draper talks about the pragmatic approach that this attitude necessitated: “We could not talk about intentions to follow ‘the good book lean’. We had to tap in to what the different burning platforms and pain points were for each department and individual. Our team of lean advocates and experts worked alongside employees in areas targeted for improvement to take away the waste that was causing this pain and stopping them from achieving their objectives for growth.”

Draper explains that experience of integrating lean improvement methods into other non-manufacturing environments has given a good grounding for Draper’s work with Willis. Draper recalls: “I worked with R&D scientists at GlaxoSmithKline and the typical response from them was that, as exploratory scientists, they could not possibly be constrained by a standardised process.” In fact what was quickly discovered in this project was that considering that using lean structures for problem solving and root cause analysis as well as analysing wait times and monitoring defects made a massive difference to the quality and efficvciency of their work.

Draper says he is keenly anticipating the chance to network with and learn from other improvement professionals and lean leaders at LM Connect.

However, on being asked what he hoped delegates might learn from himself and from Willis he offered: “For anyone who is just starting out with lean, or beginning to think about applying the principles in a new area I would say that you simply must think about what the drivers are behind the way people work. You have to spin lean to fit with whatever these are.” With many of LM Connect’s delegates set to represent companies who are well progressed with their lean journey. Draper added: “For the more mature lean organisation the next challenge for those leading lean is how to take themselves out of the improvement loop. Our plan for the future of lean at Willis is that there will not be a specific lean team.

People should not be looking to a set of lean experts to come along and fix problems. It should simply become the way that everyone is thinking from end to end of the business.”

The prospect of learning more about how to reach this goal of autonomous and effective lean culture evidently appealed to Nigel Beilby, productivity manager at Pepsico UK, and a registered delegate for LM Connect: “We have a lot of lean projects currently underway in the organisation, though not all of them will be called lean. Although I would say that we have an underlying culture of continuous improvement I still think that we are really just setting out on the journey.

What I am looking for [at LM Connect] is to connect with people in a similar position and share experiences. In particular I am really interested to hear how people have managed to connect with their frontline teams and how they have driven an existing culture for improvement forward using lean.

I am very open minded about where insight might come from on the day. I have no preconceptions and I know that it is easy to get tunnel vision when looking at what you do day to day and not challenge the boundaries of that. Often people from entirely different industries will have taken on a challenge that is really relevant to you. Having the chance to listen to a diverse group, not just speakers but also the breadth of the audience, presents an opportunity to challenge the way we currently think about lean.

I am sincerely looking forward to trying to pick up discussion with as many different groups as I can.”

Dave Thomas, factory support manager at Mars Drinks, may well be one of the key peers that Beilby could gain insight from at LM Connect for, while still seeking to learn, Mars is an organisation with a relatively mature and organisation-wide lean culture.

Thomas explains his motives for attending: “We’ve been at lean now for about 13 years. Already lean is not just a manufacturing thing with us; we are rolling it out throughout the business. What I hope to do at LM Connect is just make sure that we are up to date with all the latest views about lean and the different ways in which people are doing it. I want to make sure that Mars is not operating in its own little bubble, thinking that it is perfect. I want to see how other people are keeping lean alive.”

Focusing on the key attractions that made him chose to sign up for LM Connect above other similar opportunities Thomas said: “The speakers are not from consultancies. They are people who are actually doing it. I have a particular eye on the session being presented by BAE Submarines, though that may just be because I used to be a submariner!”

Lean Management Connect will be held on March 24 at Ansty Hall, Warwickshire.

Whatever progress you have made with lean in your organisation there will be something to learn at LM Connect and something to appeal to your past experience and future interests.

For more information or to book you place call Benn Walsh on 0207 401 6033 or email b.walsh@sayonemedia.com.

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We need more employers offering apprenticeships. In England there are only 11 apprentices per 1,000 employees.

Germany has 40 per 1,000

r e e r a c d e l l e p o r p t e J Support services boss sees positives in public sector cuts but laments failed DIS

Long-serving defence industry oracle, apprenticeship champion and football fanatic Mike Turner CBE, talks to Will Stirling about the defence sector’s travails and how public sector cuts are providing golden opportunities for the support services sector.

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He

lobbied for Tony Blair and Gordon Brown to commit to a Defence Industrial Strategy and invest heavily in apprenticeships.

He is a non-executive director of GKN and Lazard, was chairman of the Defence Industries Council and a member of the National Defence Industries Council until April 2010, and is one of the Government’s Apprenticeship Ambassadors.

He has held executive positions in the defence and support services industries for four decades. Mike Turner CBE, chairman of Babcock International plc, knows a thing or two about British industry. And, having been on more strategy panels than he cares to remember, he’s not enamoured by government’s latest attempts to shape, or to commit to, a true industrial strategy, for defence specifically or wider manufacturing.

Interview Mike Turner, Babcock International plc

Mike Turner rose from a graduate apprenticeship with Hawker-Siddeley Aviation in 1966 to chair two FTSE-250 companies. Down to earth and on the ball with all questions, he has just returned from a golfing holiday in Barbados. “After 42-years in executive positions at BAE Systems and Babcock, I’m having a bit of a rest as a non-executive,” he says. Such behaviour is atypical. From his first management job as a contracts officer, the string of senior jobs and honorary degrees testifies to a workaholic’s career.

Manchester United Football Club is his other great passion. Turner accompanied his grandfather to his first home game aged seven, and has only recently given up the season ticket, unimpressed with some of the crowd behaviour in matches today.

“My wife always said there were three things in my life: Manchester United, my job and my family.

In that order,” he says. “I hope that’s not entirely true. One of my biggest regrets is that I cannot remember my children when they were young, I really put my career first. Maybe that’s what you have to do to be successful.”

Today he juggles his top appointments with entertaining his five, soon to be six, grandchildren, his sporting interests and he is considering chairing a charity. “I need to be part of the Big Society,” he says. A member of the Apprentice Ambassador’s Network and a devotee of the apprenticeship career route, Mike Turner spoke to TM about Babcock’s support services strategy, defence cuts and apprenticeships, and gave his strong views on the government’s lack of conviction for a cogent defence industrial strategy.

Babcock’s operations have changed markedly since the 1990s. Why? When I joined the board in mid-1990s it had just got out of boiler manufacture, thank goodness. Sir John Parker was chairman and with CEO Nick Salmon had done a good job selling that business to the Japanese. Then we got out of process engineering – it was always a strategic intention to move into support services sector. We’ve been successful in transforming from a manufacturing company into a support services.

We had the right ingredients in the company to do that, including some very good managers. But, importantly, the P/E ratio of the support services sector is certainly a lot better than what was seen then as old-fashioned manufacturing.

Will more firms replicate this strategy, moving to support services, to follow your lead?

My old company BAE Systems is emphasising the support side of the business, perhaps more than supplying frontline equipment. It is important that equipment requirements are supplied onshore UK, but you have to recognise the huge amount of business that the MoD spends through-life. For every pound it spends on equipment, it spends £4

in through-life on maintenance and upgrades, which has gradually been put out to industry. The good news is that industry has demonstrated it can do it cheaper, and the Armed Forces get more reliable equipment too, giving better value for money both in the cost they pay for support and the reliability of the equipment they pay for.

On competition, it’s a very specialised at the top end. The barriers to entry are high. I remind people Babcock is an engineering business, we don’t do a lot of grass cutting, we are at the highly sophisticated end of support in nuclear, power generation and transport networks, for example. But we have competitors, like BAE Systems, Serco and Amec. Hopefully it’s a growing market now that the government is focused on outsourcing.

How has Babcock picked its markets? In nuclear for example Babcock recognised that nuclear would be very important strategically for us and the UK, it picked up about five years ago. It was identified that 20% of the power derived from our current nuclear power stations had to be replaced. We cannot depend on wind, we need something other than dirty coal, and I’m pleased to see clean coal and gas coming in, and that nuclear is recognised as

When I discussed the DIS with Gordon Brown, at BAE Systems we actually almost stopped recruiting apprentices because we couldn’t see a long term future a very important part of the power supply. The UK Nuclear Decommissioning Agency has a huge job, and a massive budget, for cleaning up the old nuclear power stations, especially at Sellafield. We now have more nuclear engineers in Babcock than any other company in the UK, for NDA – or clean up – operations and to support new stations as they come on stream.

You still do some core manufacturing, like the aircraft carrier programme We are a significant player in the Aircraft Carrier Alliance involved in final assembly of the two carriers in Rosyth. But it’s not a huge part of our business.

It is an important programme, however, and I’m pleased that the UK is building the carriers, but I’m disappointed that we’re not putting our own Typhoons on them, rather choosing the carrier variant for the Joint Strike Fighter. And clearly we have the embarrassment of having no aircraft on them for a few years. I’ve always said that the right way to go was the navalised version of the Typhoon [BAE Systems,

33

UK-built], which would sustain a huge number of jobs in the North West of England, and the supply chain that goes with that long into the future. I’m sorry that the Government has not picked up on that.

Biography Mike Turner 1966:

Undergraduate commercial apprenticeship with Hawker Siddeley Aviation, studies at Manchester Polytechnic for BA (Hons).

1973:

Becomes an Associate of the Institute of Chartered Secretaries and Administrators.

Wins BIM’s ‘Young Manager of the Year’ award. Hawker Siddeley co-founds British Aerospace in 1977.

1984:

Divisional Director and General Manager, Kingston and Dunsfold sites – Harrier and Hawker jet trainer.

1988:

Executive Vice President Defence Marketing, British Aerospace.

1991-92:

Elected Fellow of the Royal Aeronautical Society. Chairman and managing director, British Aerospace Regional Aircraft Ltd including Jetstream Aircraft.

1996-05:

Serves on the board of Babcock International Group plc.

1999:

Chief operating officer of newly formed BAE Systems. Awarded CBE.

2002-08:

Chief executive, BAE Systems.

Expands BAE into North America.

Nov 08:

Non-executive chairman, Babcock International Group plc.

Mike was a non-executive director (NED) of P&O in 1995/1996, and he holds NED-ships of Lazard and GKN plc (now a Senior Independent Director).

He has honorary degrees from Manchester Metropolitan, Cranfield and Loughborough universities. Married with four children, Mike’s main interests are sports, especially Manchester United FC. This biography is abridged.

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The big question for naval is, after the Type 45 destroyer programme and the aircraft carriers, what’s next for the shipbuilding industry? Do we fall off a cliff edge? The design and development phase of the carrier programme is coming to an end soon.

Are we going to have a defence budget large enough to design, develop and deliver the new Type 26 frigates that the Royal Navy needs, that we hope to be able to export, potentially to Brazil and Canada?

If not, the skills in this sector will quickly erode.

It’s a big issue for the UK Government and the UK defence industrial base.

The economy is slowly recovering. Will the UK have adequate public finances to pay for a proper Defence Industrial Strategy in perhaps five years time when these big programmes are waning?

I worry. My biggest concern, speaking about UK governments over the last 30-years, is the lack of a long term strategy for industry.

Visit other countries – I regularly go to China, Germany, Japan and the US – you see industry and government working closely together for the long term. I don’t see that in the UK. We had a brief window when Peter Mandelson was in charge of BIS where we industrialists saw a real attempt to get an industrial strategy into the UK. But it’s an area where we fall very short, I’m afraid. We need a much longer term view, particularly around R&D investment by the government alongside industry.

We fought really hard in 2005 to get a [DIS] Defence Industrial Strategy approved which, with the help of the then Prime Minister Blair and Lord Drayson, we got. They recognised the importance of the defence sector, with a huge number of employees and SMEs dependent on it and with about £5bn in exports a year. Once we got it in place, Gordon Brown and the Treasury, signatories to the DIS, refused to fund it. And I’m afraid the current government have kicked it into the long grass. With the reduced defence budget now we are reduced in essence to buying more off-the-shelf, which is sad for our defence industrial base.

Clearly, to increase trade you need something to export. After Typhoon, what is there? If we can design the Type 26 frigate in a modular way so that we can give the Royal Navy the ship it wants, but also have the flexibility to adapt it for export markets, that would be excellent for the defence sector as well as the RN in spreading costs. On the Army side the Future Rapid Defence System was a real opportunity to develop a family of armoured vehicles that we could export to the world, but the money wasn’t there. With no equipment programmes, what can you export? I fear for the future here.

[Later] I think back to my Airbus days, trying to get launch investment from the government for the A320, or since then for the A330 or A380, was one hell of a fight. It shouldn’t be like that. Airbus is clearly a successful business, its long term,

Interview Mike Turner, Babcock International plc

highly skilled, good for exports and yet to get any successful arrangement with the UK government, whether Labour or Conservative, it was a fight.

Listening to Airbus colleagues in France and Germany it seemed a very different story.

You are a member of the Apprentice Ambassador’s Network. Why is this work important?

We have over 500,000 apprenticeships now in the UK [across all sectors], which is about double where we started over 10-years ago. Last year, apprenticeship starts went up by more than 15%.

Some of this is recession-driven, but I’d like to believe some is because we are getting the message across to young people and to employers. But we need more employers offering apprenticeships. In England there are only 11 apprentices per 1,000 employees.

In Germany it is 40 per 1,000. In the UK only 8% of employers offer apprenticeships, in Germany it’s 25%. You could argue that’s one of the reasons why Germany’s industrial sector is recovering so strongly compared with the UK. It’s also linked to the strategic relationship, especially in R&T, between the German government and industry compared to politics in our country, which is all too often short term.

We’ve got to have growth to have the wealth to pay for hospitals and the schools. I’m afraid all we hear far too often from the politicians is how we spend that wealth rather than how we create it in the first place.

Is there a danger that if too many people apply for apprenticeships too quickly there won’t be jobs at the end of the schemes to match?

When I discussed the DIS with Gordon Brown, at BAE Systems we actually almost stopped recruiting apprentices because we couldn’t see a long term future. It’s just not on to recruit apprentices unless there is a real chance of a job for them at the end. That’s why I pushed so hard for the DIS, to show employers there was a long term future for the sector, so they’d have the confidence to take on apprenticeships.

On the value versus a degree, when I passed my ‘A’ levels, I was offered a place at the London School of Economics or to join Hawker Siddeley Aviation to do an undergraduate commercial apprenticeship.

The reason I chose HSA, thinking back, was monetary – HSA was offering me £8 and six pence a week, so I took that. Today, at the end of university you might have a significant debt, where there’s likely to be a job at the end of an apprenticeship, and it’s a difficult job market, why wouldn’t you take an apprenticeship? There are different opportunities, from Levels 2 to 4, you’re learning about business and receive proper training. Having passed my sandwich course degree, I had far more value to offer my employer than as a raw graduate, and I think I was a wiser guy about how industry worked.

And crucially, you learn the importance of getting on with people.

For a full transcription of the interview, go to www.themanufacturer.com

I regularly go to China, Germany, Japan and the US – you see industry and government working closely together for the long term. I don’t see that in the UK

Mike Turner visiting Astute, Barrow May 2007

Have your say at www.themanufacturer.com

35

HOW do you approach the change process yet maintain the necessary pace and ensure sustainability?

Multiple studies have shown that around 70 percent of large change programmes fail to deliver the target outcome. In this third article, Suiko considers ‘HOW to achieve success’ by answering 3 questions: 1. Why will it be any different this time?

2. What is the level of commitment required?

3. How do you ensure success along the operational excellence journey?

Our

experience reaffirms that successful implementation of change programmes depends on the organisation’s ability to develop an holistic approach, incorporating the right process with employee engagement. The output should lead to an integrated, joined up programme that will result in a sustainable and common journey towards the vision.

1. Why will it be any different this time?

People need to have the right tools to deliver the expected results: the TOOLS & TECHNIQUES, when used appropriately, will help them see more clearly, measure, focus, problem solve, collaborate and as a result be more effective.

Ultimately, this can develop into the group operating system.

Suiko believes that to embed exceptional practices, it is more about changing mindset than tools (80:20), developing a culture which encourages enabling BEHAVIOURS. Self discipline and ownership are key attributes for everyone,

The Suiko Approach™ brings the WHY – WHAT – HOW cycle together. The HOW encompasses the Diagram 1: The Suiko Approach™ enablers and consists of 4 key elements that must be brought to bear to ensure sustainable and accelerated change.

The programme must be a strategic priority, have a clear strategic FRAMEWORK that is aligned to the business vision and sets out the roadmap for the journey.

The framework will help to direct focus and should provide guidance to what needs to be done.

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for it is this that maintains the processes’ sustainability.

The programme must be driven; management need to apply energy and attention to the critical activities to MAKE IT HAPPEN. This requires robust programme management and should include activities such as governance, tracking and strong change management.

To mobilise the organisation and ensure that operational excellence is embedded in its widest sense requires a balanced approach to implementation, with each element of the approach running in parallel.

2. What is the level of commitment required?

The organisation’s leaders need to demonstrate commitment to the journey. A prerequisite for success is to have clarity around the commitment that people are expected to make; after all, it is about embedding a ‘way of working’ that involves everyone throughout the organisation.

Richard Lloyd, general manager, Constellation Wines Europe continues “The case for making a commitment to resourcing a programme of change appropriately should be based on logic and adopting a structured approach. Key to the success of our ongoing Lean journey is that it embraces a ‘way of working’. It is not an add-on initiative and is central to every meeting, activity, discussion and decision that occurs.”

It does require everyone to play a part in making the change happen: throughout the organisation (Diagram 2 illustrates the point).

performance) will influence the level of resource that must be put in place to make things happen.

Other fundamentals should include recognising success and communicating progress. Unless already normal practice it is best done in a structured way by integrating it into the change activity. Keeping it simple and relevant to the audience is good advice. For example, remembering the following mantra will help maintain momentum: What gets measured gets done What gets talked about gets done first What gets rewarded gets done best

3. HOW do you ensure success along the operational excellence journey?

In most instances, successful players develop a strategic vision that maps out the journey to turn uncertainty into opportunity. The Suiko Approach™ will help to develop the journey.

Lloyd reflects “The Suiko Approach comes across as common sense, almost too simple, but it did force us to challenge our thinking in pulling together our lean implementation strategy which was both refreshing and really valuable. Too often lean ends up as something people struggle to associate with and understand.”

The diagram below highlights the critical success factors (the HOW) that will make the programme great, but will only work with the necessary management commitment.

Which specific tools you use when seeking to address the critical success factors may

vary, but to fail on one or more of the elements of the approach will lead to a suboptimal programme.

A key output of the ‘WHY?’ should be a roadmap outlining the journey plan and route to the compelling vision of operational excellence and its benefits. “The delivery of this ‘strategic framework’ will be most effective when there is strong strategic alignment, in simple terms, through the adoption of a one team, one plan approach that is endorsed by the board.” Concurs Bob King, head of operational excellence, Premier Foods “As with strategy, having a common language for tools and the improvement processes and making it standard work will make control and challenge easier and ensure new practices are embedded more quickly.”

All of the above is best reinforced by the leaders in the business exhibiting the right ‘enabling’ behaviours. The maturity of the organisation (the level of team

Diagram 3: Critical success factors to deliver the Suiko HOW™

Suiko’s view is that programme management does not have to be complicated, although it does require an investment in people and time resources to work best.

Building the right infrastructure from the beginning will pay dividends later when trying to keep the programme on track. Like any investment, thorough up front planning will reduce the level of rework later and ultimately accelerate the pace of change.

Programme governance is another aspect of making it happen that doesn’t always get the focus it merits, until things go wrong! If done well, it will give the structure from which all other change activities can hang and it does encourage the right behaviours, discipline and challenge.

Regular steering groups should take place to review progress to plan, address blockages, champion the programme and confirm the next steps. In parallel, all results (savings and benefits), audit and assessment scores should be tracked, reported and communicated against targets to make progress transparent.

Finally, even if the organisational tendency is to revert to fire fighting when dealing with today’s crisis, it is essential that there is a continuous check and measure against the long term strategy of sustainable change.

This is best done through ‘go see’, by being there.

Andy Spooner Business Development Director Te: +44 (0) 1225 852400 Email: info@suko.co.uk Web: www.suiko.co.uk

Suiko Building Operational Excellence Our mission is to help major companies achieve sustainable competitive advantage through Operational Excellence

Diagram 2: Role expectations

www.suiko.co.uk

37

Heavy steel components manufactured

by Vulcan in Sheffield

threatens steel industry The steel industry is energy intensive; the last thing it needs is another layer of carbon tax to increase costs of production. Enter the Carbon Price Floor. UK Steel’s Ian Rodgers tells Will Stirling why Government’s good intentions have had yet more unintended consequences.

Steel

making in the UK has had a volatile history, its story punctuated by privatisation, consolidation, acquisition and offshoring. But behind the headline events, a vibrant group of successful companies are making money from converting steel into niche, specialist products that are exported globally. Most people agree that making high value specialist steel is the only long term future the industry has in the UK. The UK steel industry appears in rude health, with output in January 35.4% higher than in December 2010. Production in the Yorkshire and Humber area increased by 50% (59,300 to 89,200 tonnes

38

Ian Rodgers, Director, UK Steel

a week), while in Wales there was an increase of about one fifth (82,600 to 101,000 tonnes a week).

Also, Tata’s deal to sell certain assets of its Corus Teesside Cast Products site to Thai steel giant Sahaviriya Steel Industries was finally agreed last month. The deal ends two years of uncertainty for the site’s 700 employees and could create as many as 800 new jobs.

Some of this growth is restocking after a slack December, where many steel users reduce orders to file their year-end accounts with healthier balance sheets. But such a big jump in demand shows that the industry is in pretty good shape. Steelmaking is expensive, though, and no matter what a company’s speciality, rising input prices of raw material and energy, as well as a complex carbon tax system, is putting the industry under severe pressure.

Speculative buying drives Jan output lift January’s rise in output is welcome: in 2009, production of crude steel (10.1 million tonnes) and employment (20,300) were both at the lowest levels on record. “Nevertheless, we still have a long way to go to achieve pre-recession levels of steel output, with demand from the construction sector in

Comment UK Steel

particular remaining very weak,” says Ian Rodgers, director of UK Steel.

The boss of one steel industry member who preferred to remain nameless said speculative buying could also explain the increase. “Since raw material prices and scrap prices have risen sharply (since December), users are trying to buy ahead of further increases, causing what is known as apparent demand,” he says.

“There is a strong view that true end-user demand has not increased at all. There is some data to support this. This means that there will be price volatility in the next few months, with prices rising sharply then potentially coming down again. We will actually see steel mills attempt to limit this speculative demand and some supply issues may occur as a result.”

Speculative buying does not account for all the increase, however. Cold Drawn Products makes precision section wire for a wide range of end applications. While general manager Nigel Lane accepts there is an element of steel hoarding, he says customers need product for real applications, and soon. “There is a rebound in the oil and gas

CarbonPriceFlawed Steelmakers are high energy consumers and from February 1 to February 24, wholesale electricity prices for benchmark front season contracts jumped 3%, a big spike, says data company Isis Heren. To further twist the knife, in mid December the Treasury Change launched a consultation for the Carbon Price Floor (CPF). This is a new regulatory and taxation policy where polluters must pay a minimum amount of money for the right to pollute, primarily designed to attract low carbon energy investment into a country by making the price of pollution higher and increasing the awards for low carbon projects. It is likely to take the form of a tax that requires those who qualify to make a payment to the Treasury. It was suggested that the CPF might replace the existing Climate Change Levy, a downstream tax on energy use rather than a direct upstream tax on greenhouse gas emissions.

EEF and UK Steel responded with a call to reassess the CPF. They said that while the proposal may meet the wishes of electricity power generators for greater support to attract investment in renewables and nuclear, it will have the unintended consequence of increasing costs for manufacturing, especially energy intensive sectors such as steelmaking, with no indication of how these will be mitigated.

“The Treasury acknowledges that this proposal will push up UK electricity prices, yet has failed completely to look at the impact of this on energy intensive sectors such as steel,” says UK Steel director, Ian Rodgers.

“These new [renewable] technologies will require large amounts of steel. It would be far better from an environmental perspective if that steel was produced locally but the imposition of yet another new and costly tax will make it increasingly difficult for UK steelmakers to compete.”

Key points raised and investigated in this article are as follows: Power generating companies say they need a carbon price of Eu30-Eu35/tonne of CO2 to make nuclear cost-competitive versus gas fired power-gen.

Today it is about Eu14-Eu15/tonne.

HM Treasury has proposed an upstream tax on the use of fossil fuel-generated electricity, which would fill that gap. This would guarantee that the de facto carbon price, (electricity generators will pay) in the UK would be at the level that utilities like EDF say they need it to be to encourage them to invest in nuclear (Eu35 p/tonne).

This means that the carbon price that UK generators are paying is a lot higher than the price that foreign generators are paying. The electricity customers pay the difference. market since Brent crude hit $100 a barrel,” he says. “We supply product for subsea pipe systems.

Despite the Gulf of Mexico knockback, Brazil has remained busy throughout 2010 and activity is picking up in West Africa and Asia.”

A surge in steel orders does not reflect immediate real-time demand either. “Because of long lead times, steel can be 2-3 years out of sync with other manufacturing data,” says Lane. “A single order can be colossal, it does not come in neat monthly chunks.” The Bradford company rehired half of its recession-enforced redundancies in Q4 2010.

Vulcan SFM is another company benefiting from a resurgent oil and gas extraction industry. In August 2010 following a record order book in 2009/10, it forecast £22m of orders for the next 12 months. By late February it had broken that target.

Despite the pressures of international competition, UK Steel says steel has a future here, providing it gets the regulatory support it needs to attract foreign investment. “When a multinational looks at where the next tranche of investment is going to go it will look at the most cost effective location,” says Rodgers. “We tell government that the more they introduce measures that put our costs up, the more likely it is that those investment decisions will go against the UK.” EEF and UK Steel are calling for Government to re-think its carbon reduction through taxation policy, before the costs of carbon to high energy users like steelmakers make manufacture in the Britain unviable (see box). Much rests on the results of the conclusions of the HM Treasury and DECC electricity market reform. The consultation closes on March 10.

For the electricity market reform consultation, visit: www.decc.gov.uk/en/content/cms/consultations/emr/

39

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A highly mobile workforce isn’t the only issue. Due to the nature of work, specialised equipment is required as mobile communication devices need to be robust and durable. For instance engineering and maintenance staff work alone and in some cases require intrinsically safe or ATEX approved equipment. As a result end users tend to carry multiple communication and safety devices.

ANT Telecom have been supplying mobility systems to manufacturing markets for over 25 years and have built a tremendous amount of experience and knowhow within the market sector. Our mobility devices are designed to work in tough environments, yet are light-weight, small and ergonomic.

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41

Platitude or

possibility?

The benefits of aligning lean thinking with green intentions are touted by some practitioners and consultants as a new paradigm for lean and green success. Proponents of the pairing argue that the combination will extend all boundaries previously considered possible for each alone. But to what extent is this simply lobbying from green activists who want to see environmental considerations pushed higher up the corporate agenda?

42

The

concept of lean and green as a serious driving force in business strategy is not new. However, for most the extent to which environmental responsibility has been able to impact operations has been limited to implementing more energy efficient lighting or similarly obvious green actions. In addition, there are still many sceptics who dismiss the framing of environmental excellence in the language of operational excellence as an advanced form of green washing.

According to Keivan Zokaei, consultant and lean and green advocate at SA Partners, however, both of these approaches are simplistic. Writing for The Lean Management Journal, Zokaei explains: “Lean firms see every problem as an opportunity to surface limitations to competitiveness. They have learned to create engaging environments where every

Lean Manufacturing

Key points raised and investigated in this article are as follows: Lean and green agendas can mutually benefit one another Lean tools can be leveraged to create a strategically coherent structure for green initiatives Environmental efficiency and green capabilities are becoming increasingly influential as competitive differentiators Collaborating for lean and green throughout supply chains is necessary if the full potential of lean and green as a competitive differentiator and cost saving approach is to be realised

employee is empowered to bring about change and to sustain it. Environmental management, on the other hand, has been more concerned with technical fixes and top-down implementation. Lean’s greatest contribution to environmental management is in creating engagement and alignment. Lean companies across different industries have the potential to leverage continuous improvement knowledge behind the implementation of the ‘green’ objectives.” By so doing, such businesses would benefit by magnifying the returns on investment from both.

Brewing a lean and green revolution Adnams brewery is one organisation which has long held environmental and social responsibility at its core but which has recently begun to reap even greater benefits and greater strategic coherency in

green activities by applying a leaner methodology to their implementation. Andy Woods, Adnams’ MD, says: “Our long-term approach and natural respect for our environment was evident when we started out in 1872 and, more recently, our focus has been to combine this approach with efficient business practice and continual innovation. In our opinion, being lean and green makes perfect business sense. We think strong ethics and values, allied to operational effectiveness, will be a key differentiator for business success in the future.”

The Adnams perspective on the value of green investments is long term and based on a belief that the world is morphing into a place where, as Woods put it, ‘the polluter will pay.’ This perspective means that the sustainability of green investments and an ability to continuously improve on them for a confident business outlook are extremely important.

The scope here for leveraging lean thinking around innovation, continuous improvement and sustainability is obvious. This extends to the need for understanding, collaboration and, ideally, complete integration of responsibility for green agendas and lean agendas.

Of course not all companies have the advantage that Adnams has of an existing green culture upon which to build lean understanding and integration.

Rexam, an international consumer packaging company with revenues exceeding £4.5bn, has, however, shown that the bridge building can begin at either side.

Jon Alder, director of group lean enterprise at Rexam, explains: “To give some scale to the opportunity we have for improving our sustainability position through applying lean enterprise we make 60 billion cans each year. End to end they would stretch for 7 million miles, or 165 times around the earth. It is crystal clear in our minds that if we

43

Lean Manufacturing

improve the way we make our products then the leaner we become the greener we become and the more ‘green’ in monetary terms we save.

“This lean equals green philosophy has many advantages: it was easy to get consistent understanding of it across an organisation comprising of nearly 100 manufacturing facilities globally, since the activities within it are instantly recognisable as part of the continuous improvement program that has been underway for over a decade.”

In terms of operations, Rexam’s lean and green activities have focused on recycling and reducing.

Recycling represents a twofold opportunity for managing their product post consumer use but, perhaps more importantly, how to effectively and economically increase the recycled content of raw

Our long-term approach and natural respect for our environment was evident when we started out in 1872 and, more recently, our focus has been to combine this approach with efficient business practice and continual innovation Andy Woods, managing director, Adnams’

material stock. Alder explains that all recycling initiatives are driven by a desire to “understand the value stream potential of all of our waste streams and, through effective mapping, extract back the maximum economic and environmental value.”

A climate for competition Having a structured strategic and sustainable approach to the implementation of environmental initiatives has been proven to reap great benefits not only at a local level but also up and down supply chains. Zokaei cited one extended value chain project, spearheaded by a multinational food manufacturer, which indentified in excess of £6m in potential cost savings and similar figure in potential sales uplift through the lean implementation of green initiatives.

Of course, often environmental initiatives are not driven primarily by manufacturers themselves but by key customers, particularly consumer facing organisations and this in itself creates a lean and green integration imperative. With the first and leading principle of lean activities to be the perception of value from the customer’s eyes it is inevitable that rising expectations from major customers for their suppliers to operate with environmental efficiency will gain increasing influence.

44

Marks & Spencer has been a mover and shaker in this respect. The iconic British retailer has introduced a scorecard for all its suppliers that measures their performance across commercial, technical, new product development, service and sustainability standards. The sustainability measure, called ‘How we do business’, consists of lean manufacturing, ethical trade and environment and demonstrates an awareness of lean and green symbiosis. The programme aims to challenge the environmental performance of organisations competing to maintain or achieve a position among the ranks of M&Ss 2,000 suppliers servicing 21 million weekly shoppers.

For those keen to see the prioritisation of corporate responsibility and manufacturing practices which seriously consider issues such as resource scarcity carbon footprint, the pressure which M&S is putting on its suppliers to live up to environmental expectations is extremely positive.

However, for Peter Watkins, global lean enterprise and business excellence director at GKN, simply measuring suppliers on performance is not enough to embed green values. “A systematic approach to supplier development is key. This must actually support suppliers in doing and learning to apply lean and green – not just measuring them on it!”

He says.

Looking forward, Watkins suggests some techniques and requirements that must be addressed if lean and green are to be leveraged to the full extent of their potential: “Using extended value stream mapping as a method for partnering with suppliers is crucial. Activities here should equally focus on risk, as well as environmental impact, cost , lean flow and ethics. Risk is a diverse factor including: political, logistical, importing, currency, transportation risk and so on. If the risk is high the whole supply chain can breakdown. EVSM helps to understand and address this.

Whatever the methodologies used, the consensus across industry from improvement professionals, operations representatives, production managers is that a more strategic approach to the integration of green values and the exploitation of green opportunities is becoming an increasingly pressing need. While some sectors have more obvious opportunities in this area, particularly those with consumer facing brands or products, it is becoming more and more common to see those who fail to be intelligent and creative in offering new environmental capabilities as being out of touch with their customers. Businesses seen to be failing their environmental responsibilities may be left vulnerable in a business environment where waste is not only undesirable for reasons of efficiency but punishable through regulation, unforgiving competition and the dynamics of macro socio-economic shifts such as global resource availability.

Specialfeature EEF INSIGHT

Safety by the score With

the first-of-its-kind corporate manslaughter conviction of Cotswold Geotechnical Holding last month, the well-being of employees within manufacturing has never been more timely. While managing health and safety risks may come as virtually second nature for those on the shop floor, however, many sitting around their company’s top table appear content with merely tracking accident and ill-health numbers — a reactionary recipe for disaster by any reckoning.

EEF, the manufacturers’ organisation, recognised the danger in such a pattern. “The one issue that was coming up above all, both from our advisors and the regular surveys we undertake, was that company boards needed help in cutting through the differences in approach, metrics and language between health and safety professional and the directors themselves,” says Steve Pointer, EEF’s head of health and safety policy. Indeed, more than 50% of its membership sought some way of being able to set up, and then monitor, meaningful objectives around their companies’ safety performance — “Something a little more analytical than ‘how many accidents did we have last year? Well, let’s try and have fewer’, which isn’t a terribly good indicator of how prepared you are for the future,” he explains.

Enter the balanced scorecard, a strategic management tool pioneered by Norton and Kaplan in the early 90s, and transposed to manufacturing health and safety by Pointer and EEF. Straightforward traffic light reporting reflects, among much else, a company’s performance in the past and how prepared it is to manage risks and comply with legislation in the future — thus enabling Competence Skills training directors to focus their Management training attention where it is most Compenetent advice needed across the business.

Branching out Such was the scorecard’s success when trialled among member companies — 690 unique web visitors and nearly 9,000 page

Edward Machin investigates EEF’s health & safety scorecard, an online tool with traffic light reporting at its heart designed to engage senior executives when managing their company’s safety agenda.

requests — that EEF has, from March, made the initiative freely available online. While ideally suited to manufacturers employing 50 people or more, the speed at which it has been endorsed by organisations often far outside of the original target zone has come as no little surprise to Pointer.

He takes up the story: “I must admit that when it was first designed, I was saying to the larger companies that ‘you might not want this; you will no doubt be using something considerably more complex.’ In fact, many came back and said that their boards very much welcomed the opportunity to engage the directors with the processes and competence measures encouraged by our scorecard.” Furthermore, while it was designed originally for manufacturers, the step-by-step guidance, worked examples and benchmark statistics — as well as a pro forma report that businesses can download and use — included in EEF’s online tool means that it has by taken up by those outside of the sector: local authorities, for one.

Pointer accepts that this isn’t the magic bullet, but more a way of pulling all the specific things manufacturers need to do around safety practices into one easily digestible piece — organising, prioritising and monitoring them as a result. “The scorecard does exactly this, and will provide a valuable tool for companies and organisations of all sizes and across all business sectors,” he concludes.

Leading indicators Monitoring results Audit results Attitude surveys

Board Leadership

Process

System review Implementation

Lagging indicators Accident rate ill health rate Absence rate

The EEF – Travelers Health and Safety Scorecard is freely available at www.eef.org.uk/scorecard

45

don’t go Provisions made by the previous government to allow additional paternity leave to expecting fathers, are about to come into effect and commitment to further change has been made by the current administration. But what will the changes mean for manufacturing’s male dominated businesses?

The

new paternity legislation, championed

by Harriet Harman under Labour and continued by coalition advocates including Deputy Prime Minister, Nick Clegg, will enable new fathers to take up to 26 weeks additional paternity leave. This is on top of the statutory right for two weeks Ordinary Paternity Leave. They will be entitled to a paid paternity allowance for all the time taken within the mother’s statutory maternity leave of 39 weeks.

Campaigners for parental rights have welcomed the introduction of this new allowance for fathers and applaud Government’s intention to go even further with reforming what Nick Clegg denounced as “an Edwardian system” of parental support. Many in business however, particularly small businesses, are apprehensive of workforce planning difficulties and the additional costs that the new paternity allowances will bring. Furthermore there is alarm among business leaders that the changes due to come into play this April may only be the thin end of the wedge.

Among those voicing concerns is Nigel Bruce, managing director of Caerbont Automotive Instruments. Bruce told TM: “We are still going through one of the most challenging periods I have seen in my working life for small businesses. We are having to work hard to stay standing, let alone develop. While people are undoubtedly our greatest asset as a business, I feel employment law is smothering us with red tape and constraints.”

Bruce is keen to clarify that he does not object to the idea of increasing employee rights but is worried that government have not considered the repercussions for employers with limited resources:

46

“I can understand that those in Strasbourg and Westminster need to ensure that parents get time off but it is extremely difficult to cover for them. It costs us, not only financially but also in terms of efficiency.”

Bruce explains that in his 50-60 employee strong workforce niche skills are difficult to replace and the challenge is amplified by the fact that an individual often has multiple responsibilities. “Changes to the market place in recent years have demanded that retention of key skills and capabilities have been

On the bright side: Not all SME manufacturers see extended paternity allowances as a threat to business continuity. Kirsty McHugh, commercial director at Hyco Manufacturing, a Wakefield-based electrical equipment manufacturer, recently posted a blog on TM’s website. It read: ‘There’s been a lot of scaremongering about the predicted cost to business of the proposed changes to paternity and maternity leave... At Hyco we want to treat our staff well, to value them and help them to be happier in their working lives...

In our sector in particular, I think it’s important to show that manufacturing has left its dark satanic mills image far behind, and has moved into a new era of cutting edge design, innovation and exemplary employment practices.’

To read the full blog visit: www.themanufacturer.co.uk

Leadership & People and Skills

In this article you can find out: What paternity rights your employees will be entitled to following April 3 this year What plans the government has to extend these rights What potential problems some manufacturers feel increased paternity rights pose for employers

managed alongside altered cost constraints. On the one hand this has meant that staff have become more versatile and, as managing director, I am proud of the enthusiasm with which they have managed this. But there is a double edge to this sword in an organisation such as ours because there is much less demarcation and individuals perform more than one role.”

This is a situation that many readers will sympathise with. Although Bruce said that multiskilling and staff manoeuvrability on the shop floor made the absence of one staff member less threatening to the business than it might previously have been, he also described the pressure recently experienced in business support and administration when a key employee left for maternity leave. Three consecutive replacements have had to be found for this individual in the last six months as each, though competent and dedicated while in the role, left to seek better prospects and job security for themselves elsewhere.

It does not take much imagination to see that this scenario will become more common as paternity rights grow and the manner in which they can be claimed becomes more flexible. Furthermore the scale of change needed in workforce planning practices for an industry like manufacturing, still decisively male dominated, must be daunting. While larger organisations may see this diluted to some extent across a bigger employee footprint with greater replication of skills, it is difficult to imagine how some companies, with perhaps just one key design or electrical engineer, might not be brought to their knees if they are unable to refuse an extended period of paid paternity leave.

Gareth Jenkins is managing director of automotive manufacturer FSG Tool & Die and is also chairman of the Welsh branch of the manufacturer’s organisation EEF. He feels the urge for politicians to engage in emotive rhetoric, such as Clegg’s

dramatic denunciation of current parental rights as ‘Edwardian’, is unhelpful to business. “A lot of the regulatory change we are seeing at the moment is, in essence, political. It is not that manufacturing organisations are against the principle of it, but we need time to adapt and to understand how we are going to run our businesses within the new framework. We need government to be a better partner to business.”

The impression of battle worn weariness on the part of manufacturing directors in small businesses is palpable. On being asked whether increasing paternity allowances were a key concern in relation to other regulatory changes, Bruce resignedly replied: “This is just the latest of a long line.”

Paternity allowances explained: All new fathers who have been employed in your

organisation for 26 weeks or more will be entitled to a maximum of 26 weeks Additional Paternity Leave

Additional Paternity Leave supplements the minimum two

consecutive weeks of Ordinary Paternity Leave to which new fathers are entitled

Husbands and partners of expectant mothers will be entitled

to paternity leave even if they are not the biological father

Additional Paternity Leave can only be taken after the

mother (or adoption partner) has returned to work and ceased claiming maternity allowances. New fathers are only entitled to paid leave within the 39 weeks that the mother would have been eligible to continue claiming her paid maternity leave

Paternity leave must be taken with the intention of caring

for the new child

Government has made proposals to allow increased

flexibility in sharing parental leave. Outlined proposals (planned for implementation in 2015) suggest this would allow time off to be taken, by either parental partner, in short chunks rather than for an extended period.

Have your say at www.themanufacturer.com

47

JCB Academy

diary

Rhys Bradbury, a first year student at the JCB Academy, continues the diary column about life and work at the Rocester-based academy for 14-18 years who want a more vocational secondary education.

“This

term, the JCB Academy has teamed up with Rolls-Royce to present us with a third challenge, to design an engine fuel pump.

We have been comparing several different types of pump that you would typically find in the home, as well as in industry, like bike pumps and surface water pumps.

Rolls-Royce has manufactured a sample pump for us to investigate and improve on. They deliberately made errors and faults in their pump for us to find and then consider when we design our own fuel pump. For the engineering diploma, over the course of the challenge we have looked at what makes a good pump, developed our own improved pump designs and created tehnical drawings of our new pump design using CAD software. Siemens has provided the Academy with NX 7.5, a programme installed on all of the computers in the CAD room, and costing about £150,000 on each computer. This is professional CAD software that a lot of

48

businesses use when designing new products.

Meanwhile, in the business unit of the challenge we have been looking at responsible business practice.

We made PowerPoint presentations on selected real businesses to investigate several issues, such as how they treat the environment, how ethical they are, what they do for their local community and so on. We then looked at how these practices would benefit the business, or, if they didn’t do them, the dilemmas they would face.

Making the grade Apart from engineering and business, more or less every other subject has been full of revision and exams. In late January, every student took part in maths GCSE foundation exams, and if they get a C grade or above from their results in March, they will be able to take the higher tier paper in the summer.

Also, in science we have been revising different topics in biology, chemistry and physics in lessons

Have your say at www.themanufacturer.com

and have taken tests each week to see how we are doing and what grade we are working at.

This month we are visiting Aero Engine Controls in Birmingham.

On the trip we will have the opportunity to see first-hand how jet engine fuel pumps are designed, manufactured and tested, to give us more ideas for our engineering unit. Furthermore, on Friday 18 February, Prince Charles and the Duchess of Cornwall are coming to the JCB Academy for the official opening of the Academy. During the morning visit they will have a tour around the building and will speak to different members of staff and students. No doubt the media will be there, like the first day back in September. I’ve already seen an article in [Staffordshire local newspaper] The Sentinel about it too.

As well as hard work, we certainly have more exciting events to look forward to. In my opinion, the JCB Academy so far has definitely been a big success.”

Gary Billson Engineering apprentice technician BAE Systems Gary Billson is following a proud family tradition of shipbuilding by helping to build the Royal Navy’s most advanced warships with 21st century software tools.

Twenty-three

year old Gary Billson joined BAE Systems as an engineering technician apprentice at the company’s Scotstoun site on the Clyde in 2009. Out of over 80 applicants, Gary was offered one of only ten spaces on the programme.

Previously, Gary had completed two thirds of an undergraduate degree in physics at university.

However, while he was keen to carry on learning, he decided a more vocational platform would hold him in better stead. Having been drawn towards a career in shipbuilding from the stories of family members who have worked in the industry over the years, Gary knew an apprenticeship programme at BAE Systems would be perfect for him.

“At university, the method of study was more geared towards theory and it wasn’t quite right for me,” he says. “I wanted something a bit more hands on and the apprenticeship programme at BAE Systems seemed like a challenging and rewarding career choice.”

Now in his second year, Gary says the programme gives him the opportunity to learn a huge range of skills while working with lots of different people throughout the business and it allows him to earn money, rather than racking up debt.

“The career prospects are much better as well, especially in the current economic climate,” adds Gary. “There are many graduates that are struggling to find a job at the moment. Through this apprenticeship, I’m guaranteed a job with the company at the end of it.”

Gary is currently learning to use the engineering software used in the business’s Detail Design Office.

During this work placement, he will work on the Queen Elizabeth Class aircraft carrier programme, the biggest and most powerful warships ever to be built for the Royal Navy. Previously, he has worked in test and commissioning for the Type 45 Destroyers being built on the Clyde, where his role included demonstrating the ship’s control systems were fully functional. Gary is also given ambassadorial training and is tasked with presenting to school children on the virtues of apprenticeships and careers in engineering.

By the end of the his second year, Gary will have worked in the four main areas of the Engineering function including Detail Design, Production Engineering, Test & Commissioning and Combat Systems. At this point, in discussion with his Engineering Development Advisor and the project teams, he will be allocated to his anchored position in the function and complete the final two years of his apprenticeship. At the moment, Gary is veering towards a career within Combat Systems. “This area allows me to utilise the knowledge I gained at university within real world applications,” he says.

On completion of his CV in brief – Gary Billson engineering technician apprenticeship, Gary will gain an HND in Engineering Age: 23 Systems, as well as SVQ L2 Title: and 3, and he has his eye on 2nd Year Apprentice Technician more qualifications thereafter.

He hopes to progress Education: through to Master’s degree 5 SQA Higher Grades, 2 SQA level as well as becoming a Advanced Higher Grades, Queen chartered engineer and there Margaret Academy, Ayr. are opportunities within HNC Engineering Systems, (part BAE Systems to achieve of the apprentice program), Anniesland College, Glasgow. these goals.

“The company is Completing the first of a two year HND Qualification (day incredibly supportive and release) at college. offers us training for a whole career, not just for the job,” Career Summary: he says.

July 2009: Ginny Stead, engineering Joined BAE Systems Surface development manager at Ships as an Apprentice BAE Systems’ Surface Ships Technician. division, said: “Gary has Interests: made an excellent start to Basic motorcycle construction his career with his place on and maintenance. the Engineering Technician Attending engineering lectures apprenticeship programme.

(IMechE member).

We expect the programme to be a spring board for Gary in the first steps of his career progression, not only within the Engineering function but the wider business.”

Have your say at www.themanufacturer.com

49

may 11&12

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Leading American visual thinking expert, Dr. Gwendolyn Galsworth, will share the principles, concepts, methods, and tools that show what a visual workplace is, how it works, and why it is important. Gwendolyn will identify the key step to take for sustainable results. She will address the role that people play in this and identify over 100 real visual solutions from employees who have learned to think visually — including executives and engineers. Learn about the triumphs and pitfalls of a visual workplace conversion.

Day TWO: ThursDay, May 12 (09:30-15:00)

sieMens planT TOur, cOngleTOn, cheshire

Siemens produces the variable speed drives that control the speed of motors driving production lines and baggagehandling systems for export around the world. The Congleton plant employs over 350 people in its production of Siemens drives range and in research and development into drive technology. The tour will include presentations on its production methods utilising lean tools and techniques and small group tours around each value stream. Using the learning from the previous day’s seminar, delegates will be asked to assess and then discuss the site’s current level of visual competency, and compare their findings with that of the other teams.

Group size for the tour is limited to 25 people, first come, first served. Tour attendees must participate in seminar.

Gwendolyn Galsworth, PhD, is president and founder of Quality Methods International and the Visual-Lean® Institute (QMI).

A Shingo Prize and Malcolm Baldrige Examiner, Dr Galsworth has helped companies all over the world to accelerate their rate of visual transformation, strengthen cultural alignment, and achieve long-term, sustainable bottom-line outcomes through workplace visuality. In the 1980s, Dr Galsworth was head of training and development at Productivity Inc. where

seminar Only: £395+VaT – early bird £345+VaT seminar and Tour: £545+VaT – early bird £495+VaT Book three places, fourth is free – for seminar only for further information call Ben Walsh on 0207 401 6033, or email b.walsh@sayonemedia.com or visit www.leanmj.com/events

• Discover the ten core visual workplace technologies and the key outcomes for each • Learn how visual and lean work together to create significant bottom line results • Learn to assess visual workplace maturity and competency in your own company • Discover the three biggest mistakes a visual initiative can make and how to avoid them • Learn to energize and unite your workforce through visual functionality, even in a multi-lingual/multicultural work environment • Learn the vital difference between measures that monitor and measures that drive

aT The facTOry TOur yOu Will: • gain access to the siemens automation and Drives’ plant. employing over 350 people and manufacturing drives and motors that are exported around the world • get insight into the impact that visual and lean thinking has had on specific value streams • experience firsthand the visual workplace that supports lean at siemens • Meet the teams and individuals who work with the system’ every day • Discover siemens’s next steps on its visual-lean journey.

she worked closely with Dr Shigeo Shingo to develop, among many things, poka-yoke as an implementation methodology for the West.

Dr Galsworth’s most recent book Work That Makes Sense/Operator-led Visuality (2011) shares over 500 actual visual solutions, along with a step-by-step process operators follow to convert their own work areas to visuality. Galsworth’s 2005 book, Visual Workplace – Visual Thinking, was awarded the Shingo Research Prize.

She is a frequent keynote speaker on visual systems, strategic leadership, and cultural conversions.

yOur regisTraTiOn incluDes a seMinar Manual anD a cOpy Of Dr. galsWOrTh’s BOOk, Visual Workplace/Visual Thinking.

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Visual WOrkplace-Visual Thinking seMinar, cOngleTOn, cheshire

British companies outside the automotive sector lag way behind European competitors in automation investment. Industry experts identify current trends in automation and suggest the way forward, reports Brian Davis.

Automation

and industrial robots in particular can drive down costs of manufacturing, improve quality and repeatability, reduce waste and optimise energy use. However, UK companies have been far slower to adopt robots than their European competitors. According to a recent International Federation of Robotics (IFR) report, UK firms have been extremely bland regarding automation investment. But initiatives are underway to stimulate growth.

UK versus Europe Despite our reputation for product and process innovation, UK firms have been reluctant to invest

52

UK automation

battles to catch up in automation. The UK density of robots per 10,000 employees in the non-automotive sectors is merely 25, compared to 127 in Germany, 114 in Sweden, 97 in Italy, 45 in Spain and 38 in France.

Mike Wilson, President of the British Automation and Robot Association (BARA) and director of the Automation Advisory Service, blames a number of factors for the shortfall. “There is a lack of awareness across many sectors. UK firms also expect far shorter payback than European competitors, and there is often lack of sufficient expertise to specify and implement new automation systems.”

Help is on the way. Following recommendations made in a study of ‘Applications of Automation in UK Manufacturing,’ the Department for Business,

Systems and Automation

Innovation and Skills is introducing a £600,000, twoyear programme to raise awareness of automation benefits with a series of 10-regional road shows which starts in March.

Mr Wilson emphasises the importance of identifying where automation may solve problems or improve efficiency. “Deploying a lean initiative is a good start. This will help identify typical touch points where there are excessive handling, scrap, rework or quality issues. Automation can replace operations that are unpleasant, arduous or repetitive. However, the key to automation is not simply to reduce labour costs but to improve consistency and relocate people to where they can add value.”

Robots in the UK: auto dominates Some sectors are starting to get the message.

According to the latest figures from BARA, UK robot sales rose 65% in 2010 compared with 2009, reversing a year-on-year decline since 2005. Although the proportion of robot sales in the automotive sector fell from 48% of total sales in

2006 to 38% in 2010, those in the food and drink industry climbed 228% over this period, healthcare and medical rose 263% and aerospace rose 644%.

Of the 796 robots sold in the UK last year, 275 were sold in the automotive sector and subsidiaries, 105 in food and drink, 84 in pharmaceuticals/ healthcare and 58 in aerospace (see table).

Changing perceptions Brian Holliday, divisional director for Industry Automation, Siemens UK, reckons UK firms have to change their perception. “British companies take a different view to capital spend on automation to European competitors. UK firms often look to minimise cost and seek to shoehorn automation into a system without understanding how the technology can be deployed. Furthermore, engineers have difficulty convincing the board of the need for investment, possibly due to an image problem.”

Nevertheless, technology is a driver for profit and change. “We are seeing increasing use of IT for supervisory control and improved data acquisition,”

Sales by Industry Sector:

53

Biomechatronics innovation Automation supplier Festo is involved in the Grail Robot project, which involves the Centre for Food Robotics and Automation in Doncaster, BARA and other industrial partners. The Grail Project focuses on biomechatronics, developing new robotics that mimic natural biological systems.

Festo has developed a very lightweight handling system called the Bionic Tripod, where the motors and actuators remain stationary while the moving parts have very low mass and are safe for humans to work beside, unlike normal closely guarded robot cells. The way the moving arm is linked together resembles a fish tail or ray wing, connected by a series of webs for movement.

Trials are underway at several research institutes, including the Fraunhofer Institute in Germany and at industrial clients.

The latest bionic concept is based on an elephant’s trunk. The biomechatronic arm is made up of a series of rapid-manufactured bellows which are produced as a large integrated trunk to handle soft food products with a lightweight polymer gripper, with flexible fingers to handle soft fruits and irregular shapes.

automation and drive products within a totally integrated automation system.” The new portal is designed to configure, programme and commission automation and drive products including Simatic Step 7 V11 automation software for Simatic controllers and Simatic Win CCV11 for Simatic HMI (human machine interface) and process visualisation applications.

Holliday sees a growing trend for integrated automation control systems that offer long-term lifecycle asset knowledge, rather than using proprietary systems that cause extensive and time-consuming legacy issues, with increasing barriers to operational efficiency, cost effectiveness and capex value.

Industrial ethernet impact Several vendors pinpoint the growing impact of the ethernet and wireless technologies in the industrial environment.

Steve Sands, production and marketing manager at pneumatic and electrical automation supplier Festo, maintains that: “Some companies are comfortable using industrial ethernet while others see is as a hurdle, as it’s a different approach to using fieldbus or traditional hardwiring of automation.” Here again, UK firms are dragging their feet, but Mr Sands insists that “industrial ethernet offers more universal control from the enterprise level to the shop floor or actuator sensors.”

Manufacturers are also seeking easier specification, with flexibility the key driver. “There is significant growth in demand for complete assembled solutions, particularly in the food, beverage and packaging sectors,” says Sands. “Flexible production calls for mixed discipline mechatronics.” This is mixing electroservo systems with low cost pneumatics to achieve high output and high flexibility, typically for pick and place, conveying and handling applications.

Rockwell Automation is also seeing a lot of interest in plant optimisation using MES software tools, like FactoryTalk Historian and FactoryTalk Vantage Point, to provide a global visualisation tool that brings together multiple sources of data across the manufacturing enterprise.

Security in process systems adds Mr Holliday. “Manufacturing execution systems (MES) can be used to capture process procedures automatically offering better consistency in decision making.” Siemens’ Simatic MES, for example, is an open system which sits comfortably with a variety of automation systems to give an overview of management and shop floor functions.

Siemens has introduced a new integrated software environment called the Totally Integrated Automation (TIA) Portal to enable users to develop and commission automation systems quickly and cost effectively. “The traditional engineering environment involved bolting together bespoke elements to create an automation system,” explains Holliday. “Whereas the new portal offers a software environment to configure, parametise, programme and commission

54

Security is a big issue. There is concern about security infringements of industrial systems, in the light of the Stuxnet and Aurora malware incidents in the process industries sector. Mike Loughran, solutions architect at Rockwell Automation suggests that “most companies are well equipped to address external threats to network infrastructure, but internal threats and attacks are more common.”

Historically, industrial networks were secure by nature because they used the robust ControlNet, Modbus or Profibus protocols. However, the advent of the industrial ethernet has increased vulnerability.

Loughran recommends a layered approach with ‘Defence in Depth’ as no single-size-fits -all. This means implementing physical and non-physical security measures. He suggests locking down

Systems and Automation

systems using managed ethernet switches and firewalls with intrusion detection and prevention systems and computer/controller hardening, as well as non-physical approaches, including password protection, patch management and staff training for security awareness, with regular background checks on contractors and internal staff. Rockwell Automation offers specialist industrial networking security teams who can audit a firm’s industrial automation network for areas of vulnerability.

Robotics Innovation is also big in robotics. Rockwell’s Loughran sees a lot more demand for two and three-axis robots, and replacement of hydraulic and pneumatics with electrical rod actuators. “This boosts productivity, while reducing maintenance costs and enabling the operator to build new applications into the overall automation system.

Customers want automation packages that cover multiple areas of plant. The aim is to cut down operator training and maintenance, to reduce spare holdings and to give greater standardisation.”

Traditionally automation and robotics investment has been led by the automotive sector, but in the last five years there has been significant growth in food and drink and aerospace. Nigel Platt, UK sales manager for ABB Robotics says that food and

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drink companies favour the flexpicker style of robot.

The pharmaceutical sector is focused on robots for primary and secondary packaging, investing in flexpickers and small six-axis machines, while aerospace companies favour large six-axis machines for machine tending and materials handling. The UK robot market grew 57% last year, mainly driven by the automotive sector which mostly deploys six-axis robots for body-in-white.

UK firms also expect far shorter payback than European competitors, and there is often lack of sufficient expertise to specify and implement new automation systems Brian Holliday, Industry Automation, Siemens

Mr Platt recognises that big users have deployed fully networked systems, while SMEs tend to operate standalone cells. However, technologies such as ‘remote service’ – a web-based system for predictive maintenance and online production support – are becoming more popular. For example, if a robot located in Scunthorpe runs hot, ABB head office can spot and predict issues remotely before production problems occur. Remote service technology is now included in most new ABB robot installations.

Generally, robots have become faster and more agile. ABB’s new IRB 2600 ID (integrated dressing) robot is designed for materials handling and machine tending applications with integrated hose and cable protection, to reduce exposure to cutting fluids, and the ability to work in narrow spaces and around complex parts. Compared with earlier models, the 15kg handling capacity robot claims to increase productivity, simplify programming and has lower operating costs, with better path following accuracy and speed performance.

And what is more, the cost/performance ratio of robots is coming down. Companies now recognise that robots offer important benefits in terms of reduced operating costs (compared with bespoke automation), improved quality and consistency, reduced material waste and increased yield. For example, chocolate maker Thorntons attributed much of its market dominance in 2010 to investing in robotic packaging systems – one line packs 900 chocolates a minute (see company profile in the December issue). If UK manufacturers are to gain ground against fierce international competition, then it is vital they invest in more automation.

Details of the forthcoming automation roadshows run by the Dept for Business, Innovation & Skills are available at www.bara.org.uk

Have your say at www.themanufacturer.com

55

EXHEAT PLM/AX INTEGRATION In any manufacturing business, bill of material maintenance is a chore. But in a project-centric, engineered-to-order manufacturing business, it’s a downright dangerous chore.

Make

a mistake, in short, and the consequences can be painful. For if the ‘as built’ or ‘as manufactured’ bill of material doesn’t match the ‘as designed’ bill of material, then product failure or expensive remediation are the all too probable outcomes.

Not to mention delays, inspection costs and compliance concerns. But at Thetford-based EXHEAT, a manufacturer of heating and control solutions designed for hazardous environments such as the petrochemical industry, such worries are a thing of the past.

How so? Because the process of creating or amending a product design in the

56

company’s PTC Windchill PLM solution then automatically creates or updates bill of material records in the business’s Microsoft Dynamics AX solution.

“We don’t maintain or modify bill of material records at all in Dynamics AX—it’s all done within Windchill, which is where the relevant workflows and approvals are set up,” explains Sanjay Bhandari, EXHEAT’s IT manager.

“Quite literally, it’s ‘one version of the truth’—there’s no possibility of the bill of material in AX saying one thing, and the supposedly

equivalent bill of material in PTC saying another.”

It’s a clever trick — and not one that’s commonly encountered.

Despite which, says Bhandari, achieving it wasn’t that difficult: PTC, through their partner, provided some software code in the form of a utility, which Microsoft AX partner Columbus IT then adapted and modified to EXHEAT’s needs.

Upgrade The starting point, he relates, was the recognition that integration was desirable. At the time, the company was reevaluating its preferred CAD platform with a view to moving 2D CAD to 3D CAD, and integration with Dynamics AX was firmly on the list of desirable objectives.

That said, the starting point was inauspicious: the company’s existing design platform was almost exclusively AutoCAD, with just one designer using PTC Pro/ENGINEER within the R&D department. Live production designs, though, were exclusively done on AutoCAD. Yet a review of the CAD market, together with a detailed

only be able to view the most latest version of any design, with all earlier versions locked-out.

Implementation The decision taken, the formal move to Pro/ENGINEER took around six months, relates Bhandari: “It was routine enough: buying licenses, training the users in the new solution, and modelling within Pro/ENGINEER the individual components that make up our products.”

Next came a similar—if shorter—process to acquire and implement PTC’s Windchill, culminating in the ability to design in Pro/ENGINEER and then publish those designs to

Windchill, replete with approvals and workflow.

Finally came the link between Windchill and Dynamics AX, with Dynamics AX partner Columbus IT advising on solutions, and then customising the sample code that had been made available..

And the actual operation of the link between the two solutions couldn’t be more straightforward, stresses Bhandari.

“Every time a design is created or amended, Windchill publishes an XML file containing the relevant bill of material to an internal FTP site that is monitored by AX every 30 minutes,” he says. “When AX finds any files there, it processes them—and it’s as simple as that. Bill of material maintenance is completely automatic, with PTC Windchill acting as the sole ‘system of record’.

And the savings are considerable. Quite apart from the avoidance of error, emphasises Bhandari, there are significant productivity gains too.

“We’re a project-based business, and probably never build the same design twice,” he sums up. “Take away the need to maintain bills of material in two separate systems, and the opportunity for savings is impressive. To say we’re delighted is an understatement.”

EXHEAT PLM/AX INTEGRATION

codification of EXHEAT’s CAD requirements, revealed that AutoCAD probably wasn’t the best option for the business going forward.

Quite simply, says Bhandari, “PTC Pro/ENGINEER looked to be the better integrated package, and closer to our needs.”

Better still, he adds, implementing PTC’s Windchill PLM solution alongside a switch to Pro/ENGINEER would deliver process improvements in terms of workflow, approvals, and the publication of designs to the rest of the business—manufacturing, for instance, would automatically

For more information please visit: www.exheat.com

57

Insurance and Professional Services

get a little credit The Government has unveiled a new scheme to provide exporters with better access to finance

The

Department for Business, Innovation & Skills (BIS) last month established an extension to its Enterprise Finance Guarantee Scheme (EFG), offering export finance of up to £1m to small and medium sized businesses.

The Export Enterprise Finance Guarantee Scheme, expected to be launched in April, will be made available to businesses with a turnover of up to £25m. Like the existing EFG, it will be accessible through the major high street banks and other commercial financial institutions.

Meanwhile, the Export Credits Guarantee Department (ECGD) will launch an Export Working Capital Scheme for those not eligible for the Export EFG, offering export finance worth over £1m.

Additionally the EGCD will launch a Bond Support Scheme which will see Government share the risk attached to contract bonds with the lender and share the credit risk of foreign exchange hedging contracts issued to small and medium sized businesses. It will also extend its existing short term export insurance to cover a broader range of exporters.

With Government having regularly stated this year that exports will be a key factor in the growth of the UK economy, Trade and Investment Minister Lord Green and Trade Policy Minister Edward Davey said these schemes answer calls from businesses for help with finance and protection from the “uncertainties of international trade”.

“The Government will offer an expanded, better coordinated range of products to large and small businesses alike, working closely with the banks to widen access to the capital and credit insurance exporters need to make the most of their opportunities,” said Lord Green.

“Our exporters are crucial to securing the recovery and we want to do everything we can to help them grow. This new support will help British exporters compete and win business overseas.”

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Have your say at www.themanufacturer.com

These announcements were received warmly by the major trade organisations.

“An export-driven recovery will need improved access to finance, particularly for those companies looking to make greater inroads to faster growing, and ultimately riskier, markets,” said Steve Radley, director of policy at EEF, the manufacturers’ organisation. “If the private sector is going to generate the right type of growth through exporting, companies going after new contracts must have confidence that the finance and support to meet those orders is available.”

John Cridland, director-general of the Confederation of British Industry, said the new schemes will help to put UK companies on a level playing field with European competitors.

“Many of these new finance products are already on offer by most of the other G8 countries, so this scheme will bring the UK up-to-speed in competition terms.

“There’s a particular need to tackle export under-performance in smaller companies, so SMEs should be encouraged by these new trade finance products designed to help them break into foreign markets and grow their businesses.”

He said Government’s challenge now is to market the products correctly so that businesses can benefit from them.

Bric-by-Bric Meanwhile, economic analysts The Item Club from Ernst & Young said last month that UK companies should be focussing their export efforts on the emerging BRIC countries: Brazil, Russia, India and China.

Although at present only 5% of UK goods and services land in BRIC countries, in its report, The outlook for UK exports, The Item Club estimates that the value of UK exports to these countries could increase by 11.7% each year until 2020.

This is because a 14% annual rise in the average household income across the four should fuel increased consumer spending. Electrical goods, optical and high-tech goods, and minerals and metals are predicted to be the biggest benefactors of this. The report also predicts that total UK exports to all countries will increase by 8.5% per year over the next 10 years.

Manufacturers are starting to wake up to the operational and taxation advantages of Limited Liability Partnerships.

Chris Hughes, partner of Kingston Smith LLP Chartered Accountants, asks whether LLP’s are the future for forward thinking manufacturing businesses?

With

the current economic environment placing increasing pressure on business cashflows, government asking businesses to contribute more to the treasury pot by increasing taxes and inflationary pressures knocking on the door to reduce margins, forward thinking manufacturing businesses are exploring ways to ease these pressures.

One important and often extremely successful way has been to ask whether its business structure is right in the current climate. As a result, there has been a strong surge towards businesses restructuring from limited companies to potentially lower taxed limited liability partnerships (“LLP’s”) and this inevitable flow is just starting to catch on amongst manufacturing entrepreneurs.

An LLP is a hybrid of a limited company and a partnership, and for tax purposes is treated as if it were a partnership. The LLP consists of members who are entitled to a share of the LLP’s profits.

The main advantages of LLP conversion from a Limited company can be outlined as follows: (i) Immediate material Tax/NI savings (ii) Significant cashflow advantages

(iii) Less cumbersome than a company to introduce key employee incentive arrangements; (iv) Significant long term tax advantages on disposal of any business compared to a Company.

Taking each of the advantages in turn, it is worthwhile exploring each one:

(i) Tax and NI Savings A structure combining an LLP owned by its members directly and by a limited company, which in turn is also owned by the aforementioned members, will often be an optimal one (in terms of tax) for any company with profits in excess of £300,000 (before owners salaries).

Converting from a simple Limited company to the LLP/Limited Company combination can in fact reduce marginal taxes by up to 45%.

(ii) Cashflow Savings By becoming a member of an LLP rather than a director/employee of a company an entrepreneur can be taxed as a self employed individual.

Thus income tax becomes payable twice a year (January and July) on earnings (up to 22 months in arrears), rather than monthly which is the case with salaries under a PAYE scheme.

Kingston Smith

Is limited best?

Hence the conversion to LLP can generate a significant amount of extra cash for businesses simply by holding onto the PAYE saved as a tax provision for its members’ personal tax liabilities.

An equally pleasant consequence of being a member of an LLP rather than an employee is that an individuals’ company car Benefit in Kind tax charge falls away!

(iii) Staff Incentives Any entrepreneur wanting to incentivise key employees by offering them a stake in the company via shares or share options would require the employees to either pay for the shares or for the company to pay the tax on the benefit in kind (i.e. the value of the shares) received by the employees.

Becoming a member of an LLP need not have to involve any tax charge. In addition, any key employee converting to a member of the LLP would also save the LLP or Company up to 12.8% Employers and National Insurance.

(iv) Sale/Disposal of the business The sale price of any business will invariably involve considering the tax position of both vendor and purchaser. By converting to an LLP potentially reduces the number of layers and amount of taxes on a sale. Thus it often involves the vendor receiving more net funds from the sale.

Whilst an LLP conversion will not be the answer for all manufacturing entrepreneurs, for the majority of businesses it is something that should at least be considered as the potential tax and cashflow savings are significant.

To find out more about LLP structures and how it may be suitable for your business, contact Chris Hughes at: chughes@kingstonsmith.co.uk or 020 7566 4000

For more information please visit: www.kingstonsmith.co.uk

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Finance NIBs

Limited company contractors still struggling with finance

According to the Manufacturing Institute, small firms are experiencing cash flow issues and the problem of acquiring credit “has not gone away”.

Ed Moss, spokesman for the organisation, said that business owners have learned to take ‘glossy statements’ made by banks ‘with a pinch of salt’.

“They are still having trouble finding finance; the banks are not yet lending,” he said.

“It’s the smaller guys that unfortunately suffer when it comes to producing the goods – they send them out, they’ve been delivered and then, of course, they’re chasing the money. So cash flow is still a problem; it has not gone away.”

The expert’s comments come after European Commission announced the launch of an EU-wide Small Business Act which aims to improve smaller enterprises’ access to finance.

Sterling hits 13 month high against dollar The pound broke above the $1.63 mark early this month – a level not seen for more than a year – after economic data suggested the UK could raise rates before the US.

Currency traders were encouraged to buy the pound by property market data that showed a surprise climb for UK house prices, and a slightly stronger-than-expected reading for UK manufacturing activity.

That helped to push the pound to $1.633, its strongest since January 2010, and a gain of 2 cents over the previous 48 hours. The UK manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ Index slipped to 61.5 in February from 62.0 in January, but the reading was higher than forecasts of 61.0. Other data showed UK mortgage approvals picked up at the start of the year.

A glut of positive economic data has helped to maintain demand for the pound in recent weeks, as speculation grew that rate-setters at the Bank of England will raise rates to control inflation.

However, official GDP figures recently downgraded the contraction in economic growth to 0.6% from 0.5% in the fourth quarter of last year, clouding the picture on the UK economy.

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Have your say at www.themanufacturer.com

Potential for Project Merlin success questioned

Lawrence Galitz of ACF Consultants, a leading financial training company, says the Government has still given too much power to the banks to say ‘no’ to all but the safest loans.

Project Merlin aims to restrict bankers’ bonuses, encourage transparency on pay levels and compel banks to start lending again to kick-start the economy.

But Galitz says the Government initiative has handed the banks a get-out clause by allowing them to lend to only ‘viable’ and ‘high quality’ borrowers.

“Who or what is a ‘viable’ or ‘high-quality’ borrower is still entirely up to the banks to decide,” says Galitz, CEO at the financial training company. “Presumably ‘high-quality’ means those borrowers who don’t actually need the funds in the first place. Project Merlin will manifest itself in words rather than deeds.”

Galitz says that many banks are hiding their reluctance to lend by reporting a downturn in demand for loans in recent months.

“Banks may claim demand is down but in many cases requests are being stifled before a formal application is made,” says Galitz. “If a business completes a formal application and is then turned down, it doesn’t look good on the bank’s statistics.

But if the bank informally tells a business ‘don’t even bother applying’, then it can blame the lack of demand on businesses rather than on their unwillingness to lend.”

Silverline receives £2m funding from GE Capital

Suffolk based Silverline Office Equipment has managed to secure £2m of funding from asset based lending specialist GE Capital to support the businesses’ restructuring plans.

With 120 employees at its UK base in Mildenhall, Suffolk, Silverline has been manufacturing steel office furniture for over 30 years in the UK. Said Silverline chairman Stan Ensinger: “We are very happy to be working with GE Capital on this opportunity. Recognising the strengths within our business and the opportunities for the future, GE Capital was prepared to support us through a challenging period The team demonstrated an understanding of our business’ requirements, both immediate and future, and delivered exactly what they said they would at the outset in the timescale we required.”

Legal NIBs

A brief

encounter Legal manufacturing webinar series

Eversheds’ Industrial Engineering Group has launched a global webinar series that will discuss key issues facing organisations operating in the industrial engineering and broader manufacturing sectors. The 45-minute webinars are free of charge and will cover a range of topics with at least two legal experts from the firm’s specialist engineering group.

At the first session, Robin Johnson (pictured), head of Eversheds’ Industrial Engineering Group, will be joined by Tim Hill and Mark Surguy, partners in Eversheds’ litigation and dispute resolution practice group. They will focus on areas of liability for directors and senior management around health and safety, crisis, privilege, and bribery and corruption. The webinars will provide guidance on the safeguards companies need to implement in order to avoid prosecution and the steps that directors should take if they suspect that the law has been broken.

MAS-West Midlands holds Bribery Act workshop

The West Midlands’ division of the Manufacturing Advisory Service (MAS) is warning manufacturers to be aware of how the Bribery Act will affect their business.

MAS-WM presented a workshop in February aimed at preparing manufacturers about the legislation which will influence the way large and small businesses trade.

Delivered by law firm Squire Sanders Hammonds, the interactive workshop considered the key legal changes set to be introduced by the act, with manufacturers in contravention of the act liable to be hit by unlimited fines, imprisonment and irreversible reputational damage.

Said MAS Auto’s Rachel Eade, “There is a lack of understanding from industry when it comes to the Bribery Act, which could cost companies financially in the long term. It is a very complex subject, which is why we’ve enlisted the support of Squire Sanders Hammonds to provide companies with an instant guide to what it means, the implications and what they can do to avoid falling foul of legislation.”

In the first edition of a new column, TM’s legal beagle Edward Machin considers the legislation, litigation and caselaw affecting UK manufacturers both large and small.

Manufacturer fined after safety breach

A UK manufacturing firm has been prosecuted after health and safety failures at its Northumberland facility. Hendry Hydraulics Ltd was charged after Health and Safety Executive inspectors visited Hendry Eurohoist Cylinders in Ashington and served two Prohibition Notices. South Northumberland Magistrates’ Court heard that the notices were served because the locking mechanism on the doors to two CNC lathes — designed to prevent workers coming into contact with dangerous moving parts — had been deliberately bypassed.

The offence was observed four months after an HSE inspector had stopped work on the same two lathes because safety interlocks had been defeated.

Further investigations revealed the company had provided workers with a spare interlock key to bypass the safety devices. Hendry Hydraulics Ltd, of Elgin, Morayshire, pleaded guilty to two breaches of the Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998, and was fined a total of £20,000 — £10,000 for each offence.

Best of the rest From February 1, employers who dismiss employees unfairly will face a larger penalty.

The maximum compensatory award for unfair dismissal will increase to £68,400, while the maximum statutory redundancy payment will also go up to £12,000.

New draft legislation may adversely affect commercial arrangements that have been put in place by employers to reward and/or incentivise employees, or which employers may wish to use in the future.

The new legislation relates to ‘Disguised Remuneration’, and is aimed at attempts to defer or avoid income tax and/or National Insurance Contributions in connection with benefits awarded to employees and directors.

Have your say at www.themanufacturer.com

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Object of

Interior structure of lungs made by Newburybased 3T RPD Ltd using selective laser sintering, for a hospital/clinical customer

Computing horsepower and a manufacturing recovery is transforming the market for rapid prototyping, says Malcolm Wheatley. Despite competition from virtual prototyping, rapid prototypers look to the manufacture of real parts as the big prize.

Jaguar

Land Rover has had a sparkling year on the back of surging sales in Asia and a strong recovery in North America and the UK. China, it transpires, is now the company’s third-largest market. Land Rover sales in China are up 1000% on 2005, and 111% on 2009 — an outstanding performance given the stresses and strains in the global economy over the period.

Sales in China are amply reflected in the company’s bottom line. Figures released in mid-February show that it made record net profits of £734m in first nine months of the financial year. Profits of £1bn, in short, look assured for the full year.

Underpinning all this is far more than just increasing manufacturing volumes. New products, and existing products customised for the needs of new markets, have each played a part. And in the dog-eat-dog global automotive market, the pressure on timescale is unrelenting. So it’s no surprise to discover the importance that the business places on rapid prototyping technologies.

“Rapid prototyping is a key enabler for product development at Jaguar Land Rover,” says Mark Barrington, manager of the company’s product development manufacturing department. “We use it extensively to support our product development processes, with the majority of the rapid prototyping parts that we produce going directly into prototype vehicle builds.”

And propelled by economic recovery and a strong demand for exports, the growth story at Jaguar

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Land Rover is being played out right across British manufacturing industry.

In turn, this is underpinning the growing demand for the rapid prototyping solutions required for businesses to nimbly exploit the opportunities open to them. These days, traditional product development and prototyping solutions are too slow and too expensive.

So what rapid prototyping solutions are available? What technologies underpin them? Do the advanced CAD and PLM markets provide digital alternatives to physical prototypes? And, most importantly, how are manufacturers benefiting from the various options on offer?

Virtual vs. physical Look closely at the big picture, and two distinct trends can be identified.

First, rapid prototyping technologies themselves are becoming ever more accessible in terms of affordability and capability. And second — and not without irony — advances in computer simulation technology are at the same time working to reduce the need for rapid prototyping — at least in terms of physical prototyping, as opposed to ‘virtual’ prototypes.

Indeed, says Kevin Ison, European managing director at CAD vendor Autodesk, the point is fast arriving when the physical prototyping of some parts will become obsolete.

“The ability to perform high quality 3D visualisation has progressed enormously over the past two

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manufacturing

years,” he says. “You no longer need a server farm to do it. And the more that companies see that they can readily tap the computing horsepower of the cloud, the faster they’ll move to virtual prototyping.”

Bruce Klimpke, technical director at Integrated Engineering Software agrees, pointing to recent advances in computer horsepower. “There has been a huge move from 2D simulation towards 3D simulation,” he says. “How can you cut out weight?

How can you substitute a cheaper material for a more expensive one? The more you can do multiple 3D ‘what if’ scenarios in an acceptable timescale in order to answer such questions, the fewer physical prototypes you need.”

Take the Yoomi, a fast-selling combined baby bottle and milk warmer. This product was originally developed by fluid dynamics simulation consultancy Intelligent Fluid Solutions based on founder Jim Shaikh’s frustrations with feeding his newborn son.

Exploiting heat given off by sodium acetate trihydrate as it changes phase, the challenge was to take fresh milk from 5°C to 34°C within one minute of activation across a full range of baby drinking speeds.

But the initial prototype heated milk to only 17°C, he explains — half the needed temperature. Using fluid dynamics software from Ansys helped close the gap, resulting in a requirement for only four physical prototypes, just a quarter of the number that had originally been estimated.

“We were able to get the product to market two years ahead of schedule, saving £34,000 in prototypes,” says Mr Shaikh, who now devotes his time almost exclusively to the Yoomi business, for which there is strong demand from big retailers John Lewis, Boots and Mothercare.

Nor is the Yoomi example an isolated one, insists sales director at Ansys, Gary Panes.

“Advances in computing horsepower are a game changer,” he says. “You can do far more ‘what if’ simulations than ever before, and throw raw computing power at problems in a way that has not proved possible before. You’re building one virtual model, and then just throwing computer time at it.”

For manufacturers, then, the message is clear: With today’s digital prototyping and simulation technology, fewer physical prototypes are required.

And when they are required, they are available more quickly and cheaply than ever before.

And physical prototypes are more accurate, too.

At Jaguar Land Rover, explains Mr Barrington, prototypes used to be made by skilled craftsmen who would interpret 2D drawings and manufacture the parts in question.

“We received their interpretation of what was required. Now we get exactly what’s shown, in 3D, on the CAD screen,” he says.

Horses for courses – which technology for you?

How those rapid prototypes are produced, though, can vary. While ‘3D printing’ — or additive layer

manufacturing, to give it its more formal name — is to some people by now virtually synonymous with rapid prototyping, it is not the only game in town.

In fact, there are no fewer than three underlying mainstream technologies: stereolithography (SLA), selective laser sintering (SLS), and fused deposition modelling (FDM), the latter being yet another name for 3D printing.

Each technology produces prototypes with different characteristics and material properties.

Sintering, for example, fuses plastic particles together, while 3D FDM printing builds up parts by laying down successive layers of thermoplastic. The resulting prototypes aren’t true prototypes of the final part — they’re made from plastic rather than

You can do more virtual simulation than ever before—but people trust physical testing. And every year, more and more of them come to realise that they could use the rapid prototype part for actual manufacturing Tim Heller, European Managing Director, Stratasys

steel or alloy, for instance — but they are physical copies that for many design and test purposes are good enough.

Or, indeed, better than the final part. Ian Halliday, chief executive at rapid prototyping specialist 3T for instance, says that not only are parts produced through rapid prototyping technology often of a higher inherent quality than those produced through regular production technology, but they are also inherently more cost efficient. Rather than painstakingly removing metal from a billet, for instance, you’re only applying material that you want to be present.

“Time-to-market and cost are vital factors in the design process, and both are aspects that 3D printing can significantly affect,” adds Andy Middleton, general manager at Objet Geometries, whose 3D printing technology is in use at Jaguar Land Rover. “Multiple design iterations can be produced in quick succession, or even in the same build.”

And plunging 3D printer prices — devices that cost £200,000 or so 10-years ago cost £20,000 or less today — are increasingly causing a blurring of the boundary between prototyping and real production.

This is one reason why rapid prototyping technology providers are so sanguine about the rise of virtual prototyping via 3D CAD and simulation

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AnAlysis Powered by

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as a potential threat. The allure of the mainstream manufacturing market itself is vastly larger.

“It’s a question of appropriateness,” says Tim Heller, European managing director of rapid prototyping vendor Stratasys. “You can do more virtual simulation than ever before — but people trust physical testing. And every year, more and more of them come to realise that they could use the rapid prototype part for actual manufacturing.”

Tooling gets the rapid treatment Other approaches to rapid prototyping — some new, some old — are also gaining favour.

Specialist polymer bearing manufacturer Igus, for instance, now offers customers a rapid prototyping service based not on the bearing material that is used, but the tooling material. Its bearings — manufactured from its own proprietary iglidur materials — can be produced much faster from conventional injection moulding machines if the tooling to produce them is made from aluminium, which can be machined much faster.

Instead of tooling taking from six to eight weeks to produce, says Igus director of bearings Matt Aldridge, tooling can be produced in anything from one day to 15 days, depending on how much the customer is willing to pay. At which point the parts in question can be produced, from the same machinery and the same materials as production parts.

“All we need is a 3D file of the object that the customer wants to produce — we do the rest,” says Aldridge.

Imaginatively, too, some manufacturers are combining rapid prototyping with reverse

engineering to bypass the need for a prior digital design, as at Formula 3 racing team Carlin Motorsports. Here, as with other F3 teams, the intellectual property rights for each car’s rolling vehicle chassis remains with its supplier, Italian specialist Dallara.

Rather than hand craft the vehicle parts that the competition’s rules allow teams to design and modify — front and rear wings, for instance — the Carlin team uses cloud point data to construct a

Advances in computing horsepower are a game changer. You can do far more ‘what if’ simulations than ever before, and throw raw computing power at problems in a way that’s not proved possible before Gary Panes, Sales Director, Ansys virtual model of the whole car within PTC’s Pro/ ENGINEER’s reverse engineering module, and then “fits” each part digitally before conducting wind tunnel tests on a one-third scale model.

“It has definitely contributed to our racing performance,” says David Brown, chief designer at Carlin Motorsports. “Plus, we have a better understanding of our car and its performance.”

Which, come to think about it, is what rapid prototyping should be all about.

Additive manufacturing can build structurally strong, complex objects faster than machining billets

Have your say at www.themanufacturer.com

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Design Right: The poor man’s patent

Manufacturers will be well aware of the need to protect their products and designs, and use intellectual property rights to do so. For many in this sector, patents are the best known IP right, since they protect mechanical inventions as well as chemical compositions and industrial processes. However, IP rights do not begin and end with patents. An extremely useful, but much less well known, alternative for manufacturers exists in the form of unregistered design right (usually known simply as “design right”).

As

the name suggests, the right is not registered. Unlike patents, there is no application to make to the patent office and no fee to pay.

Design right exists automatically and immediately as soon as a prototype, model or design document is created, provided that the design is for something which qualifies for design right. The design document can be a “hard copy” or electronic drawing, and may be a simple sketch.

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What is covered?

Design right protects “an original design”. “Original” means that it is “not commonplace” in the design field in question. The test of “not commonplace” is not a strict one, and certainly does not require that the design is absolutely new and previously unknown. It is therefore a less strict test than the novelty test which applies to patents.

Design right applies to the “shape or configuration” of an article. The shape or configuration which is

protected by design right can be of the whole or part of the article, and can be internal or external. This means that, for example, a new component which is developed for an existing machine can be protected by design right if that part is “original” and “not commonplace”. That protection applies even if the rest of the machine would not be protected, and even if the new component is inside the machine and is completely invisible in normal use.

The design which is protected can also be the “configuration” of an article, which means that a new machine or device may be protected if it consists of an original configuration of components which are themselves commonplace.

Design right protects designs whether they are: purely functional (for example a bracket for fixing panels to the frame of a wardrobe door); purely decorative (for example the buckles and straps on a shoe), or; a combination of functional and decorative (for example, the complete wardrobe door when the panels and frame are assembled).

There is too much design law!

How does it work?

of your business) set out clearly in advance who owns the design right (and other IP rights) in anything which they produce. Ownership of IP rights often gives rise to disputes and good written contracts go a long way to dealing with such problems.

The second is to keep a complete record of the design process, from the very first rough sketch right through to the final finished drawings. Whether this process takes place on paper or on a computer, keep dated copies, or save each stage, in a secure and well-organised system. This means that, when required, you can produce the whole history of the design and thereby prove that you or your employees were the people who created it.

Eversheds

Finally, design right should not be confused with: registered designs, which protect the visual aspect of designs and work in a completely different way, or; the EU unregistered design right, which also protects the visual aspect of designs.

Design right protects against copying of the design, not against independent creation of the same design by someone else.

Its protection is therefore more limited than that given by a patent.

However, the copying need not be exact. The owner of design right can use it to prevent competitors making something “substantially” to the design which is protected, and The test of “not commonplace” from selling kits of parts which is not a strict one, and certainly can be used by does not require that the design a customer or consumer to is absolutely new and previously make an article unknown. It is therefore a less strict to the design. test than the novelty test which Design right applies only applies to patents in the United Kingdom (with one or two very Why it matters minor exceptions), so it cannot Design right is enormously useful. be used directly to control the It applies to a huge range of activities of competitors overseas. designs: it does not have the strict However, it can be used against novelty requirements of a patent businesses which import an and can apply to designs which infringing design into the UK, so it are functional, decorative or any is still effective in protecting the UK combination of the two. It can market from overseas competition. therefore apply to designs which a Practical Steps manufacturer failed to protect with The fact that design right is a patent, and to designs which unregistered does give rise to were not patentable at all. problems. Proving ownership is not It is free of charge and exists as straightforward as producing automatically, so it is available to a certificate, as the owner of a businesses which cannot afford patent or a trade mark can do. or justify the costs of patent There are two crucial things for protection. This also means that manufacturers to do to protect design right exists in businesses their rights. which do not even realise that they The first is to ensure that your own design right. In practice, this contracts with anyone who might means that design right can be produce a design for you (whether extremely useful when disputes they are employees, self-employed arise. It can be the careless man’s, contractors or directors/owners as well as the poor man’s, patent!

For more information, contact Andrew Garbett of Eversheds on 0845 497 8272 or email: andrewgarbett@eversheds.com

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ITnews...

Product Lifecycle Management

Jaguar Land Rover and Dassault Systèmes in new strategic partnership Jaguar Land Rover and Dassault Systèmes have entered a strategic partnership that formalises future cooperation and collaboration between the two companies.

The agreement will see advanced digital 3D simulation and development tools transform Jaguar Land Rover’s product development processes, with the two companies working together to jointly develop industry leading product creation solutions.

Specifically, Jaguar Land Rover will deploy Dassault Systèmes’ technology to increase operational efficiency

and reduce complexity through enhanced innovation and accelerated development capabilities.

According to insiders, the focus on commonality, innovation and integration will have the dual benefit of significantly increasing efficiencies while reducing cost by a similar margin.

Jaguar Land Rover chief executive officer Dr Ralf Speth said: “We look to this association to

CLOUD COMPUTING

ENTERPRISE APPLICATION HOSTING

SAP extends cloud computing portfolio

Amtico International opts for hosting from Maxima

In a major update of its portfolio of on demand solutions, SAP has made available Feature Pack 2.6 for its cloud-enabled SAP Business ByDesign solution.

Upmarket flooring specialist Amtico has selected IT business systems and managed services company Maxima to undertake the day to day management and hosting of its office software as well as its business critical QAD enterprise applications.

In addition to offering a slate of new capabilities, including support for iPad and BlackBerry mobile devices, the new release serves as an open platform on which an ecosystem of partners can further customize the software, and on which SAP will itself develop new on demand offerings for various lines of business.

Significantly, this latest version of SAP Business ByDesign delivers a dashboard ‘app’ for feature pack 2.6, free to download from the Apple iTunes store, with which customers can access and consume complete analytical business information, enabling them to react to changes and make informed decisions.

The app provides worksheets to arrange and organize reports, as well as annotations, notes, e mail and voice notes for collaboration with colleagues. In addition, a ‘compare’ function allows access to previous versions of customer data, including the ability to highlight significant changes in data based on a predefined threshold that can easily be changed by a fingertip.

“With Feature Pack 2.6, we are not only delivering additional value to our customers, but are also providing new opportunities for co innovation to our partners,” says Peter Lorenz, executive vice president, On Demand, and corporate officer, SAP AG.

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bring significant technical and commercial benefits to Jaguar Land Rover. Dassault Systèmes will provide the processes and tools that we need to more efficiently develop and create vehicles that exceed our customers’ expectations in every respect.”

Working closely with Maxima’s specialist applications management and enterprise hosting teams, Amtico will benefit from Maxima’s best of breed technology and secure hosting infrastructure, particularly ensuring lower operating costs and increased flexibility for its major QAD ERP deployment.

As a global organisation serving more than 30,000 customers worldwide, points out Andrew Elsby Smith, Amtico’s group finance director, the company’s ERP system is at the heart of its business, and its needed a hosting specialist that could deliver a stable environment with guaranteed availability for the company’s critical applications.

“We’ve built up a strong relationship with Maxima, and have benefited significantly over the years from their in depth QAD Enterprise Applications expertise and ability to optimise ERP performance for our business,” he explained.

To support its hosting capabilities, Maxima has invested in a best practice data centre hosting infrastructure that combines Tier 1 world class data centre facilities with truly redundant multi gigabit, high speed Internet connections that deliver 99.999% availability. The company’s hosted solutions are based on a fully resilient service and application delivery platform that ensures no single points of failure.

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RAPID PROTOTYPING

New Objet 3D printer material offers superior stability Objet Printer Solutions has announced the launch of a new material for Objet 3D printers. The resin, known as Vero White Plus, boasts

an extremely high level of dimensional stability while retaining Objet’s trademark accuracy and surface finish levels.

Vero White Plus has been developed as the standard material for the new Objet 24 and Objet 30 desktop 3D printers, and is said to mark a quantum leap in capabilities for the form and fit testing of 3D printed parts.

“The launch of Vero White Plus is part of Objet’s continual drive towards

true engineering plastics,” states Objet’s UK managing director Andrew Fulton. “It allows our customers to evaluate their designs by enabling rigorous engineering simulation.”

Vero White Plus boasts a 20% improvement in tensile strength compared to its predecessor Vero White. However, it can still be printed at industry leading 16 micron print layers, and will be available for the entire Objet 3D printer range – including older Alaris machines after an upgrade.

ERP

Epicor announces latest iScala 2.3 release Designed for improved controllability, scalability and usability, the latest release of Epicor Software Corporation’s iScala ERP suite has been released.

Epicor iScala 2.3 SR3 features enhanced mobility functionality as well as three brand new modules for Project and Contract Revenue Recognition, Advanced Credit Control, and a Business Transaction Control Engine to improve business processes.

“Epicor iScala has always been one of the top ERP systems of choice for global companies because it helps them keep costs low while enabling them to comply with

local regulations wherever they are located,” said Matt Muldoon, vice president, product marketing for Epicor.

Global lubricant market leader WD 40 has been using Epicor iScala since 1999 and the company is planning to upgrade to the latest version within the next couple of months.

“We have already evaluated iScala 2.3 SR3 and we are looking forward to the performance improvements, the new functionality, and support for the latest version of Microsoft SQL,” said Jonathan McCoy, IT manager for WD 40.

“Our sales team is particularly excited about the new grid based order entry screens because they will make it easier and faster for them to enter orders – helping us increase efficiencies throughout the company.”

ERP

Customer Relationship Management

VG Scienta selects Microsoft Dynamics

Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011 released for on premise and partner hosted deployments

Specialist vacuum component manufacturer VG Scienta, based in St Leonards on Sea, has chosen Microsoft Dynamics as its new ERP solution.

The product was chosen after a detailed selection process, explains Geoff Hicks, project manager at Columbus IT, the selected Microsoft implementation partner.

“As this is a Microsoft product, it has a look and feel that will be familiar to many within the company, whilst being powerful enough to support our current and future business requirements”.

The first phase of implementation will provide functionality to improve areas such as planning, reporting and operational efficiency. Future planned phases will give a complete end to end business solution to ensure VG Scienta stay at the forefront of its industry.

Microsoft has announced that Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011 for on premise and partner hosted deployments has been completed and released for customer download.

This release complements the latest version of Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online, which delivers Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011 as an on demand service from Microsoft’s data centres and which was launched into 40 markets and 41 languages in January.

Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011 is now globally available and existing customers with active Microsoft Software Assurance agreements can access the new version immediately via the Microsoft Download Centre.

Have your say at www.themanufacturer.com

69

CRM

but not as we know it

Prepare to be surprised: CRM software can do a lot more than just CRM, finds Malcolm Wheatley.

By now

,

few people are unaware of the benefits of Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software.

From inauspicious beginnings fifteen years ago as little more than a salesforce automation tool, CRM has evolved into a mature capability that adds undoubted boost to a business’s bottom line.

And it’s done so by helping to automate processes that many people originally thought incapable of automation—so-called ‘non-linear’ processes, unlike the fixed steps involved in, say, order entry or manufacturing.

How can you ‘automate’ a customer’s

70

product evaluation and buying decision, for instance? How can you ‘automate’ the process of establishing what other needs a customer might have, beyond those indicated by his or her present interaction with your business?

Quite readily, as it happens – with the result that CRM is routinely credited not only with helping businesses engage and connect with new customers, but also with selling more products to existing customers.

Build into the system the same business logic that these people are following, and you’re helping them to not only make those decisions, but also to make them more consistently, as well James Crowter, Managing Director and founder, Technology Management

Technology Management

Yet according to James Crowter, Cooks and designers, for people with computer power – managing director of Midlandsexample, have to come up with and about not replacing them with based fast-growing IT consultancy the core concept. Sourcing computer power. and Microsoft Dynamics partner people have to find suppliers at “Computers can’t make Technology Management, CRM is the right price point. Production decisions as to whether capable of delivering more. Much, people have to make sure something tastes nice or looks much, much more. that the initial concept can be good: they can’t make subjective And in doing so, it’s offering efficiently turned into a product. judgements,” stresses Crowter. businesses a capability that And marketing people need “But they can recognise the need simply isn’t available through their to address issues such as for those judgements to have been software tool of choice for dealing packaging and presentation. made before any further progress with every day ‘linear’ systems – “Just as with customer can be made – and encourage the ubiquitous ERP system. interactions, the role of CRM – or people to make those judgements “In business, there are quite XRM, if you will – is to make sure consistently. In short, it’s all about a lot of processes where what that processes happen according speed, and consistency.” happens each time round to the timetable, and escalate Nor is all this mere conjecture. doesn’t necessarily follow the them for further action if they With an impressive client base precise steps that took to point to, Crowter isn’t place last time short of practical round,” he says. examples.

“And we find that One such CRM software is concerns a In business, there are quite a lot of actually very good manufacturer processes where what happens each at handling those involved in time round doesn’t necessarily follow kinds of processes installing machinery – because what’s the precise steps that took place last on customer important each premises. In order time round time is that there to satisfy various James Crowter, Managing Director and founder, are relationships to regulatory and other Technology Management be managed, albeit requirements, a not necessarily complex checklist relationships with needed to be gone customers.” through prior to each installation. don’t,” says Crowter.

Relationships with suppliers, for “And occasionally, an item But the use of CRM in such instance. Or internal collaborative would get missed – thus delaying situations delivers much more relationships within the installation and commissioning,” than just exception reporting. Just organisation. Or with development as with classic customer-centric says Crowter. “CRM has solved partners. In fact, almost any kind the problem, while ERP didn’t CRM, the application of business of relationship-prompting Crowter even come close to doing so.” logic can deliver huge gains in to argue that the acronym ‘CRM’ Indeed, he adds, before both productivity and consistent should instead read ‘XRM’, where attempting to customise an ERP decision-making, notes Crowter. the ‘X’ can imply ‘anything’. system in order to deal with – say “Often, what holds processes “Let’s say you’re a manufacturer back is the presence of – a complex order configuration of ready meals, and one of the process, he now advises bottlenecks: people within the supermarket majors asks you to manufacturers to consider installing system who acts as constraints, develop a meal priced at £3.99 CRM as a ‘front end’, instead. simply because they are involved for their consideration. Or you’re “It leaves the ERP system as in so many decisions,” he says. in the garment industry, and are a standard one – which makes “Build into the system the same putting together a new collection,” business logic that these people it cheaper to buy, quicker he says. “In each case, there are to implement, and easier to are following, and you’re helping a whole range of processes and maintain,” he enthuses. them to not only make those actions that must be initiated – Out of the ordinary, maybe. decisions, but also to make them and which must be orchestrated But who said that excellence was more consistently, as well.” together as they occur.” always conventional?

In short, it’s about augmenting

For more information please visit: www.tecman.co.uk

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Comment AeroSpace Defence Secretary

Targeting closer ties

with government Aerospace, defence & security industries to reboot relationship with the Government

Abridged version of a speech given by newly-elected A|D|S President Peter Rogers, Chief Executive Babcock International Group plc at the organisation’s 2011 dinner.

“2010

was hardly a straightforward time for A|D|S to cut its teeth on. Twelve months ago, there was the late surge by the last Government to get things done before the election; then the election itself, for which A|D|S produced its own set of manifestos for our sectors, and afterwards, the emergence of the first coalition government for 80 years, inevitably teeming with new ideas – and a fresh Parliament, with no fewer than 266 new MPs. A Strategic Defence and Security Review was swiftly set in motion with profound implications all-round. Somewhere in the middle of all this was a small event called the Farnborough Air Show.

Oh yes, and a volcano in Iceland erupted, to remind everyone that regular and safe air travel is vital to our society and not to be taken for granted.

Now I don’t want to catalogue all the things that went on in 2010 that were important to our different sectors. But I would like to mention that the lengthy list included the report from the Space Innovation and Growth Team plus the first ever ‘Security Farnborough’ also known as HOSDB - or to give it its full title, the Home Office Scientific Development Branch Exhibition.

The point I want to make is that last year was an exceptional one, with a lot of changes affecting all

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our sectors and all our members.

These developments were a massive challenge to the newly formed structure of A|D|S Boards and Committees to handle their implications and I believe the Association came through this baptism of fire with much merit and significant success.

At the New Year when I reviewed the newspaper forecasts for the year of my Presidency of A|D|S, it was hard to avoid grim phrases like “the age of austerity”.

But the outlook is not all gloomy. Major civil aircraft producers are increasing production; security and space remain key growth areas, and in defence the prospects for exports and support services remain positive. It is vitally important that we do not get locked into a negative way of thinking about the future, for two reasons in particular.

First, our sectors are real and ongoing success stories for the British economy. We are big employers and trainers of highly skilled staff, including thousands of graduates and apprentices; big investors in research and development; big cultivators in our supply chain of specialist SMEs; big exporters of equipment and services and big generators of tax revenue for the Treasury.

We are the epitome of the rebalanced economy and the advanced engineering which the Government says it wishes to see.

Have your say at www.themanufacturer.com

Second, I do not believe it is beyond our capabilities – far from it – for us to understand the changed environment to listen and to adjust for the long term. The message from the Government is clear: value for money and more for less is the name of the game. I believe that the industries represented here are more than capable of delivering this and of taking advantage of the increased focus on support of exports.

We have to help the Government through this rough patch by improving efficiency and, above all, by innovating and adapting. If we don’t make that kind of behavioural investment I mentioned a few moments ago, there might not be a major industry here in 20 years’ time.

There are plenty of other countries all too ready to invest in the required capability and culture.

The question to be answered is this: do we want to have thriving civil air, defence, security and space industries here in the UK in 2025 or not. If we do, let’s work together – with government – to make that happen.”

IT in

manufacturing

ERP is one remedy

Post-recession manufacturing demands agile, responsive and highly efficient businesses. John Stephens discusses with Craig Such of Access the scenarios where ERP systems have pulled companies through the downturn, helping to fix some growth pains including varying order profiles and retaining full-time staff to help with IT system implementation.

The

future for UK manufacturers is looking bright. Optimism reigns in all quarters, with official figures and closely-watched surveys endorsing the positive impression that economic rebalancing is now happening.

Bulging order books bring a new set of challenges to manufacturers; how to deliver this business without the luxury of pre-recession resources. For some, the recession asked for cost cutting by whatever means possible – for most manufacturers, this meant reducing headcount and every type of operational cost was studied under the financial microscope.

And those organisations that made cuts to survive this recession are bearing the wounds. The cuts they made are now causing a stranglehold on some businesses and making it challenging to grow with their reduced resource levels. This view is endorsed by Craig Such, head of the manufacturing division of consulting and software supplier,

Access. “Manufacturers have not really had much choice, forced to make cuts, particularly on staffing levels, but now that business is picking up many businesses will find it hard to cope with demand.

Either they have to recruit more people, or they have to work smarter and more efficiently. More and more companies are realising technology can fill that gap.”

Technology investments such as ERP systems, which can do much more than paper over the cracks, can provide a clear route through the inefficiencies to long term process and performance improvements.

But it is not only resource levels that are restricting manufacturers’ ability to bounce back.

Often, the profile of orders has changed significantly and this is making it even harder to manage an increase in demand.

“I spoke to a manufacturing company this week that was encountering just this type of scenario,” said Mr Such in December 2010. “They had made the necessary cutbacks and now business is returning, but it’s not necessarily the same make-up [of orders] it was before. They can see that if they don’t make changes, they will find it very tough to meet these demands.”

The company is a £60m turnover business, part of a £220m group. This is fairly large SME, but this is a challenge facing manufacturers of all sizes and in all sectors. “Companies have run down their stock levels to create a leaner business.

But whereas a manufacturer may have received several large orders each month, for example, they may now receive many more orders on a weekly basis, as their own customers have realised it’s more efficient to push stockholding up the supply chain to their supplier,” Such says. As well as order quantity, order type may have changed markedly,

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IT in manufacturing

too. It is normal for a company that used to sell standard product to have diversified and moved to more bespoke goods to meet customer demand.

All of which goes to explain why some manufacturers have decided that the time is right to invest in a new ERP system. While some may see it as a bold and often costly move, particularly given the fragile nature of the economic recovery, others take the view that this is precisely the right time to invest in new technology to ensure a firm foothold is established for the future.

Crucially, modern technology like this will enable manufacturers to bridge the gap between new business wins, changing order profiles and fewer resources.

An end to manual data re-input Much remains to be done to improve efficiency levels within manufacturing, says Such. “It still amazes me, for example, how many companies have disjointed processes and disparate IT systems. Information is rekeyed manually, but these companies fail to see the waste inherent in this activity,” There is also the potential for error. “It doesn’t make sense. Companies want to be more efficient and want to reduce overheads, but they don’t see manual rekeying of data as a problem.”

How do modern ERP systems drive better processes to help manufacturers? Order processing, for example, is much slicker. If manufacturers find that their customers place smaller orders more frequently, that demands better administration, otherwise the transactional cost per order for the supplier will rise. More orders equals more administration, which equals more cost. “If your customer has changed from one large monthly order to four smaller weekly orders, the processing and administration cost to you could double or even treble, so you need more efficient systems to cope with that,” agrees Such.

The acquiring company suffered the same fate as the previous incumbent because it did not have the necessary infrastructure, processes or cash flow to enable it to adapt to the change Recovery from recession in good shape is not only about winning new business. New orders are not the panacea that some may think if the organisation cannot cope effectively. In one situation that Such has seen recently, a manufacturer went into administration and a competitor stepped in to take over the contract.

But the acquiring company suffered the same

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Have your say at www.themanufacturer.com

fate as the previous incumbent because it did not have the necessary infrastructure, processes or, importantly, cash flow to enable it to adapt to the change.

There are some key issues that ERP systems can address for manufacturers in the recovery cycle. Firstly, stock availability. “The change in order profile or order numbers may mean that

Where a company used to receive several large orders each month, they may now receive many more orders on a weekly basis, as their own customers have realised it’s more efficient to push stockholding up the supply chain to their supplier Craig Such, Head of Manufacturing, Access

manufacturers struggle to maintain the right levels of particular materials,” says Such. “Any shortage will affect cost as well as customer service.”

Planning is also an important area where ERP can help. Manufacturers may not have sufficient resources to plan production schedules manually and some ERP systems have integrated planning capability, enabling intelligent scheduling, or even integration to an advanced planning and scheduling system. Either way, there is a planning solution to meet diverse requirements.

Implementing a new ERP solution during a recession has proved to be a way in which businesses can in some cases retain skilled labour, avoiding flexible working hours, and employ it usefully on a project of this nature. These are companies that were already considering a new ERP solution, but when the downturn took hold, rather than deferring the project they decided to go ahead and use the opportunity to install the technology without any disruption to the business.

Such has experienced this kind of scenario: “One of our newer customers had considered moving staff to short-time working,” he says. “Instead, they decided to invest in a new ERP system, keep their staff working five days a week but use the fifth day to work on implementing the new system. They could see that when they came out the other side, they would still need a new system in place, so the recession afforded them the quiet time to put a new system in.”

h e a lt h a n d S a f e t y supplement

The manual nature of many manufacturing operations makes it a sector that is especially prone to accidents.

Despite the risk management activities of health and safety organisations and employers, manufacturing accounts for 16% of reported injuries to employees. Organisations like the Institution of Occupation Safety and Health spell out what employers can do to minimise safety risks.

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Workplace risk: 32% of reported injuries are due to handling

Manufacturing intelligence As well as the humanitarian argument for health

Richard Jones, policy and technical director for the Institution of Occupational Safety and Health (IOSH), talks about how strong health and safety in manufacturing not only saves lives – it makes good business sense.

and safety, there is also a strong business case. We

M

million in one year, or the engineering firm Rolls-

the financial crisis and the economy starts to grow,

demonstrate their risk management credentials. This

the government anticipates new jobs will be created

may mean meeting the requirements of procurement

in ‘green technologies’ and manufacturing will have

standards or pre-tender criteria, including certification

a key part to play.

of health and safety management systems to a

anufacturing is one of the engines

and we also know that positive feelings about work have been linked with higher productivity, profitability and customer loyalty – all essential as we recover from recession. There are lots of examples of manufacturing companies reaping the benefits of good health and safety management. Like the pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca that saved £5 Royce that saved £11 million over three years.

of the British economy and currently

And businesses seeking new or retained contracts

provides employment to almost 2.5

may find, in an increasingly competitive and globalised

million people. As we recover from

market, more customers requiring suppliers to

But, as well as the opportunities, there are also many

76

know good work is good for health and wellbeing

recognised international standard such as BS OHSAS

challenges that lie ahead. As the country struggles in

18001. IOSH provides free guidance and on-line

the current financial crisis and prepares for the public

tools (www.iosh.co.uk/guidance) on management

spending cuts, we must make sure health and safety

systems, business risk management and training and

does not become a casualty of austerity.

competence at www.iosh.co.uk/standards

h e a lt h fa n d S a f e t y

So, how is the industry doing on health and safety?

While for major injuries, there has been a decreasing

Although around 9% of Britain’s workforce are

trend since 1996 and similarly, a fairly continuous fall

employed in manufacturing, worryingly, it accounts

in the rate of over 3-day injuries since about 1994.

for 16% of reported injuries to employees. And sadly

However, unfortunately, we know from past

last year, 25 workers in this sector were killed at

recessions that during periods of economic downturn,

work, with over 4,000 major injuries and more than

although accidents can reduce and rates go down (due

15,000 over 3-day injuries also reported.

to fewer inexperienced workers in the workplace and

Employers in manufacturing lost around 2.4 million working days in 2009-10 to work-related injury and ill

fewer hours being worked), the opposite is also true.

So, as we emerge from recession and industry picks

health. Rates of injury vary greatly across this diverse

up speed again, it is important that employers do train

industry, which includes automotive, aerospace

and supervise new staff properly and don’t turn a blind

and defence, oil and gas refining, chemicals,

eye if excessive hours are being worked. And where

construction and building products, packaging, clean

economic growth is slow and fragile, accidents can

technologies, machinery and equipment, food and

start to rise even before recovery is assured, due to false

beverages and recycling.

For example, the small sub-group ‘recycling’ has a reported major injury rate of more than five times

economies and corner-cutting. These would include things like delaying spend on staff training or new equipment or skimping on maintenance programmes.

that of manufacturing as a whole. Food products and beverages and fabricated metal products have major injury rates 1.5 times that of all manufacturing and, together, account for 39% of all major injuries reported in this sector. And small does not necessarily mean safe – research has found small manufacturers can have around double the rate of fatal injuries and amputations as larger ones.

What kinds of injuries and illnesses are we talking about? The most common kinds of reported injuries are due to handling (32%) or slips and trips (21%). The sector also suffers 56% of reported injuries involving contact with moving machinery, 24% involving

Manufacturing accounts for 16% of reported employee injuries in the UK

explosions, 21% hit by moving or falling objects or fire, and 19% from contact with harmful substances.

In the previous 12 months, an estimated 94,000

What about the future? Just as manufacturing seeks to reverse an image of declining relevance – so too

people whose current or last job was in manufacturing,

health and safety seeks to reverse negative public

suffered illness they believed caused or made worse by

perceptions and urban myths. Interestingly, the recent

work. Work-related illness assessed by specialists shows

‘Business perceptions survey 2010’ found a significant

manufacturing had higher incidence rates than the

fall in the proportion of firms finding compliance the

‘all-industries’ averages for asbestos-related diseases,

most challenging part of business since 2009. And

dermatitis, asthma, vibration white-finger, upper limb

encouragingly, health and safety was generally viewed

disorders and spine and back problems.

more positively than other compliance areas, with

We must remember that each of these failures is a

respondents likely to feel ‘well-informed’ about it,

personal tragedy for the individuals concerned and

perhaps underlining the potential role of training and

their families. Workers, some very young and with their

education in improving perceptions.

whole futures ahead of them, can have their lives taken

As we move forwards, it is vital that Britain’s

or blighted by serious illness or injury through lack of

employers are ready to make and seize opportunities

care at work. All of this suffering, business interruption

for success. To do this, they need well-trained and

and reputational damage can be prevented through

engaged workforces, strong leadership and access

effective health and safety management.

to good health and safety advice. Manufacturing

And what about improvements? Though year-on-

intelligence is about finding the best solutions and

year variation in the number and rates of fatal injuries

keeping people safe. Reorganisation, job creation and

makes it difficult to quantify progress – the figures

new apprenticeships are all ideal opportunities to get

suggest a continuing (if slowing) progress on these

health and safety right from the start – designing it in,

from 1981, since when, the rate has fallen by over half.

not bolting it on!

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h e a lt h fa n d S a f e t y

Health and safety in training and practice

A

ccident rates are one third lower for

And the Institution also approves courses run by

those companies which employ health

independent trainers, through its tailored course

and safety professionals to train staff on

approval service. Richard Greaves, a chartered member

how to stay healthy and safe at work.

of IOSH, runs courses for employers in manufacturing.

It’s a finding from research commissioned by the

“In business there is always the challenge to get

Institution of Occupational Safety and Health (IOSH)

the job done, but in the safest way,” he says.

and it underlines just how vital this guidance is for

“Manufacturing is no different, but there is often

businesses and the people they employ, particular

higher risk in this sector than most due to maintenance

those in high hazard industries.

and machinery safety issues which are ongoing.

Employers in manufacturing are legally obliged

“Training plays an essential part in ensuring the

to look after the safety and wellbeing of their

safest way is understood, and the understanding of

employees at work – but this should not be why

managers and supervisors is fundamental if they are

they have health and safety policies and training

to develop and lead a positive safety culture. When

programmes in place, says IOSH. There are business

we are asked to deliver training, a clear understanding

advantages in providing protective advice to staff

of each individual company is essential to any

– as well as actually employing health and safety

successful training programme. Spending time with

managers or consultants – which are as important

the client pays dividends and leads to an interactive,

as ticking a box to meet a legal obligation.

fun and interesting training session and there are clear

“Successful companies want to demonstrate

business benefits to doing it right.”

that they care for their workers, and that they take

Greaves says gone are the days of reading off slides

the well-being of their staff, clients and contractors

and dosing everybody up with caffeine to get through

seriously,” said the Institution’s commercial affairs

the sessions. “In our experience targeted, specific

director, Caroline Holden. “Training staff to be safe

training such an IOSH Managing Safely helps to

in the workplace – to recognise where there are

achieve results in any forward-thinking company. In

potential hazards and come up with solutions – is a

the last few months, we have been asked by two blue-

very important way for an employer to demonstrate

chip organisations to attend awards events as a direct

that its values and put simply that it doesn’t want

result of training programmes.

people to be hurt if it can possibly be avoided.”

IOSH offers a suite of health and safety training

“The programmes resulted in greater understanding and ownership of health and safety,

programmes, with courses for both managers and

which led directly to improved performance and

their staff. Managing Safely is designed to get

lower incident and accidents, in fact no reportable

managers up to speed on the practical actions they

accidents for 12 months in one of the cases. The

need to take to handle health and safety in their

figures speak for themselves. Without the investment

teams. Working Safely is a course for people at any

in quality training we begin to rely on luck and are

level, in any sector, who need a grounding in the

then open to indifference and complacency.”

essentials of health and safety.

78

There are both economic and humanitarian benefits for a company in good health and safety training writes Tim Walsh of the Institution of Occupational Safety and Health.

www.iosh.co.uk/training

Maintaining improvements in health and safety performance

T

he most recent injury statistics released by

use of equipment that has been poorly maintained,

HSE are good news for UK manufacturing,

or incorrect use of equipment. Other incidents involve

showing significant reductions in fatal, major

the hidden things that only maintenance workers

and over 3 day injuries reported by the

get involved in, often out of hours, like accessing

industry between April 2009 and March 2010.

This is undoubtedly encouraging, but far too many people are still suffering needlessly as a result of

equipment in out of sight places, and working at height or in confined spaces.

The HSE website provides some cautionary tales

incidents at work. Although the number of people killed

about incidents in maintenance. In December 2010 HSE

in manufacturing has fallen from a previous average of

prosecuted three companies following serious incidents:

33 per year – 22 people still lost their lives. And while

In one, a subcontractor fell more than five metres

2010 saw a drop on the previous year of 11% and 16%

from a ladder after suffering an electric shock when he

respectively in the number of major injuries such as

made contact with a live three-phase 415v conductor

amputations or broken bones and in the number of

to the overhead crane that he had been about to repair.

over 3 day injuries - the industry still reported 3,863

The company had not marked it or isolated it prior to

major and 14,678 other injuries.

the subcontractor starting work. In another, an agency

We should also bear in mind that these statistics

worker died after being struck by the moving parts

relate to a period when manufacturing was hard hit

of a cut and crease machine that he was maintaining.

by the downturn. History has shown us that accident

The machine was started by another worker whilst the

rates rise as industry moves out of a recession and as

agency worker was inside the machine.

work starts up again or increases pace. Whether this is

In the third, a worker received serious injuries

a result of the industry working closer to its capacity, or

when he became entangled in a conveyor system

because experienced workers have been lost to industry

at the exit from a trim saw. He had been attempting

and replaced by new workers - we don’t want the

to free jammed timbers from the conveyor when it

latest improvements in injury statistics to be lost in the

moved unexpectedly.

economic recovery.

Analysis of serious incidents in manufacturing shows

What’s really concerning about these incidents is that none of them are about new technology with complex

that the same things are still maiming and killing people

new hazards - they’re everyday stuff that everyone, if

- many of them related to production processes as one

they took the time to think, should be able to anticipate

would expect However, the European Agency for Safety

and avoid.

and Health at Work (EU-OSHA) estimate that as many as

To help address the numbers of maintenance related

20% of workplace accidents are actually connected with

incidents, in 2010 EU-OSHA launched a two year

maintenance operations. Across Europe, about 10-15%

‘Safe Maintenance’ campaign, promoting safe and

of fatal accidents at work are maintenance-related and

healthy workplaces by encouraging an integrated and

HSE estimate that this is probably closer to 25-30% in

structured approach to maintenance. To support the

British manufacturing.

campaign, HSE published a ‘safe maintenance health

Common examples of the causes of serious incidents

80

Peter Woolgar, Principal Inspector and Head of Manufacturing for HSE, highlights the industry’s pressing need for a greater focus on health and safety during maintenance – and for a culture of strong leadership and workforce involvement in ensuring a safe and healthy workplace.

check’ questionnaire on our website – www.hse.gov.uk,

include things like machinery being operated with

prompting companies to consider questions like ‘Do we

guards removed; electrical supplies not being isolated

know where all our confined spaces are?’ ‘Do we have

and locked off while cleaning blockages or spillages

isolation locks for the high risk pieces of machinery, and

or carrying out repairs; heavy lifting operations being

do we always use them?’, and ‘Do we know where all

undertaken too close to where people are working;

the asbestos is in the building?’ The purpose of these

h e a lt h fa n d S a f e t y

questions was not that they should result in simple

Worker involvement and consultation is also key in

‘yes’ or ‘no’ answers. They were deliberately designed

getting health and safety right. Operating or maintaining

to be difficult to answer - and to be used by managers,

machines or processes day-in, day-out, gives workers

working with their maintenance staff, as prompts to self

an intimate knowledge of their plant, the problems, the

examination and discussion, to help them in reaching a

‘work-arounds’, and very often the best way of doing

real understanding of the risks faced in maintenance.

things. Harnessing that knowledge is a shortcut in

Most managers want to be reassured that the health and safety arrangements and management systems

itself to effective and sensible solutions, providing a real improvement in productivity, and health and safety.

they have put in place are effective. Many monitor

HSE would like managers in manufacturing to take

accidents and plot trends, but this on its own is not

a hard and realistic look at what you do and how you

enough – it only shows what has happened after the

do it. Target the key significant risks first, those where

event, known as a ‘lagging’ indicator.

people could be seriously injured, or worse, and

Companies should also monitor ‘leading’ indicators,

consider if you have significant sources of serious or

which demonstrate how well systems are working

chronic ill health. Involve your workforce in helping

before an incident occurs. This should not be a tick

you to identify the hidden potential problems. If you

box approach but a sensible and considered look,

find you have too much work to do, be sensible about

concentrating on the most risky machines, processes

it - prioritise and plan, again involving your workforce in

or activities. Using a balanced scorecard of leading and

helping you to reach the right decisions.

lagging indicators is gaining increasing acceptance in manufacturing companies.

EEF (The Manufacturers’ Organisation) have developed a version of this tool which was piloted by its members in 2010, and which will be available to anyone from February 2011 on their website - www.eef.org.uk. It’s not the only version, but it’s recent, it’s been tested by manufacturing companies, and it’s free.

HSE estimate that 25-30% of fatal incidents in British manufacturing are maintenance related Peter Woolgar, Principal Inspector and Head of Manufacturing, HSE

Sharing this sort of good practice initiative is something that we in HSE always try to encourage, but we believe

If you need professional help to evaluate

that their ultimate success, or otherwise, remains

risks or identify solutions you might want to consider

dependent on them being supported by a culture of

employing someone from the Occupational Safety and

strong leadership and of worker involvement

Health Consultants Register (OSHCR).

and consultation.

Leadership can take a number of forms. At a basic

This new register is being introduced in response to the Government commissioned report on UK health

level, it might be getting senior staff to make it their

and safety, “Common Sense, Common Safety” -

business to check what’s happening on the shop floor

published in October 2010. The register is currently

during maintenance work. It shows that management

being populated and will soon enable you to access

are truly interested, and allows them to check that the

consultants who can offer you advice to help you

systems they have put in place are actually used, and

manage health and safety risks. To be on the register

that they allow the work to be done while protecting

consultants must have met certain standards within

those doing it. Maintenance work is often seen simply

their professional bodies and have committed to

as a disruption to normal service, but it is fundamental to the integrity of every manufacturing system and to

providing sensible and proportionate advice.

If your review shows you’re doing all the right things -

the health and safety of workers. A similar view can be

that’s great. But maybe it’s time for a fresh approach, time

taken where there is interruption to production because

to show management leadership and innovation. Can you

of a faulty process, equipment blockage or a need to

be part of the wider health and safety solution - helping,

clear a spill. Good leadership is not just about getting

for example, your key suppliers or contractors in meeting

the plant up and running as soon as possible. It’s also

their health and safety obligations? After all - it’s only by

about ensuring that remedial activity is done in the right

everyone playing their part that we can stop manufacturing

way - the safe way.

workers becoming another HSE statistic.

81

h e a lt h fa n d S a f e t y

Protect your staff properly David Lummis, chief executive officer at the British Safety Industry Federation discusses the importance of manufacturers purchasing Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) from reliable, professional sources and the need to make sure Respiratory Protective Equipment (RPE) fits correctly.

M

anufacturing is currently the third

manufacturers will be able to purchase the right

largest sector in the UK economy

equipment, for the right people.

in terms of share of UK GDP and in 2009 the sector employed some

One way to ensure the above is to buy from an independently audited source. In 2009, the BSIF

2.6 million people, representing around 8.5% of

introduced its Registered Safety Supplier Scheme that

the total UK employment. Due to the varied risks in

allows its members to identify themselves as having

this sector, it is pivotal for employers to provide the

made a formal declaration that they are selling only

correct PPE ensuring their employees are protected

products that are genuine and legal. This declaration

on a daily basis. The impact of inappropriate or ill

is, as a condition of the scheme, audited through

fitting equipment could be potentially huge, on the

special provisions set out within the company’s

economy, industry and of course the individual.

ISO9001 Certification. The Scheme acts as a signpost for people to ensure that they can buy from a reputable company whom they can trust to supply

The ‘world of health and safety’ can be a bewildering subject but the BSIF is on hand to help

genuine legal products and provide good advice.

Additionally, the BSIF also runs the ‘Fit2Fit RPE Fit Test Providers Accreditation Scheme’ that highlights the need for RPE to be fitted properly. This Scheme was implemented after it emerged that, for many workers, RPE does not offer the correct level of protection. The ‘Fit2Fit RPE Fit Test Providers Accreditation Scheme’

Due to the purpose of the equipment, PPE needs

allows individuals to demonstrate to the manufacturer

to meet stringent performance standards. Quality,

that they have a thorough knowledge of the HSE

CE approved PPE meets and often exceeds these

guidelines on fit testing and that they know how to fit

performance requirements and hence will protect

test in practical circumstances.

individuals from hazards faced in the workplace. The

The ‘world of health and safety’ can be a

use of fake and illegal products could prove fatal and

bewildering subject but the BSIF is on hand to

unfortunately it is now a common problem. Over

help. Amongst other things, the Federation has a

recent years, a plethora of items have entered the

comprehensive website that provides a wealth of

market place, from gloves to high visibility vests, that

information regarding health and safety practices as

have been produced using sub standard materials.

well as further information on its many campaigns.

Often these products are finished such that, to the

The BSIF also provides up to date and useful

untrained eye, it is difficult, if not impossible, to

information to its members and is also heavily involved

identify that they are fake.

in standards issues and lobbying, all of which have the

In order to avoid purchasing and using fake and illegal PPE it is vital for manufacturers to talk to companies they know they can trust to provide them

82

overall aim to make the workplace a safer place.

For further information on the services provided by the BSIF and its various campaigns please

with quality advice. By developing relationships with

visit the BSIF website www.bsif.co.uk or email

PPE providers who are both professional and reliable,

enquiries@bsif.co.uk

Manufacturinginaction Sponsored by Applied Angle

Putting UK manufacturers under the spotlight STEEL FORMING

The Hadley Group 143

Factory of the month

CNH UK 86

Tractor boys pull in the right direction CNH adopted the Fiat based 10 pillar World Class Manufacturing structure in 2008 The plant has made upwards of £4m worth of savings since then The site is now experiencing a more stable order book and has recently hired 45 new workers CNH Basildon purchases around £500m worth of parts per annum from all around Europe and the UK

The Hadley Group is the largest cold roll forming manufacturer in the UK Hadley launches around two or three new products every week, a standard that has stayed steady even throughout the recession The company won a Queens Award for Innovation in 2007 Hadley’s rapidly growing range includes roller shutter door sections, strut profiles, internal and external framing profiles, window reinforcement profiles and steel posts HEALTHCARE

Pelican 149 Pelican has recently experienced rapid growth and an exciting period of investment Pelican is separated in two major divisions namely ostomy products and feminine healthcare Supplies 80% of the speculums for the NHS Obstetrics and Gynaecological feminine healthcare contracts Pelican products are subjected to rigorous testing some lines with some lines being tested as regularly as every 15 minutes

MEDICAL DEVICES

Bespak 114

MOBILITY PRODUCTS

Invacare 154 Invacare operates in the $6bn home medical products industry Invacare ships to order about £6m per month A 5S programme is implemented throughout the organisation MICROELECTRONICS

SPTS 158

YAC HT BUILDING

Sealine International 134 Sealine’s USP in the boat market is its abundance of internal accommodation space 60% of Sealine’s production is for export Consumables used in the production process have been cut by 40% in two years The company is utilising resin transfer moulding more frequently in its manufacturing process

SPTS manufactures semiconductor wafer processing equipment used in the fabrication of a wide range of microelectronic devices SPTS products are used in the production of LEDS and MEMS 95% of SPTS products are exported Asia is the biggest market for SPTS products with Taiwan being the biggest

Manufacturing in Wales

Makes a range of complex drug delivery devices, specialising in self injection and respiratory products On site at King’s Lynn, Bespak has more than 100 moulding machines and 40 automated assembly platforms Upgrading half of its moulding machines from hydraulic to electric has meant considerable benefits In the last year the company has achieved the ISO14001environmental accreditation

MEMBR ANE KEYPADS

Fascia Graphics 166 Fascia Graphics manufactures graphic overlays, membrane keypads, keyboards and switches The company’s profits and staff number increased during the recession Fascia Graphics is committed to sustainability, and its cost cutting approach realises 5 to 20% savings for the company’s supply chain

All companies featured will be entered into the MIA Award 2011

85

Tractor

boys pull in the right direction

86

Factory of the month CNH Agricultural and Construction Equipment

As a company of the Italian Fiat Industrial group, CNH UK is well placed to benefit from the parent company’s deep rooted understanding of operational efficiency. Colin Larkin, the recently appointed plant manager at the company’s Basildon site, explains to Tim Brown the building blocks the plant is using to construct a truly world class manufacturing operation.

Created

in 1999 through the merger of New Holland N.V. and Case Corporation, CNH today comprises the heritage and expertise of several agricultural and construction equipment brands. There are a total of 38 CNH plants around the world making a full range of agricultural and construction equipment including tractors, combine harvesters, grape harvesters, telehandlers, excavators, wheel loaders, backhoe loaders, skid steer loaders and many others.

It is a bit of a clichĂŠ but we have truly taken a lean journey...

We have demonstrated to several big companies that if you start small and apply good logic, you can gradually but dramatically change the plant and reduce the amount of process waste Colin Larkin, Plant Manager

CNH UK in Basildon, Essex, was opened in 1964 by Ford as a tractor and engine manufacturing facility. At that time the plant was geared more towards engine production rather than tractors with the facility producing roughly 80,000 engines and 10,000 tractors annually.

Ford sold the site to Fiat in 1991 with engine manufacturing ceasing completely in 2008. The plant has now evolved to focus entirely on tractor assembly.

Tractors are categorised and sold by the horsepower of their engine. The

87

Factory of the month CNH Agricultural and Construction Equipment

Cab To Tractor Assembly

Markets Supplied – Forecast 2010 tractors manufactured in Basildon range from 100hp up to about 270hp, which represents the middle sector of the tractor industry. There are, however, much larger examples made in lower volumes by other CNH plants around the world. Basildon makes around 20,000 tractors per annum and exports to about 120 countries with the main markets being France, Spain, Italy and the US. Contrary to popular belief, while tractors are most commonly used for agricultural purposes, they often complete roles in many other applications although tractor applications vary between countries.

For example, according to Larkin, around 50% of tractors purchased in the Netherlands might be used in road

Supplies tractors to 120 countries world-wide Is in the Top 15 UK Exporting companies - ÂŁ 697m exports in 2009

89

Making a sound investment How the science of acoustics is driving productivity through comfort

I

magine sitting at your desk, looking at your computer, cup of coffee to hand. Now imagine your whole workplace is vibrating, a loud noise in your ears, your seat hard and uncomfortable, your coffee slopping on the floor. Do you think you’re going to deliver a good day’s work?

Despite ‘no’ being the obvious answer, the need to meet legislative requirements for noise has been a constant challenge for manufacturers of heavy machinery. Now, there’s a wealth of research indicating that people working in a quieter, more comfortable environment are not only happier, they’re also more productive.

Jason Lippitt, Managing Director of acoustic technologies specialists, TMAT, says: “The driver is the most important component of a tractor or excavator but in the past, it’s been difficult to bring their workplace up to the standard the rest of us enjoy.

Employers want to be caring and motivational and they’re also seeing the bottom-line benefits of providing a pleasant working environment”.

“The cost of insulating a cab against noise, vibration and harshness (NVH) is a fraction of the machine’s overall value and the benefits in terms of workforce motivation and productivity are enormous.”

Changing landscape Modern-day acoustics and cab interiors aren’t about bits of

90

padding; it’s a sophisticated science operating within a constantlychanging landscape.

Different materials – and blends within those materials – are used to dampen specific noises and vibration. As an example, the agricultural industry’s move towards more energy efficient, low-emission engines means that the noise and vibration frequencies are changing and the materials needed to combat them are changing too.

That’s what TMAT’s Environmental, Research and Development arm works on constantly. Based at its HQ in Chesterfield, the R&D department sits alongside the company’s in-house manufacturing operation which produces roof liners, floor mats and all other interior trim plus under-bonnet engine insulation.

Working together, these two elements of the business are driving some of the most advanced and cost-effective acoustic technology in the world, which is used by New Holland Agriculture. TMAT is rapidly becoming the supplier of choice in North and South America, Europe and the Far East.

Tough stuff NVH systems can have an elastomer polyurethane and foam base but it’s the mixture of ingredients that’s key to the material’s acoustic

performance. TMAT Sales Manager Ivan Chapman says: “Polyurethane elastomer can be blended to produce anything from a really soft ‘stress ball’ consistency through to a very hard, dense material for extremely low frequency damping.

Our in-house expertise means we tailor chemical formulae and manufacture products to meet all performance requirements”.

However complex the technology, acoustic trim products have to operate in some of the toughest environments on earth. The OEM doesn’t want to be concerned with warranty issues for cabin interiors.

TMAT’s components are designed to last.

“We don’t base our business plan on a spare parts operation,” says Jason Lippitt. “We can install a full NVH system, using different consistencies and types of material throughout the cab and the buyer doesn’t need to think about it again.

They’re providing their drivers with a quiet, comfortable, productive environment in which to work that will last the life of the machine.”

Published in association with: TMAT LIMITED Tel: 0044 (0)1246 850828 Fax: 0044 (0)1246 854083 Email: info@tmatuk.com Web: www.tmatuk.com

Factory of the month CNH Agricultural and Construction Equipment

building and maintenance, whereas other countries such as Italy will use tractors predominantly for farm work.

“The tractor is very much the workhorse in the heavy machinery market,” says Mr Larkin. “For instance, on a highway roadwork project, which may run 24-hours a day, the tractors will also run 24-hours a day. There is a tremendous amount of wear that a tractor must endure in one year alone.

They are really quite robust machines.”

Rolling out World Class Since the departure from the UK of other big names in the industry, such as Massey Ferguson, in favour of overseas production, CNH has emerged as the only specific tractor manufacturing plant in the UK. While opposing this trend has placed it in an enviable position in the UK, the Basildon plant has undertaken projects to reinforce its long term efficiency and viability globally through the implementation of a company-wide continuous improvement programme.

As an early adopter of the World Class Manufacturing (WCM) set of performance criteria, Fiat helped found the WCM Association and incorporate the 10-pillar strategy in 2006. Most Fiat Industrial group companies like CNH have now adopted the pillar structure for continuous improvement across its global sites.

World Class Manufacturing World Class Manufacturing comprises 10-pillars: 1. Safety: ensures the operations are as safe as possible to protect staff and prevent loss time accidents.

2. Cost Deployment: investigates the losses in the plant and looks at each of the micro processes and the related costs. It assists to foster an understanding of where the greatest losses occur so that the correct pillar and right tools can be used to rectify the related problems.

3. Focused Improvement: helps to ensure that when applying the remaining pillars that the correct tools are being utilised to tackle the issue in question.

4. Autonomous Activities: a. Autonomous maintenance: works towards the goal of the workers maintaining their own equipment using correct techniques and standards b. Workplace organisation: aims to organise the plant to operate in the most efficient manner possible while reducing non-value-add activity.

5. Professional Maintenance: relates to the maintenance of equipment to tackle the biggest losses that exist in breakdowns and looks at how to move from being reactive to proactive.

6. Quality Control: a very traditional pillar that uses data from all sources including warranty and internal to determine what defects are causing the most problems.

7. Logistics / Customer Service: examines workplace organisation to ensure that an operator receives the part in the most efficient and user friendly way possible.

8. Early Product / Equipment Management: looks at the launching of new products and the purchasing requirements needed while also ensuring that the team learns the full production process before a product is launched onto the production line.

9. People Development: relates to the training needed to support the other activities.

10. Environment: investigates environmental initiatives for waste reduction and improved environmental efficiency.

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Factory of the month CNH Agricultural and Construction Equipment

It has been three years since the official introduction of a structured world class manufacturing platform at Basildon. In that time the plant has saved upwards of £4 million directly. “The main thing for us in the long run is that every world class manufacturing pillar touches every aspect of our process,” says Mr Larkin.

Although the 10-pillars were introduced at the Basildon plant altogether in 2008, each was introduced in a pilot area of the plant.

The pilot for the autonomous maintenance pillar, for example, was the paint floor where the vehicles are spray-coated. To complete

the introductory process, CNH hired an Autonomous Maintenance pillar leader that was skilled in the area and had previously worked with Toyota. The incumbent paint floor had been in operation for 10 years and had gradually begun to deteriorate due to lack of maintenance processes. The Autonomous Maintenance leader was able to improve the processes significantly and, according to Mr Larkin, has slowly turned that team from one that just simply sprays tractors into one that now examines all aspects of how they keep their facility clean and operational. “We used to have a lot of quick, short breakdowns in that area,” Larkin says. “The introduction of autonomous maintenance has eliminated much of that and has increased our productivity. The pillar leader is now trying to take that to other aspects of the plant in line with the cost deployment priority.”

Blu Power in the field

CNH Basildon at a glance Turnover

More than £1 billion

Employees

850 (538 in manufacturing)

Key people

Colin Larkin, Plant Manager

Location

Basildon, Essex

Site

40 hectares

93

Factory of the month CNH Agricultural and Construction Equipment

Front axle assembly – AGV Area

At present, there is not a single area of the shop floor that hasn’t been influenced by at least one of the WCM pillars. However, certain parts of the continuous improvement programme have had a greater level of success and employee buy-in. According to World Class Manufacturing support manager, Dean Stephenson, the strongest performing pillar at the moment is safety. “We have put a lot of effort into safety, for obvious reasons,” he says.

“Supplementary to the drive for WCM was that we were driven in part by health and safety legislation, and by some of the accreditations that we’ve been expected to achieve. Much of the safety is common sense but we need to get leaner in the application of this common sense through the proper use of risk assessments and the formalising of procedures throughout every operation.”

The management team perceives early product management to be a future area of strong focus and opportunity, says Mr Stephenson. “On the shop floor there is a certain amount of information that we, as an assembly plant, can provide to the designers to help improve products. We can have a huge influence on making a product more user-friendly to assemble. If a product is easier to build with fewer parts then it is inherently easier to build with better quality.” However, despite these specific focuses, to ensure that each WCM pillar receives adequate attention, when the plant undergoes its annual auditing process it must demonstrate improvement in all areas.

Although the plant has achieved considerable efficiency and cost savings in a short space of time, by his own

95

Factory of the month CNH Agricultural and Construction Equipment

admission Larkin says that before 2008 the company in general had not experienced as high a level of interest in continuous improvement as some of the other companies in the Fiat Group. However, Larkin stresses that not only have the improvements that have been made in the last three years been extremely successful, they have not necessarily required big financial investments. “One thing about continuous improvement is that we have made lots of improvements with very little investment,” he says. “People think we have spent thousands of pounds, but we haven’t. A lot of the investment we’ve made relate to things to make the layout of the plant streamlined, such as flooring, visual improvement, health and safety – such as knocking down some redundant platforms and cleaning those areas. We have moved stairs, added new racking, added more straight lines and inserted a recycling system.”

We have a goal for every operator that they should know three separate job functions. We try and train an employee for each new job role in two weeks, so that in a total of six weeks an operator will know three roles Colin Larkin, Plant Manager

“It is a bit of a cliché but we have truly taken a lean journey,” Larkin adds. “And it definitely is a journey and it is never ending. We have demonstrated to several big companies that if you start small and apply good logic, you can gradually but dramatically change the plant and reduce the amount of process waste. Many people said that they thought this plant could never change, but those same people now return and say they can’t believe how much it has changed. We have an open door policy which means we are willing to show our transformation to anybody and everybody.”

Colin Larkin – Plant Manager Colin Larkin was promoted from logistics manager to plant manager at CNH UK in December 2010. “I started my career at the plant in the mid1980s as a line operator and spent three years on the assembly line, one year in machining and two years in quality. The experience in the quality department was my first true introduction to the process of continuous improvement. Moving from the assembly line I then obtained a salary position in the parts business before returning to become a quality engineer.

“After a number of years I received my first managerial position as quality manager. In the following period, I filled essentially every management position in the plant up to the logistics manager. Then, in December last year, I was promoted to be the plant manager.

“I have completed a lot of in-house and offsite training and am a qualified six sigma black belt. I’ve also completed an Open University MBA course which truly changed my way of thinking about engineering. I found the course particularly interesting in terms of the impact it had on the way I viewed the people in this business. I have always been a strong believer in maintaining your roots, and I still play golf with the guys from the shop floor regularly and stay in touch.

“There was no massive leap in my career that took me to where I am. I have done the full range of roles at the plant. Since my promotion, I have had several people on the shop floor say to me that they are pleased that I have the plant manager’s job, because they appreciate the fact that I know the business inside out and they see it as an inspiration that, in this business it is possible to be recognised and progress.”

Union jack tractor with operators

Staffing the operation This year CNH Basildon plans to produce up 25% on last year’s total production. While 2008 was the biggest year the plant had ever experienced,

97

Factory of the month CNH Agricultural and Construction Equipment

After Paint Monorail (APM) with minimum material

the last two years have been slow which also caused a reduction in total headcount. However, the site is now experiencing a more stable order book and has recently hired 45 new workers.

Total headcount today is 850.

As a part of the People Development pillar, training at all stages has undergone considerable development. As Colin Larkin

Much of the safety is common sense but we need to get leaner in the application of this common sense through the proper use of risk assessments and the formalising of procedures throughout every operation Dean Stephenson, WCM Support

explains: “In times gone by, a new staff member would have undertaken a short induction course, then would have been put straight to work on the production line. More recently, as well as specific training aligned to their specific role, new staff now take a one-week training programme. During this time they will receive a full briefing on a tractor’s operation and what comprises the key components. We also demonstrate the importance of the worker’s role to the end product, the customer and to the business.”

One full day of their week long initial training involves shadowing someone

Dean Stephenson – World Class Manufacturing Support “I joined CNH about 16 years ago as a production operator and worked my way up to team leader initially in the parts and the accessories and then the logistics side of the business.

My educational background was in mechanical and production engineering so I had more interest in manufacturing production. As a result, in 2000 I joined a team headed up by Colin Larkin which focused on six sigma. That was my initial introduction to Lean. Two years later I underwent black belt six sigma training and have since carried out various roles throughout manufacturing, both supervising production lines and the flow of parts through the business.

“My role today has taken over from Colin’s previous job. I am responsible for the 10-pillars of world class manufacturing and ultimately responsible for reducing year-on-year plant operating costs by 8 per cent which is our top line objective. That has been achieved over the last three years. This year we hope to reduce production costs to the tune of £2 million through the roll-out of the projects which are all based on cost deployment.

“Our WCM development is monitored through annually conducted audits, one of which is done internally by a member of another Fiat plant, the other is an external audit which is conducted by Professor Yamashina, a worldwide authority on WCM and its processes. We are measured on a number of strict criteria and have so far reached the level of 47 points, which is three points short of the bronze medal. We hope to surpass the 50 point benchmark in the early part of 2011.”

99

FMP F

MP are a family owned

Over the last year the company

deliveries twice a day, whilst

business who specialise in

has made a large scale

there is a warehouse facility

Weldments and Fabrications,

investment in new laser

within the Basildon plant offering

dealing with both prototype and

machines resulting in state of

a continuous line side service.

production parts. The company

the art manufacturing production

Within both locations FMP work

was formed in 1993 and

and their lasers are now able

closely with the WCM teams and

currently employs a workforce of

to cut up to 20mm thickness,

strive for operational excellence

seventy people.

whilst the brake press tonnage is

at all times.

Their manufacturing plant in Slovenia works with both

100

up to 400 ton.

Within the agricultural

the automotive and agricultural

industry, FMP is contracted to

sectors, supplying parts to

two CNH Limited plants. The line

leaders in their field such as

feed operation for St Valentin

BMW, Audi and CNH Ltd.

is via a kanban system with

Published in association with: FMP Tel: 0043 7252 48635 Email: office@fmp-steyr.at Web: www.fmp-steyr.at

Factory of the month CNH Agricultural and Construction Equipment

on the production line so that they understand the tasks they will be performing. In the second week, they will follow someone until they are fully competent with the process. But the training does not stop when the operator is competent with just a single job. “We have a goal for every operator that they should know three separate job functions,” says Larkin.

“We try and train an employee for each new job role in two weeks so that in a total of six weeks an operator will know three roles. Every operator should know three jobs and every job should know three people so as to cover holidays, sick days and other eventualities. This also facilitates variation for those who prefer an alternative work pattern.”

Tractor production

The practice of procurement CNH Basildon purchases around £500m worth of parts per annum from all around Europe and the UK. Although the site used to machine and manufacture the engine and hydraulic parts, today no parts are manufactured onsite.

As the plant is the assembly site for tractors in this power range, all the parts required for the finished products must be delivered to Basildon. With around 330 suppliers, half of which are located in Italy and most of the remainder being spread around Europe, great attention is paid to making sure the parts are available when they are needed.

Every tractor is made to order and every part is pulled from that order. The order is received with a lead time of six weeks for delivery and for each order the company measures how close they are to satisfying that lead time.

Cab production

Seven staff, who are responsible for approximately 50 suppliers each, are in constant contact with the suppliers and manage the process to do whatever is necessary to ensure on-time delivery. CNH UK has developed a strong relationship with a number of logistics companies both within the Fiat Group and external to it.

For example, CNH often relies on DHL for its most important deliveries. More than 50% of urgent inbound shipments (required within two days) come from Italy. The standard transit time from Italy is four days but for a variety of reasons the plant may require the part urgently. “In terms of next day delivery service,” says Larkin, “we frequently rely on DHL for reliability and service. Here’s an example: critical parts can be collected from southern Italy at 18:00 hours, they are then air shipped overnight and with help of the DHL Premium Service the parts are delivered by courier for 06:00 hours the next morning in time for the production line start up, with no production disturbances. In a small number of cases, outbound shipments assist dealers who require a critical part from the manufacturing plant for a repair or service. The part is collected and shipped to the dealer overnight so that he can take remedial action and get the tractor up and running at the earliest opportunity.”

101

102

Factory of the month CNH Agricultural and Construction Equipment

How to build a 200hp tractor From purchase to production and beyond

While the logistics of procurement are often handled onsite, the purchasing process is mainly controlled centrally in Italy. Every tractor is made to order and every part is pulled from that order. The order is received with a lead time of six weeks for delivery and for each order the company measures how close it is to satisfying that lead time. Figures from Basildon say that CNH UK is currently satisfying over 90% of orders in that time frame.

In the first instance, the order is sent to Antwerp where the tractor’s core, the driveline (transmission and rear axle), is built. Basildon then takes delivery of approximately 100 drivelines per day. From that stage on the rest of the components then follow a build-to-order process. The first stage of the production process involves the combining of the engine, which is built by FPT Industrial (Fiat Power Train) company in Italy, the driveline and the front support. From there, every other major and minor part is assembled and fitted to the tractor as it goes through the production line.

Product variants make the make-toorder procedure even more necessary.

There are 80 available models and 14,000 variations available on CNH’s tractor products.

Blue Power

103

Swisslog reinforces focus on light goods S

wisslog, the global provider of integrated logistics solutions for warehouses and distribution centres, has added SmartCarrier and AutoStore to its range of solutions. Both are designed for highly dynamic light goods warehouses which are increasingly becoming standard for many sectors. Swisslog now possesses the largest light goods technology portfolio in the industry.

The SmartCarrier system was launched at the LogiMat exhibition in Stuttgart, where it received an enthusiastic welcome from potential customers. Designed specifically for highly dynamic light goods warehouses, SmartCarrier transport robots are autonomous vehicles with on-board intelligence which deliver totes and trays directly to dynamic picking stations.

It offers an excellent cost/throughput ratio, has very low maintenance and running costs and, because of its modular

104

design, offers immediate and flexible scalability. The system can be used for both order picking and case picking. The SmartCarrier system is manufactured in Austria by Servus Intralogistik GmbH, a joint venture between the Austrian Heron Group and Swisslog.

Autostore, the other addition to the Swisslog range, is a complete system for storage and order picking of single parts and small cases, with particular application for mail order businesses. It can be fitted easily into existing as well as new warehouses and greatly increases space utilisation. Goods are stored in

bins which are stacked directly on top of each other, whilst the warehousing and picking operation is handled by robots travelling on an aluminium grid above the bins. AutoStore is manufactured by Jakob Hatteland Logistics of Norway and Swisslog is the only supplier with a worldwide distribution agreement.

SmartCarrier and Austostore reinforce Swisslog’s commitment to serve the light goods environment. For more information on how Swisslog can provide the ideal automated solution for your facility, please contact Emma Rawlinson on +44 (0)1527 551 633 or emma.rawlinson@swisslog.com.

Published in association with: Swisslog Tel: +44 (0)1527 551 633 Email: emma.rawlinson@swisslog.com Web: www.swisslog.com

Factory of the month CNH Agricultural and Construction Equipment

The production process at the plant is one vast, continuous line. In separate parts of the line the product moves in different ways. In one area, product is chained up and hangs from the ceiling but as the product moves towards the

Robotic painting

On the shop floor there is a certain amount of information that we, as an assembly plant, can provide to the designers to help improve products. We can have a huge influence on making a product more userfriendly to assemble Dean Stephenson, WCM Support

end of the line, the part-assembled tractor is mounted on a big pedestal.

In line with the company’s autonomous maintenance regime, the majority of the automated process is maintained

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Perfect Partners for over 10 years AMC in Springfield, Chelmsford has worked with CNH for over ten years supplying quality Alfa Romeos. Heather Evans (pictured) works closely with the CNH team to ensure that all of their needs are catered for.

106

The new Alfa Romeos are truly exciting.

features (5 star N-cap rated). The

AMC offer fantastic company car

The Giulietta is a five-door hatchback

Giuletta comes in two distinctive versions

packages. Call Heather Evans and

designed by the Alfa Romeo Style

with 170 HP and 140 HP 2.0 JTDM turbo

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diesels, 1.6 105 HP JTDM turbo diesels,

together a personalised quote tailor

cues, equipped with impressive dynamic

and a Distinctive version fitted with the

made to your requirements.

capability for the most demanding routes,

170 HP 1.4 MultiAir Turbo petrol engine.

while providing comfort on everyday

The name of the new car is an obvious

journeys. This is thanks to its new

tribute to the mythical Giulietta which

compact platform which, in conjunction

in the Fifties caught the imagination of

with the refined technical solutions

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dream of owning an Alfa Romeo, with

performance both in terms of on-board

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www.amcalfaromeo.co.uk Eastern Approach, Springfield Chelmsford CM2 6PN Just off the B&Q roundabout

Factory of the month CNH Agricultural and Construction Equipment

in-house by CNH plant technicians.

There is some significant capital machinery at the beginning of the line in the form of some auto guided vehicles, and also in the paint shop which uses robots. The remainder of the plant is manually driven.

Significant and important changes have been implemented throughout the assembly line to facilitate the accurate and timely delivery of parts directly to the required assembly point or cell. In areas that have undergone recent process improvements, gravity-fed delivery devices were installed that are located right next to the operator and can be filled with minimal physical effort.

NH Tractor passing the plant

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Case New Holland & Hans Sauermann – A strong partnership for the future Supplier to CNH since 1967 Success through innovation, satisfied customers and high quality products

C

ontinual innovation, the complete satisfaction of customer needs and the highest quality standards are the basic reasons for the international success of the Hans Sauermann GmbH & Co. KG – The specialist for coupling systems.

Founded in 1965 and still led by the proprietor, the company develops and produces its products exclusively in its German location, which is in Freinhausen near Ingolstadt, Bavaria. This example shows that production in Germany can be competitive on the global market. The founder and Managing Director, Hans Sauermann has proven that production in Germany can definitly be viable, if only the company assimilates to the given conditions and if it learns to handle high cost pressure.

In spite of these disadvantages, Hans

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Sauermann profits from the strength of Germany, such as highly qualified personnel. In combination with their high motivation and the well known German inventivness, the company can fulfil the highest requirements of functionality and quality in their products, which is expected not only by Hans Sauermann themselves but also by their customers.

A further reason for the strength of the company is the high level of competence they command in various production methods in the Freinhausen plant. So Hans Sauermann are able to fulfil their customers needs in a fast and flexible manner. It is possible to handle changes in production and to guarrantee a high degree of on-time delivery simultaneously.

It is the fulfillment of these high expectations of quality, the depth of field

in production and continuous innovation which are the main factors for the success of Hans Sauermann GmbH & Co. KG. Short time-to-market cycles of newly developed products are possible through the close network between the Design & Development, Production and Quality Departments at the Freinhausen Plant. In doing so, Hans Sauermann is always one step ahead of their competitors.

Published in association with: Hans Sauermann Tel: 0049 (0)8446 920411 Email: vk@hans-sauermann.de

Factory of the month CNH Agricultural and Construction Equipment

Despite the considerable improvements that have been made on site, Larkin and his manufacturing team know that the key to the future success of Basildon lies in continually improving shop floor processes. By continuing to raise their expectations and maintaining their achievements, the site is well on its way towards accomplishing World Class Manufacturing status at the bronze level. The end goal, beyond being able to reduce waste and cost, is to increase the volume of tractors manufactured with the same resources. Market forces willing, the CNH Basildon has its sights firmly set on returning to 2008 output levels while improving margins and continuing to launch a range of new and exciting tractor models.

Hood assembly

Cab assembly

Finishing line

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Sews Cabind S.p.A “S

WS WAY” is Sumitomo Wiring Systems Ltd Group’s Principles of Action. From its foundation in 1590 as Sumitomo, in 1917 as SWS, the Group has followed the dictum, “developing better manufacturing by developing better people”. This principle guides us every day, in each of our production facilities, including today’s global operations. Partners of SWS around the world are helping us in this direction. Key factor for customers’ satisfaction are reliability and flexibility, from design stage to global supply system.

“Quality and safety first” too is the very foundation of SWS, leading us to create better products: “PikaPika” hearts and actions, technologies,

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and facilities, which will lead to the creation of “Pika-Pika” products. The wire-harnesses we manufacture are vital automobile components, playing the role of the automobile’s nerves and veins.

SEWS Cabind co-operation with CNH begun in 1998 and actually covers all CNH product line, including tractors, agricultural excavators, construction, serving all major plants in Europe from our plants in Morocco and Poland and our logistics poles in Italy, Poland and Spain.

CNH UK represents one of the most important clients of the Group and together many different projects have been developed, whilst considering

the strategic nature of our product.

Different versions of APH, CCM, APL, including Tier3 and Tier4, are participated in by our company.

Extensive activities have been carried out in the last few years, to give our partnership a stronger and much effective cooperation on technical, logistics and quality issues.

Published in association with: Sews cabind s.p.a Tel: +39 011 40106611 Email: info@sews-cabind.it Web: www.sews-cabind.it

Factory of the month CNH Agricultural and Construction Equipment

An insight into CNH New Holland was an innovator in farm equipment and machinery dating to 1895, when the New Holland Machine Works was founded by blacksmith Abe Zimmerman in New Holland. He established a prospering machinery business serving farmers from around the region. He built gasolinepowered engines that resisted freezing in harsh weather, a stone crush, wood saw and a livestock cob and feed mill.

Pedestal line before cab

The Great Depression and beyond New Holland Machine continued to build stand-alone engines, farm equipment and other farming and machinery implements. But the Great Depression pushed the company to the brink of extinction in 1938. Yet in 1940 the company developed the Nolt mobile pickup hay baler, which kept the company afloat. New Holland then changed its direction to produce forage harvesters and spreaders.

In 1947 the Sperry Corporation, a manufacturer in navigation systems and a key player in building bomb sights and radar for the B-17 and B-24 bombers during World War II, acquired New Holland to form a Sperry-New Holland Agricultural division. By 1964, it had developed an automatic bale wagon that could retrieve baled hay from fields and a haybine that conditioned hay while mowing.

Tractors In the 1960s, Sperry-New Holland continued its focus on farm implements rather than tractors and bought an interest

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PPG Industries PPG Industries Serves the Heavy Duty Equipment Market With Durable Finishes For Agricultural, Construction and Excavation Equipment.

A

s a Global partner of CNH we are proud to have supplied CNH Basildon site with all their coating requirements for over 10 years.

Heavy Duty Equipment (HDE) requires coatings that meet the demands of aggressive environments. Applied cost efficiency, durability, colour harmony, compliance with OEM specifications, environmentally friendly solutions and the ability to integrate coating technologies are critical in the HDE market.

PPG is recognised by HDE leaders as the leading Global coatings manufacturer at integrating electrocoat with other coating technologies. PPG’s global reach and local execution serve partner OEM’s wherever their supply chain is located.

PPG electrocoat primers offer superior edge coverage and recoatability

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to meet the demanding performance needs of HDE. PPG reduces risk by integrating electrocoat products with other PPG technologies as a one-source supplier of cost effective solutions.

PPG Liquid Coatings offer superior colour and appearance technology for HDE. The Spectracron® line of coatings includes primers and topcoats in a variety of formulas such as alkyds, urethanes, epoxies and acrylics. The water-based Aquacron® line features primers and topcoats.

PPG’s outstanding range of powder coatings provides answers to HDE application challenges. All of PPG’s Envirocron® powder coating formulas are economical and backed by unmatched experience and technology.

PPG is the only global coatings supplier that offers a complete line of pre-treatment products such as iron, zinc and ambient temperature phosphates, to meet the various demands of the HDE market.

Published in association with: PPG Industries Tel: +44 121 423 7345 Email: industrial-coatings-emea@ppg.com Web: www.ppgindustrialcoatings.com

Factory of the month CNH Agricultural and Construction Equipment

in Claeys in 1964. Claeys was a major combine builder in Europe. Within 10 years, Sperry-New Holland was the fifth-largest farm equipment manufacturing company in the United States, making it attractive for acquisition by a company interested in expanding Sperry-New Holland’s innovative technology to tractors.

The Ford Motor Co. entered the picture in 1986. Ford had been manufacturing tractors since 1907 and was largely responsible for producing an affordable mass-produced tractor that revolutionized farming. It was looking to expand its farm equipment division and purchased Sperry-New Holland to create Ford-New Holland Now building tractors with a large presence in the United Kingdom and the rest of Europe, FordNew Holland bought the Versatile Tractor Co. in 1987. But the relationship with Ford didn’t last long. By 1991, Ford was in negotiations to sell Ford-New Holland to Fiat.

Fiat Fiat was a natural buyer with vast experience in tractor manufacturing. It produced its first tractor, the Fiat 702, in 1919. It continued with a sturdy line of tractors while conducting a series of mergers, including one with an Ankara, Turkey-based tractor company. It also developed an earth-moving machinery division. Fiat acquired a majority interest in Ford-New Holland and changed the name back to New Holland. In 1999, New Holland was merged with Case Corporation to become Case-New Holland, which became CNH Global.

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fit for purpose Injection moulding electrical presses in cleanroom area

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With a half century in business behind it, medical product specialist Bespak’s focus on innovation, quality and meeting the needs of the market has made it one of the leading manufacturers of drug delivery devices for the world’s largest pharmaceutical companies. A team of Bespak directors talk Mark Young through the company culture, its robust product development process and some recent innovations.

Medical devices Bespak

Bespak,

founded in 1959, makes a range of complex drug delivery devices, specialising in self injection and respiratory products, with an output of half a billion assemblies each year.

The firm’s CFC free valves are believed to be used to deliver the widest range of formulations for COPD (Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease) and Asthma and in more territories than any other company in the world. Asthma and COPD affect more than 300 million people worldwide. Impressively, more than 1,000 people use a Bespak product each and every second of any given day.

The company partners with the world’s very largest pharmaceutical companies who purchase its assemblies and use them in final product manufacture. In November last year it was saluted by GlaxoSmithKline for supplying the Pharmaceutical giant over the last 15 years with its 500 millionth Diskus – a dry powder inhaler device which GSK sells all over the world.

The types of products made need the combination of very precise tool making and all electric platforms. Some of these components are asked to do many things and need a high level of process capability to produce or reproduce the products Metered Dose Inhalers (MDI) – the most prominent device used by asthmatics – have historically formed Bespak’s main focus. Here, Bespak supplies major medicine makers with the inhaler valve, which measures and delivers the correct dose of medicine, along with the actuator, which encases the canister that holds the medicine. The pharmaceutical company then buys in the canister, fills it with their formulation, attaches the valve and actuator and sells it on to the market. However, the company is now branching out into new areas through acquisition and organic growth. Two years ago, it purchased of a Sheffield based firm called The Medical House in a deal worth £16.9m. With it, Bespak garnered the

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Medical devices Bespak

capability to launch itself into large scale production of cutting edge auto injector devices – a market which is growing at approximately 15 per cent per annum. The new addition was renamed Bespak Injectables and became Bespak’s fourth UK site, after the main factory in King’s Lynn, Norfolk, a secondary manufacturing site in Nelson, Lancashire, and an innovation office in Cambridge. The 500 employees at the King’s Lynn site make the company one of the largest employers in North Norfolk, while the other sites employ around 100 more between them.

Says Bespak managing director Joe Barry: “We reviewed the whole medical device market to determine significant growth areas that could be aligned to the core competencies of the company and the auto injector segment fitted the criteria we were looking for. An increasing number of biologic drugs in the pipeline will need to be injected into the body. With our acquisition of The Medical House and our development work since, we now have auto injector platform technology that lends itself perfectly to deliver these sorts of drugs.

Along with the decades of experience and expertise that we have in putting together complex medical devices in high volumes, this means we are geared up nicely to take full advantage of this new opportunity.”

Bespak accounts for around two thirds of the £119m turnover of parent company Consort Medical, which is listed on the London Stock Exchange and has its headquarters in Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire. Anaesthesia device specialist King Systems, based in Indiana, USA, chips in with the rest.

The group’s operating profit last year was £19m.

On site at King’s Lynn, Bespak has more than 100 moulding machines and 40 automated assembly platforms, running on 24/5 basis, and more than 13,000 square feet of manufacturing space of which approx 6,500 square metres is clean room. It injection moulds some 3bn parts each year, from 1 – 128 cavity tools.

GlaxoSmithKline Vice-President and Site Director Graham Johnson: “GlaxoSmithKline has worked with Bespak for several years on the Diskus device and I was pleased to visit the Kings Lynn site late last year to mark the production of their half billionth device. Given the complex nature of the device, it has required true partnership to deliver this medicine to the marketplace. Recent statistics suggest that the therapy area concerned – the treatment of asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) – is the fourth biggest killer in the world, so staff at Bespak should feel good about their contribution to improving the quality of life for millions of people every day.”

Bespak introducing...

As well as contract manufacturing, Bespak provides full design, industrialisation and scale up in its core product areas. New product development follows a formalised

Moulded component metrology

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Bespak offers CT scanning service using their Werth Tomoscope HV Compact

W

erth Messtechnik GmbH celebrated the 50th anniversary of its founding in 2001. Innovations characterized by quality and precision form the foundation of this company’s successful development.

Following its introduction in 1955, the first desk design profile projector set ergonomic standards. During the late 1960’s digitization provided measuring projectors with the functionality of a coordinate measuring machine. The Werth Tastauge optical edge sensor, which represented the first glass fibre sensor for measuring projectors, was introduced in 1977. This principle has established itself worldwide as an accepted means of performing measurements in transmitted light. In 1980 the first optical CNC coordinate

measuring machine was introduced

by Werth Messtechnik.

A multi sensor coordinate measuring machine featuring integrated image processing and laser sensors, the INSPECTOR was introduced in 1987.

With the launch of the VideoCheck line in 1992, the cornerstone was laid for continued successful growth of the company. Today Werth Messtechnik is by far Europe’s biggest supplier of optical and multi - sensor coordinate metrology products.

Sensor developments like the Werth Fibre Probe, the Werth Zoom and the world’s first integration of X-Ray Tomography in a multi sensor coordinate measuring machine in 2005, validate the claim that Werth Messtechnik is the worldwide technology leader in this market.

Mantech Sales Ltd in co-operation with Bespak Ltd, are offering sub

contract X-Ray Tomography services, utilising their Werth Tomoscope Compact HV system. Dimensional capacity is 350mm cylindrical diameter x 350mm height.

This system can achieve measurement uncertainties in the same range as high specification CMM’s through the application of patented techniques to minimise the known errors in this technology. We can therefore provide measurement results of internal and external features and/or images which identify defect analysis for inspection purposes.

Nearly 200 employees in Germany supported by sales and service centres in all major industrial countries guarantee that Werth Messtechnik will continue to provide its customers with state–of-the–art coordinate metrology products of top quality and excellent service for many years to come.

Published in association with: Werth Messtechnik Contact Paul Nash at Mantech Sales: Unit 30 - Sir Frank Whittle Business Centre, Rugby, Warwickshire, CV21 3XH T: 07799 068239 E: werthuk@werthmesstecnik.de

118

Medical devices Bespak

Extraction sample preparation

We are building continuous improvement into the very essence of our operating philosophy, the goal being that you could take it away as a function and it would continue to propagate naturally throughout the organisation driving the performance that matters Alan Paterson, continuous improvement director

process dubbed internally as the Bespak New Product Introduction Process. It starts with innovation director Ian Anderson’s growing team based at the St John’s Innovation Centre in Cambridge. The reason this team is based some fifty miles away from the main site in King’s Lynn is that it is far enough away that the industrialisation emphasis of the main site will not stifle creativity from the outset. Instead, the company wants to find the best fit solutions for market needs and then, being only an hour away, can quickly access industrialisation expertise which Bespak has built such proficiency in over the years to ensure it is manufacturable in mass volume. “We want to allow ideas

that are slightly left of field the chance to germinate and build a substance and robustness to them,” says Anderson.

“Cambridge also has a network and innovation culture, with a lot of start up businesses and, of course, the University.

So it’s a good place, geographically, to be based.”

That isn’t to say that Ian and his team have a completely free reign when sat at the drawing board, though.

The innovation team is focussed not just on product development but also on how that product is to be realised and brought to market, and how it is going to go about being sold and who it will be sold to. Therefore, identification of needs – ascertained by working closely with all relevant stakeholders inside and outside of the business – is the primary concern while the ability to protect work, freedom to operate and, indeed, certain elements of industrialisation must stay at the forefront of considerations. In addition, to appease regulators and to ensure that the technology works exactly as it is expected to – a critical element of the philosophy upon which Bespak has set out its stall – the

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Medical devices Bespak

Biography: Alan Paterson, Continuous Improvement Director 1992-96:

Senior Scientist, Device Technology, 3M Healthcare

1997:

Joined Bespak as the first dedicated Programme Manager

2003:

Appointed Head of Advanced Services for Bespak’s Device Services Division

2007:

Appointed Technical Services Director for Bespak leading all New Product Introduction

2009:

Appointed Continuous Improvement Director for Consort Medical

Alan Paterson is CI Director for Consort Medical with responsibilities spanning both Bespak and King Systems. Bespak are a leading global supplier of drug delivery devices for injectable and inhaled products. King Systems are a leading manufacturer and distributor of airway management, anesthesia and respiratory medical devices, products, equipment and supplies.

Alan Paterson is a Mechanical Engineer who undertook pragmatic University research to PhD prior to joining the pharmaceutical and Medical Device industry in 1992. He became a six sigma Black Belt in 2007 and has been active in the field of CI for a number of years.

He is married with 2 teenage daughters and his primary hobby is following Tottenham Hotspur who he has supported for more than 40 years. product development involves thorough checks and testing and fastidious documentation procedures.

Says Anderson: “We would generally begin with a detailed stakeholder validation involving everyone from the pharmaceutical company through to the patients, as the end user, focussing on how they are going to interact with the product. Based on the set of needs which we identify, we then build up a proof of principle demonstrator which demonstrates the technologies that we are trying to get manufactured and proves that they are robust and that we can control them.

“We do scrupulous sensitivity analysis of a product, including a lot of early stage maths and a lot of simulation to make sure it’s going to operate as expected. Once we are comfortable that we understand the technology and how it’s going to be implemented we start to transition it over to the product development team on site at King’s Lynn.”

Here Lyndon Wild, as director of product development and operations, takes over the overseer role and prepares to take the product through to a single cavity prototype upon which consistency, performance and usability testing can be performed. Lyndon’s combined role means that he can manage the flow of products out of

Tensile testing

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Why wait?

FRP delivers ultra fast Rapid Product Solutions - from small & fiddly medical assemblies to large automotive and marine components - for companies who want to boost their profits by launching new products faster than their competitors.

I

n today’s manufacturing world time and quality are more important then ever. With an unrelenting drive to decrease product development times, partners that you can trust are becoming increasingly hard to find.

Fast By listening to its customers, FRP has established a unique range of Rapid Product Solutions built on a tried and tested worldwide supply base. This has helped us to achieve a reputation for reliability, quality and cost effectiveness.

FRP is fiercely technologyindependent, a fact which enables us to be truly objective when it comes to advising you on the best rapid development options for your new products. By working with a core group of specialist niche market manufacturers from around the world we enable you to access best in class quality and value via a single source.

Real Rapid Prototypes are often produced in misleading materials, which by definition can only ever approximate the final product.

Whilst fine for initial “form and fit” evaluation, these prototypes can inadvertently hide fundamental

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design issues with a component or an assembly.

Product designers and engineers (let alone Project Directors and Clinical Trial Groups) crave fully representative parts as early as possible. This is why FRP offers an ultra high speed injection moulding service for parts which are designed as injection mouldings. Using batch controlled raw materials and independently audited manufacturing facilities, we provide our customers with the real answers they need in order to make fully informed decisions.

FRP is the customer interface and project manager for manufacturers both here and overseas; some are small dedicated groups of niche market suppliers, while others are larger tooling manufacturers with resources which allow them to develop their own Rapid Tooling systems such as the Fast Delivery Tooling (FDT) process for high precision injection moulding.

Parts Working in the widest range of materials and finishes – from glass, rubber, GRP, polymers and metals through to advanced nanocomposites – and operating in industrial sectors as diverse as

medical, automotive, marine and aerospace, FRP is ideally placed to fulfil your prototyping and low volume production needs.

FRP will continue to source, prove and supply leading time compression technologies from around the world. Offering you, the customer, what you actually need as opposed to what others may wish to sell you.

Umbrella Service In response to growing customer demand for ultra high speed, accurate injection moulding in larger volumes, FRP has launched its new ‘Umbrella’ Service which has been optimised for customers that need a unified, consistent approach (from prototyping right through to multi-cavity full production tooling). FRP’s Umbrella Service shelters you from the incessant demands of new product development...allowing you the time to get your product developed on your terms.

Published in association with: FRP Tel: +44 (0) 1945 411 703 Email: sales@fenlandrp.co.uk Web: www.fenlandrp.co.uk

Medical devices Bespak

development and into manufacturing and he can ensure much closer, tighter, links so there is much less likelihood of issues when products leave development and move into operations.

He understands the challenges that the manufacturing operations are faced with and can feed these back into the product development stages.

“Getting a new product over to the development team from innovation takes somewhere in the region of six to nine months so it’s going to be quite a well considered thing by the time it reaches us in King’s Lynn,” says Wild.

“However, already by this stage the innovation and product development teams that are working on each project are often indistinct. The handover process is very considered; it’s a gradual transfer of ownership.

“We’ll usually go through a step-wise process from there on. The products we are developing usually end up being manufactured in their tens or even hundreds of millions through fully automated assembly but in order to go from a single cavity part where you’re making five to ten thousand, you have to scale up one stage at a time. We start with manual assembly, and then take it through a jigs and fixtures version. We then run some semi automatic assemblies before ending up with a fully automatic solution.

“In the background of all of this is the regulatory environment which means we have to make sure we retain all of the design history files throughout the process, all the way from the original need right through to the finished product. This is important for the standards that we set for ourselves too, and that we have managed the whole process so that we’re talking to the right people – the regulatory body, our clients, the pharmaceutical companies to make sure the design for the system is something that can be manufactured to the quality levels we demand as well as fitting the original need. Of course, in the medical world, it is one thing being able to manufacture but it’s quite another thing being able to get it to market.”

The Bespak directors are keen to stress the importance of staying in control and knowing exactly what will happen at each stage of the process.

Just as a barrister in a court of law knows the answer to every question

Biography: Joe Barry, Managing Director 1986:

Manufacturing Engineer at Collins & Aikman

1989:

Joined Dow Chemical and spent 7 years in various senior commercial roles

1996:

Moved to The Netherlands when appointed European Product Manager at GE

1998:

Transferred to Indiana, USA to become Product Manager- Americas at GE Plastics

2002:

Joined US Can as European Commercial Director

2004:

Joined Bespak as a divisional General Manger and appointed MD in 2009 Joe Barry is Managing Director of the Bespak Division of Consort Medical plc – a leading manufacturer of complex drug delivery devices, specialising in self injection and respiratory products.

Joe is married with 2 children and his hobbies include rugby, cricket, tennis and skiing.

We endeavour to stay on the front foot from a quality, continuous improvement, innovation and technology standing. Our analytical approach to understanding how devices work and our focus on delivering to the needs of both the client and the end user while remaining competitive on cost sets us apart from our rivals Joe Barry, managing director

Analytical laboratory

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Medical devices Bespak

before he submits it, the testing processes at Bespak are for proof, rather than for exploration. “What you can’t do is test your way out of a problem,” says Wild. “What you have to do is understand how your device works and carry out the testing that demonstrates that it works as you expect it to. First you do a round of verification testing and then you do a round of validation testing.”

From the product development team through to volume production it depends on the drug and the device.

Usually it’s around another 12 months but it can be substantially longer.

To ensure quality of the product and that processes are laid out properly, the company is compliant with ISO13485 – a standard which is very much geared towards medical devices.

“The processes are well defined and there is no scope to rely on previous experience and skip a few steps. Increasingly it’s more about the process you go through and the value that process brings,” says Anderson. “We work with the world’s leading pharmaceutical companies and they expect us to have quality at the forefront and to continuously improve as well.”

Breakthoughs The focus on innovation has paid off with many market changing breakthroughs over the years. Most recently, Bespak has developed a counter for inhalers which counts down every time a dose is administered.

This way, the user knows exactly how much medicine they have left in each device. The counter has been developed in response to new regulatory guidelines. The counter has a cost attached, of course, so it won’t be suitable for every market, but for the US, it cements Bespak’s position with existing customers and opens the door to new ones. And since the US is the world’s largest market for inhalers it was important that Bespak got in on the act quickly.

“Bespak is one of the few manufacturers in this emerging sector,” says Wild. “Ours has a patent protected mechanism focussed on ensuring absolute reliability in the product so that it cannot over or under count.”

The second big innovation recently is in the field of auto injectors,

propelled by the purchase of The Medical House.

Historically, medical devices are developed by working with a specific pharmaceutical company for use with a specific drug. The two are inextricably linked – one cannot function without the other. With its work on auto injectors, though, Bespak has developed a platform technology which can be used with a number of drugs and which it plans to license for a variety of therapies. Being a platform technology it is readily customisable to meet the needs of specific patient groups.

Explains Ian Anderson: “In developing this new technology we’ve taken a new approach and created an interesting business model around it. That’s really the innovation here. It’s a customisable platform which anyone can tap in to allowing smaller biosimilars and generic product manufacturers to offer a self injection system. From the patients’ perspective, it makes the experience of administering medicines a lot more comfortable as you do not have to physically insert the needle yourself.”

In addition, Bespak has developed a new Easifill primeless valve which has a fast fill, fast drain characteristic and allows a metering chamber to refill just before actuation. It ensures the inhaler is always ready to deliver the correct dose. “We believe Easifill will be the first primeless valve available on the market in the US,” says Barry.

Biography: Ian Anderson, Innovation Director 1987:

Joined Vinten Ltd as a graduate engineer

1993:

Joined Unicam, part of the Thermo group, managing the development of photo-spectrometers

1997:

A move into consultancy with TTP, undertaking a range of development roles eventually heading up consumer products

2005:

Sagentia Ltd – Director of Marketing and Drug Delivery

2010:

Return to industry with Bespak Ian Anderson is Innovation Director of Bespak. The Cambridge office is responsible for identifying opportunities that will support the strategic aims of the business in drug delivery and POC diagnostics.

He is married with two teenage children. His hobbies include football, golf and cycling. He has an Msc from Cranfield.

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Plasgran understands the importance of your needs

Plasgran believe in working with our customers to reduce waste and recycle plastics in order for them to be formulated into usable products in industry. We are continually investing in our business to offer our customers the best possible solution.

Plasgran Limited is a leading plastic recycling company based in Cambridgeshire, taking in industrial waste from manufacturing processes throughout the UK. We specialise in offering a customised scrap and waste recovery service that is specially tailored to meet your personal requirements.

What we do?

We collect from the pharmaceutical, automotive, food, drug and cosmetic industries and many more.

Latest Technology Plasgran uses the latest separation technology available, which enables us to remove contaminants. We also separate and clean the majority of polymers used today. This means we are able to offer quality materials to our customers.

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We Supply Plasgran can supply; boxes, cages and containment for materials. On site trailers, baling and grinding machines can also be provided.

Service The waste recovery service offered by Plasgran is second to none, offering top prices for your unwanted materials, and a service level unrivalled within the industry. We can collect liquidated stocks, offer site clearances and security destructions.

We operate our own in-house transport which allows us to offer an efficient service. We endeavour to collect within 48 hours.

Our Partnership with Bespak Europe Plasgran take scrap rejects and mouldings from Bespak and supply on site trailers for storage of their waste plastics. We undertake destruction work for end of life products and product launch disposals.

Plasgran can emulate this personal service for any company, along with additional services to suit your individual requirements.

Published in association with: PLASgran Ltd Manea Road, Wimblington, Cambridgeshire, PE15 0PE

Tel: 01354 740005 Fax: 01354 740933 Email: enquiries@plasgranltd.co.uk Web: www.plasgranltd.co.uk

Medical devices Bespak

Employee Focus: John Williams – Operations Manager

saved a potential £1m plus capital outlay. In reality we delivered a 30% plus improvement in machine efficiency to average levels that are at world class performance levels of 85% plus. The next challenge is to maintain performance in the 90’s – we regularly achieve figures in the early to mid 90’s – we just need to keep the focus on raising the bar.

John Williams joined Bespak to earn some money over the summer before he went to university. However, he liked it so much that he never left. He’s now risen through the ranks at the company to become Operations Manager.

What do you do in your role? I am responsible for the manufacture and delivery of medical devices and healthcare products at the King’s Lynn site. The role entails responsibility for the safe and efficient running of the production and technical teams, ensuring compliance to regulatory and quality standards, the achievement of delivery OTIF (On Time In Full) performance targets, training the manufacturing teams, developing and presenting functional and departmental capital and revenue budgets for the business area, and driving Continuous Improvement. The role also allows me to contribute to the overall manufacturing strategy of our business.

What are the key skills you use? I focus heavily on constant communication with my team with a clear emphasis on face to face discussions. I look to coach, motivate and challenge my team through delegation and empowerment. Planning, facilitation and uncompromising support to my team are clear objectives to me.

What do you consider to be your biggest personal success at the company so far? I enjoy targeting underutilised assets, maximising their efficiency using data driven methodology. This has dual benefits in delivering both business profitability improvements and ensuring customer satisfaction.

We have run two very successful projects within our Medical Check Valve product stream; leading the team to achieve our project goals was hugely satisfying. The success of these projects negated the need to procure an additional machine and thus

What are the most rewarding parts of your job?

I enjoy managing people and providing them the opportunity to contribute, develop and progress within the business – the feedback I get from this is hugely satisfying. Alongside this our continuous improvement culture is fantastic in challenging what we have done for years, innovating new ideas and ways of working and ultimately improving the profitability and reputation of our business both from an in-house financial perspective but also from a customer viewpoint.

What first attracted you to a career in manufacturing? Money, originally! I came to Bespak for a holiday job prior to starting a course which I was due to begin at the University of Swansea and I have never left. The team ethic, fast paced environment and constant challenges have left me wanting to stay, contribute and grow with a business that values its employees, has a great culture that rewards performance and provides opportunities to progress.

What’s good about working for Bespak? It sounds corny but it’s the people and the fabric of the place. I have been here 20 years and have thoroughly enjoyed the experience. The work ethic, professionalism and camaraderie are second to none. The fact that we are in the medical device industry and our products help people breath is testament to the work carried out here and the attitude of the employees.

CV in brief – John Williams Age: 43 Qualifications:

A Levels at Llandovery College

Employment:

Commercial surveyors office alongside a Royal Institute of Charted Surveyors course. Bespak: various logistics roles and into line management and subsequently into project related operational roles, culminating in promotion to current position in 2009.

Outside interests:

John is a ‘retired’ rugby player with 30 years commitment to his local club and now coaches both the club 1st Team and his son’s Under 9’s team. He is a keen cricket fan and follower of West Ham United. “I am also a taxi driver in my spare time to three fantastic children,” he says.

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Bespak Successfully Integrates Bespak Injectables onto SAP Business All-in-One

I

n November 2010, Bespak, a leading supplier of drug delivery devices for injectable and inhaled products integrated acquired organisation Bespak Injectables onto SAP Business All-in-One. Headquarted in the UK, Bespak employs over 500 people and manufactures more than 600 million medical devices each year. Bespak provides the capability and expertise to reduce time to market, allowing customers’ products to be developed, tested and manufactured faster and with minimised risk, whilst complying with the EEC Medical Device Directive and the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

Bespak has been an SAP customer since 1998 with the system supporting the administrative, manufacturing and distribution functions. In November 2009, Consort Medical PLC acquired The Medical House PLC and began the integration of the re-branded Bespak Injectables into its

Bespak division. In order to drive further efficiencies out of its existing SAP investment and to integrate Bespak Injectables’ data to provide administrative synergies, Bespak began moving the company from its existing IT systems onto SAP Business All-in-One. “Ensuring we have accurate, timely information across the business is imperative to Bespak as we are dealing with critical medical products which need to comply with stringent FDA regulations.

We selected Chelford (an itelligence company) because of their knowledge of the system, the strong references they had, the fact that they were highly regarded by SAP and that they also understood fully what we were trying to achieve and wanted to work with us as a team to ensure we would get the results we wanted.” commented Mark Newman, SAP Service Manager at Bespak.

Why itelligence? itelligence, an SAP Gold Partner and SAP Global Partner, is one of the leading international full-service providers for solutions in the SAP environment, employing more than 1,400 highly qualified employees in 17 countries. In August 2010 itelligence AG acquired British company Chelford SAP Solutions, creating one of the leading SAP Gold Partners and most successful SAP value-added reseller on the UK market.

In addition to large-scale SAP projects, the company provides and implements a range of templated solutions that enable rapid and effective installations in the small to medium-sized company sector. itelligence’s tried and tested offerings includes a solution that addresses the needs of the non-ferrous metal industry. The solution enhances the SAP system by providing specific capabilities that the industry needs, such as price fixing, risk management, tolling and metal accounting.

For more information on the itelligence range of SAP software solutions visit www.itelligencegroup.co.uk or speak to an itelligence SAP consultant now on: +44 (0) 141 204 0666.

Email: marketing@itelligencegroup.co.uk

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Medical devices Bespak

Bespak at a glance Based

King’s Lynn, Sheffield, Nelson, Cambridge

Formed

1959

Industry

Complex medical device manufacturing

Specialist areas

Respiratory and auto injector technology

Ownership

Part of the Consort Medical Group

Annual group Revenues

£119m (of which Bespak accounts for two thirds)

Output

500m complex medical devices per year

Facilities

13,000 square metre factory, including 6,500 square metres of clean room, 100 moulding machines, 40 automated assembly platforms

Trivia

More than 1,000 people use a Bespak product every second

Continuous Improvement (CI) Over the last few years, Bespak has engendered an organisation wide culture of continuous improvement which has infiltrated all operations and processes, with the principle aims of supporting growth, improving competitiveness and value to its customers. The company appointed Alan Paterson two years ago as continuous improvement director for Consort Medical to harmonise and accelerate the approach.

“The function of continuous improvement is really to remove the barriers which prevent us achieving the performance levels we target,” says Paterson. “We identify the problem, define what success looks like and then come up with data driven solutions.

We look at driving out waste in all of its forms. In the new product introduction area, for instance, we make sure we don’t build waste into the process design. That’s not just the things you throw away, it’s about making sure that we do not do things that are non value added to our customers or the running of the business. In our industry there is a tendency to generate a lot of data from production which after a period of time is no longer routinely analysed.

We don’t do checks unless there’s a value attached, and we consider the workplace layout so that we don’t introduce unnecessary motion or unnecessary material movements.

“We are building continuous improvement into the very essence of our operating philosophy, the goal being that you could take it away as a function and it would continue to propagate naturally throughout the organisation driving the performance that matters.”

As a recent example of CI in action, the company looked at how it could reduce the batch changeover time in a mature operation which had evolved over the years and found it could optimally reduce the downtime of the batch by 50 per cent. The project considered re-sequencing activities and concentrated on what tasks could be done while the machine was still running, rather than stopping it completely to perform the entire changeover process.

Paterson says the quantity and location of inventory is also integral to an optimised operation. “Overproduction is a big problem because if you make more than you need you have to transport it and store and administer it,” he says. “It’s important to make only what you need to satisfy the customer demand and locating what you need local to where you need it. It sounds obvious but it’s amazing how easy it is to slip into the habit of keeping the machine running and making five times the amount you need and then transport it into storage only to have to move it again when the customer requires it.” In most cases, Bespak operates on a make to order basis.

The personnel on the shop floor feed into continuous improvement through various means. Many of the ideas and suggestions for improvement come directly from the operators themselves and Paterson says it is critical that they have a good understanding of the efficiency concepts as well as the goals that the organisation is hoping to achieve.

“Then they are the best people to identify obstacles and opportunities,” he says. “You would be foolish if you didn’t engage with them for solutions and furnish them with the best tools and techniques for them to become effective in their analysis of their own day to day output and processes.”

That doesn’t mean training for training’s sake though.

“You never see a true return on investment if you go down that route,” says Paterson. “If you train 100 people to green belt six sigma level but then you don’t allow them time to progress improvement opportunities that investment becomes wasted. So instead we look at where we have a need and then create a suitable team and provide them training on how to carry out a project and evaluate it afterwards. It’s a learn by doing approach.”

In January, Bespak ran a week long practical workshop in which a cross functional team of participants were chosen not only for their skills but also their attitudes and behaviours in relation to CI and their potential for influencing others.

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Springpart F

ounded 36 years ago, Springpart has always focused on large volume, stainless steel compression springs, for the pharmaceutical, cosmetic and domestic markets.

The currently have a fleet of 54 compression coiling machines, at their Redditch base. They have expanded their pharmaceutical production recently, due to dramatic improvements in the cleaning operation, and working closely with Aston University, they have developed what they believe to be a world class production method to improve the corrosion resistance of the stainless steel used in their springs.

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Springpart have worked closely with Bespak for over twenty years, to continually improve the product they supply, and regularly hold Continuous Improvement Team meetings, to ensure that the springs are improving on an ongoing basis.

This type of partnership ensures that quality levels remain at an extremely high level. There is also a great deal of co-operation and excellent communication between Springpart and the R & D department at Bespak, with Springpart’s design team offering advice from product conception.

The improvement methods used to support Bespak, have acted positively

in attracting new customers, not only in the pharmaceutical trade, but also in cosmetics. Springpart hopes to expand further in 2011, with additional capital expenditure allocated for new coiling machines during this period.

Published in association with: Springpart Simon Kite Director of Customer Service

Tel: 01527 527302 Email: simon.kite@springpart.com

Medical devices Bespak

The workshop was a live project which involved work on real processes and problems that needed solving around the factory with a focus on identifying challenging but achievable performance targets. The team comprised of five individuals from a range of operational disciplines as well as the operations manager from the area. After two blocks of training and three days on the job followed by a wrap up evaluation session at the end of the week, the outcome is that the company now knows that its aspirational targets are realistic and it has a plethora of ideas about how to achieve them. “We have a whole host of wastes to remove and we have ideas about how we want to structure the process of improvement in this area,” says Paterson. “The week was very successful and it has started something which we hope will become a lot bigger.”

The CI philosophy extends all the way throughout the flow of processes from early product development, into manufacture and beyond into product life extension. As well as all of the way throughout the development stage and industrialisation, Bespak stays closely engaged with stakeholders in the management of mature products.

Anderson says “It’s very much about a full product life cycle management going through cost down journeys as drugs or devices become more generic or commoditised.

This is an increasing factor in the medical device manufacturing industry.”

What you can’t do is test your way out of a problem. You have to understand how your device works and carry out the testing that demonstrates that it works as you expect it to Lyndon Wild, product development and operations director

Paterson says his job has been made a lot easier because Bespak is blessed with a workforce which has a high amount of buy-in to the cause. “You’ll always have people who resist change and can’t see beyond the here and now but generally we have a very receptive, engaging and driven workforce which understands the motives and wants to get results,” he says.

New plant and machinery To maintain its position at the top of its market in the ever advancing pharmaceutical industry, it’s critical that Bespak

Biography: Lyndon Wild, Product Development and Operations Director 1987:

Joined BXL Plastics a subsidiary of BP Chemicals International as a Graduate Trainee

1989-92:

Held various product development roles at SIMS Portex

1992-99:

Rexam, senior product and business development roles within the pharmaceutical packaging division

1999-08:

Jaycare, held various senior level roles; Product Development Director, Business Development Director and ultimately Commercial Director

2008-09:

Joined Bespak as an interim programme manager

2009-10:

Clondalkin Group, Managing Director of their UK multi-site labels business.

2010:

Returned to Bespak as Product Development & Operations Director

Wild is Product Development & Operations Director of the Bespak Division of Consort Medical plc – a leading manufacturer of complex drug delivery devices, specialising in self injection and respiratory products.

He is married with two children and his hobbies include; fly fishing for trout & salmon and following Arsenal Football Club.

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Medical devices Bespak

maintains the very latest technology. It has been steadily upgrading its moulding machines from hydraulic to electric which now accounts for more than fifty percent of the installed capacity at King’s Lynn. This brings all sorts of benefits in terms of an environmental and productivity standpoint.

“Fully electric presses bring a high level of energy efficiency and also give a high level of consistency,” says Lyndon Wild. “They are more precise in terms of their reproducibility in their cycle to cycle, they are smaller, quieter and in a clean room environment there tends to be less chance for contamination. It enables us to push on with development projects with a complexity of tightness of tolerance which is hard to envision being possible with older hydraulic machinery. The types of products we make need the combination of very precise tool making and all electric platforms. We’re asking some of these components to do many things and we need a high level of process capability to produce or reproduce the products.”

Last year the company built 1,000 square metres of additional clean room on its freehold site and this facility is now up and running with a live project.

A similar sized expansion is currently under construction to support the industrialisation of a new product.

And, also in the last year, the company has added the ISO14001 environmental accreditation to its IS013485 for processes and quality in medical device manufacturing.

The future Bespak has further diversified and expanded its product portfolio by entering the point of care diagnostic market through its investment in Atlas Genetics. Anderson says, “This is an exciting opportunity for Bespak to enter a fast growing market sector and leverage its core manufacturing and industrialisation skills. This technology will enable doctors to rapidly diagnose a number of medical conditions such as Chlamydia.”

Says Lyndon Wild: “Bespak, with the backing of the parent company Consort Medical, is now very much geared towards growth through investment and there’s a number of ways we will look to do that through further acquisition, through in house development, by seeking partners who

Injection moulding electrical presses in cleanroom area

match our own ambitions and by investing in new technologies.”

Overall, Joe Barry says Bespak’s holistic approach to excellence in all aspects of its operations and the expertise it has built up from over 50 years in the business make it the partner of choice for its clients.

He says: “I like to think our customers trust us because of our long history of constantly meeting expectations.

We endeavour to stay on the front foot from a quality, continuous improvement, innovation and technology standing. Our analytical approach to understanding how devices work and our focus on delivering to the needs of both the client and the end user while remaining competitive on cost sets us apart from our rivals.”

Bespak is proud, says Barry, to be a world recognised company at the forefront of its industry.

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Better and

Ideas and innovation are behind the growth out of recession of award-winning luxury boat manufacturer Sealine International, Ruari McCallion learned from David Stretton. But it has not been a journey without challenges.

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Bigger

is not always better, as luxury boat manufacturer Sealine International has proved by winning the 2010 prize for best Flybridge Cruiser under 55 feet, at the Motor Boat & Yachting Awards. It is the latest in a line of awards that the company has received since it was founded in 1972 by boating enthusiast Tom Murrant.

Yacht building Sealine

former residents include Sir Rowland Hill, who invented the Penny Black and the modern postal system, and Robert Plant, of Led Zeppelin fame. The company is one of the biggest employers in the town but Kidderminster is not the first place that would come to mind when one thinks of boatbuilding; Sealine boats are, as their name indicates, seagoing yachts. This nearest salt water is some distance away – in any direction.

“The standard dinner party answer we have given to that point is that with the rate of global warming increasing, we’ll be on the coast anyway!” Stretton joked. “Yes, there are some limitations – we need an escort when we are transporting larger boats by road, for example. But we have a facility at Saxon Wharf in Southampton and we conduct all our testing there and in The Solent.”

Social settings Sealine is the smallest of the four leading British boatbuilders and the UK arm of Brunswick Group, the biggest boatbuilding company in the world. Sealine yachts look different; without sacrificing sleek, modern lines, they are broader in the beam and they have a shallower ‘V’ to the keel. The broader beam provides the opportunity for

The mixed-model line gives sales greater options and has helped us to drastically reduce lead time David Stretton, Manufacturing Director, Sealine

“Our founder looked around for a boat but he couldn’t find anything that he felt was really desirable, so he made his own,” said David Stretton, Sealine’s manufacturing director. “Other people saw it and wanted it, so he started building boats for them.” He chose what could be thought of as a strange place to do it – Kidderminster, Worcs, located around 17 miles from the centre of Birmingham, and whose

Sealine’s primary distinguishing feature, or USP (unique selling proposition): generous internal accommodation.

“Sealine yachts have a lot of ‘social space’ – room for those on board and their guests to move around. Having more space on the flybridge is a big plus,” Stretton explained. Not that those on board are restricted to the flybridge for a good outlook – the boats’ characteristic wraparound windows give everyone excellent views, even from the cabin. The control systems set the Sealine brand apart, as well. “We have a pod system for drive controls.

Instead of the traditional shaft, our boats have joysticks.

They help manoeuvrability especially in the marinas.”

Sealine yachts may look different to their rivals but they have something in common. British yachts are the marine equivalent of German cars – known for their quality. “Italian boats are known for their styling; the four British yards are all known for producing very strong, quality boats. These are the traditional British values and ones we retain. Ours are very well received in Scandinavia and Europe, in particular.”

Lessons from auto Sixty per cent of Sealine’s production is for export and it is one of a very few boat builders who run an entirely in-house operation. Every stage of design and production, from the drawing board through to the finished product, is carried out within Sealine’s 350,000sq ft site. The formula has been very successful. Its smallest boat, the SC35, in 2011 will have its 300th example on the water. For a luxury yacht, this is the

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Persico Marine Division Design Department Persico’s engineers and technicians offer experienced co-design support, as well as proficient design and engineering by providing and ensuring: • Construction specifications.

• Compliance with the construction work schedule.

• Reliable production cost estimates.

• Production process industrialization of the nautical project.

• Finished product quality standards.

Reverse Engineering Some projects may require matching existing parts and creating new ones (product restyling). Persico’s Marine Division uses multiple technologies during control and testing operations, including the creation of a new 3D file to for comparison with the original one, thus making the most of its reverse-engineering contribution.

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Modelling Department Persico use milling machines of dimensions up to 25 x 7 x 3.0 m, as well as other machinery (dimensions: 17.5 x 6.5 x h 2.5 m and 8.0 x 4.5 x h 2.0 m).

A greater reduction in production time can be achieved through the support of several external milling machines (25 millers of various dimensions) in processing all project models and moulds. Persico has also purchased a new vacuum processing plant and a post-treatment oven. This equipment complements the large series of CNC milling machines that can produce models and moulds of any size out of any material.

Moulds • • • • •

High-performance yacht moulds Rapid pre-series moulds Standard production moulds Direct moulds Aluminium moulds

Frames The frames can be engineered and made fixed, movable or horizontally pivoted.

Racing Yachts We also provide turn key solutions for racing teams. Persico has the capabilities to answer all of your needs, from the bottom of the bulb to the tip of the mast.

Published in association with: persico s.p.a via Lombardia, 4- 24027 Nembro (BG) Italy

Tel: +39 035 4531711 Email: info@persico.com Web: www.persico.com

Yacht building Sealine

equivalent of a million-selling car. And the company is not about to rest on its laurels. It is driving to get better at what it does, learning lessons from the auto industry and applying them, wherever appropriate, to its production processes.

The drive for improvement has been part of its success over the past two to three years, which has been achieved during a time of recession. All of industry knows about the downturn but Sealine faced a double challenge: it is a manufacturer but what it makes is a luxury item – by definition, a discretionary purchase. It is not at the top end of the luxury yacht market – its vessels range in price from around £180,000 to £1 million – but that is still a healthy bit of money to be laying out when the general trend is to tighten belts. So, how has the company managed to boost sales and output when all around have been cutting back? It was not plain sailing and began with retrenchment.

“Two years ago, our pipeline was full and we put a lot of effort into

reducing it, into selling old stock and getting new stock in,” said Stretton. Capacity was also downsized in order to fit market reality better. “We reduced our size by nearly half and lost around 200 people. We used to employ around 600 and had three manufacturing facilities – we now have just one. We have retained Southampton as a test centre and have a presence in Spain, as well. What we did was bite the bullet; our competitors have done things more piecemeal. We believe what we did has served us well as we have surged ahead again.” Things have been changing as demand for Sealine products has risen from the depths of the downturn. “Since Steve Coultate joined as managing director, we have seen a lot of improvements. He was an operations guy and he brought in ideas from other industries, especially the auto industry. We delivered on our promises to our parent and we are now seeing investment coming into the company.” Coultate is now Vice President for boat building in Europe, based in Brussels, and Sealine has a new MD – Chris O’ Conner.

Better control The change and recovery has been focused on quality and cutting out waste – the cores of lean manufacturing. One of the more impressive results the company has achieved has been through its ‘war on waste’ initiative, which cut the consumption of consumables by 40 per cent, pro-rata,

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Scott Bader Company Ltd Still Leading Composites Innovation 60 Years on.

F

or over 60 years, the Crystic® brand has maintained its reputation for quality, consistency and outstanding long term performance in even the most demanding applications. Today Scott Bader is known by many leading composites manufacturers for supplying products which raise the quality standards of their end products, increase productivity and reduce costs. Scott Bader’s R & D team develops technically innovative solutions to customer problems, providing composites designers and producers with a range of specialty resins, gelcoats and adhesives, so that higher performing, better quality finished fibreglass parts can be cost effectively manufactured.

Scott Bader has been in partnership with Sealine for over 20 years, supplying a wide range of specialty products which they confidently rely upon for their consistent

138

quality and superior performance. Sealine also benefits from extensive technical support and regular Crystic product upgrades from new technology innovations.

Scott Bader works closely with Sealine’s design and manufacturing teams, providing both technical expertise and processing knowledge. It is a partnership with the combined aim of making sure all vessels are constructed to the highest standards expected of a top quality Sealine luxury motor yacht.

Recent examples of Scott Bader’s R & D innovations are: a new range of Crestabond

primer-less structural adhesives for bonding metals, plastics and composites; and Crystic Permabright, a next generation technology marine grade gelcoat, which sets a new standard for long term UV weathering performance. The exceptional improvement in gelcoat colour preservation makes this a significant development for the leisure marine industry in particular; well maintained luxury yachts using Crystic Permabright gelcoat can now maintain their show room look and condition for even longer.

For more information visit www.scottbader.com

Published in association with: Scott Bader company Ltd Tel: +44 (0)1933 663100 Email: composites@scottbader.com

Yacht building Sealine

within two years. ‘War on waste’ is focused on basic activities, including simple things like switching the lights off when they aren’t needed and putting heaters on timers.

“It’s about being mindful of what we’re doing – it all helps to get the overhead down,” he continued. “We now have a kanban system for parts receiving and control. We collect a lot more data, which enables us to manage ourselves better.” Some of the changes have been much bigger, including the introduction of a mixed-model flowline. “We have totally changed the production floor layout. Among the ideas we have taken from the auto industry is moving lines. Previously, each boat was lifted, manually, by a crane. It took hours. Now, we put the boats on dollies attached to a chain on the floor and pulled by a winch; at the press of a button, the line moves forward. Moving a boat takes seven to eight minutes, rather than hours.”

The mixed-model line covers the boats from the smallest, the 35-footers, to the medium-sized range. The larger models, including the 60-foot T60 Aura, will follow in due course.

“We used to build the boats in line astern; we now make them side-by-

side,” Stretton explained. “The mixed-model line gives sales greater options – they don’t have the pressure to simply sell whatever is coming down the line – and has helped us to drastically reduce lead time. We have adopted a modular design strategy; we still retain craftsmanship as a resource and a characteristic of Sealine but the internal fittings, for example, are modular.” The company is unusual in that it is pretty much an entirely self-sufficient organisation. It doesn’t outsource design, it has its own designers working full-time.

The warranty and quality manager helped us to cut warranty work by half David Stretton, Manufacturing Director, Sealine

Innovation in construction Sealine boats are of conventional construction, in being made from GRP (glass reinforced plastic). But the company is pushing the envelope beyond the conventional, with progressively greater use of RTM – resin transfer moulding.

These use closed, rather than open moulds, to produce parts with much higher-quality finish than conventional methods – both sides are smooth and up to ‘visual’ standards – you don’t have the situation with one side shiny and the other rough. They also have the advantage of controlling emissions better, of which more later – but it is a challenging process.

“It is tricky and if you don’t get it right, if you get voids and an uneven flow of resin, the part is scrap – we have to get it right, first time, every time,” Stretton continued. A number of

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Trident Foams T

rident Foams has been associated and involved in the production of Rigid Polyurethane Foams for many years and is well known within the Urethane industry. Based in the South Manchester area and having recently moved sites to a newer and more modern facility it is centrally placed to provide products throughout the UK. Trident has a long history of providing PU materials for the composite and in particular marine industry.

This year Trident combined with IMPAG; an established and respected distributor of the AIREX range of products, including PVC and Balsa

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products but also the exciting new range of PET materials which have excellent physical properties and are both cost effective and recyclable.

Trident with its manufacturing base and CNC capability, now augmented with an extensive range of materials is able to not only provide a foam material solution but also a cut to pattern or bespoke

machined product to suit the customer needs.

Sealine International, with its progressive manufacturing techniques and streamlined production systems, have found this combination of materials and machining to be of considerable use in their drive towards efficiency and excellence in their final products.

Published in association with: TRIDENT FOAMS LTD Tel: +44 (0)1663 740120 Fax: +44 (0)1663 740121 Email: sales@tridentfoams.co.uk Web: www.tridentfoams.co.uk

Yacht building Sealine

manufacturers use RTM but not to the extent that Sealine does. “Most places might use it for a square metre or so – say, for a barbecue lid, for example.

The window mullions are put together with this process, which makes lighter, but stronger components and allows us to make larger flybridges, for example.

As we launch new boats, we are using RTM more and more.”

The introduction of RTM, a closedmould process, means that fewer styrenes and VOCs (volatile organic chemicals) are released into the air – which makes for a more pleasant working environment. More than that, it has helped Sealine to become the first boatbuilder in the world to receive ISO18001, the health & safety standard. The accreditation is much about very close control of the chemicals the company uses, how they are stored and applied.

None of these improvements could have happened without the changes in working practices and culture that have been introduced over the past 30 months. The change in the production floor layout is an important element but that would not deliver the cost savings, improvements in efficiency and effectiveness, and reductions in postsale overheads Sealine has achieved during the period.

supply – the GRP components and furniture,” Stretton explained. “GRP modules and wood furniture are put into the boat and we balance the line with mixtures of the modules.” Production is operated on ‘a job per man per day’, which is planned and balanced by activity and by build stage. Sealine has also introduced a pre-production line, which is dedicated to the new models. “Since the arrival of the warranty and quality manager we have cut warranty work by half.”

As well as designing and building its own boats, Sealine has, since the middle of 2010, had its own test laboratory.

“We test absolutely everything, including seats, bracketing, upholstery and check for leaks in port lights. We have focused on after-sales service but, of course, we want to get everything right in the first place.” The techniques that Sealine has applied are intended to drive that strategy of continuous improvement.

More efficient, continuous improvement “We have introduced direct line feed, which is fed by two main areas of

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Sealine “We have introduced FBAs (final boat audits) and QMIs (quality mapping inputs),” Stretton continued. “If a customer (usually a dealer) calls with a problem, we activate a QMI and review the issue in a plant quality review (PQR). It’s about fault-finding and fixing and it covers everything, from a 300-point ‘red light’ safety issue, which will stop everything while it is resolved, down to a 10-point hairline crack.” A PQR meeting is held every week, which reviews QMI data from dealers and resolutions achieved. “The process goes all the way back to the guys on the line. When I arrived, it was mainly a debate in the boardroom but it’s now driven all the way back to the shopfloor. It makes a difference; the guys can see that their activities and input has an impact, in improving quality and getting things right first time.”

Plans for 2011: more and better Sealine has gained recognition as a company that delivers, within

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the Brunswick Group. Its reward is to have attracted investment, which is enabling it to expand further. In January, at the London Tullet Prebon Boat Show, it revealed the plans for its latest model, the SC42, which will offer more social space than on any other cruiser of this size. It also announced a commitment to launch eight new boats over the next three years and that it intended to build on the successful introduction of new dealers during 2010 in France, Turkey, UK and Spain, with expansion into South America and the Far East. The sales and marketing side has proven itself with a series of ‘Sealine Roadshows’ and this will be expanded, with 12 events in the UK in 2011 and a further seven in Spain and one in Portugal.

“What we do with the roadshows is take the boats and a portable showroom to where our customers are,” said Stretton. “We actually encourage our customers to come and have a go, to sample the Sealine experience – it’s very much a one-on-one thing. We had a good response last year and they were very successful, so we’re taking the idea further in 2011.”

The future may also see the introduction of MRP, as data collection and bills of materials become progressively more accurate, and further innovations in design and construction, while maintaining the company’s reputation for quality.

These are the characteristics that Sealine has built itself upon and there is no reason to change them; they’re what the customer wants, after all.

Steel forming Hadley Group

Steeled for the future A difficult recession and a future characterised by increasing resource security challenges may make the steel forming industry seem an inhospitable environment for business. The Hadley Group, however, is confident that ingenuity in innovation, service and strategy will ensure it is able to continue supplying key products to its customers for many decades to come.

The UltraSTEEL® process has been successfully applied to a diverse range of products including Roller shutter doors and Vineyard posts, the resultant localized work hardening improves the strength of the base steel by up to 20%.

The

Hadley Group is the largest cold roll forming manufacturer in the UK, manufacturing diverse products ranging from pig pens to aircraft hangers to sky scrapers for customers around the globe. This breadth of market opportunity must have gone some way towards protecting Hadley from the impact of recession and the constant fluctuations of a turbulent market. But, as Ben Towe, operations director at Hadley explains, it is the fact that this is underpinned with a culture of innovation and strategic forward thinking that has allowed Hadley to consolidate its position as market leader and helps restore confidence in the steel industry as a whole.

Hadley’s approach to nurturing the cautiously recovering but still risk-averse steel market has been collaborative, customer driven and focused on the future: “The nature of the market in recent years, and the character of recovery have meant that we have seen a huge rise in opportunities for collaborative product development and joint ventures as companies seek to mitigate risk or share cost.

“Our international spread and scale of our manufacturing capacity, capability and technical competence has allowed us to tap into a larger, international and multi-continent customer base where consistency of global supply is considered essential.”

Unsurprisingly, therefore, Towe asserts: “Securing consistency of material supply will be our major priority going forward into 2011. Our primary route to this will be through strategic partnerships with distributors and we are also

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Humphries Timber Products “As specialist case and pallet manufacturers with years of experience and expertise, Humphries Timber Products Ltd continues to offer and enhance our reputation of a fast and reliable service at competitive prices�.

W

ith a real focus on being environmentally friendly, recycling, and operating as close to carbon neutral as possible, Humphries Timber Products Ltd are proud of the green heritage we are built upon. The company was originally formed to deal with the timber products unwanted after demolition work. Instead of it being burnt or sent to land fill we collected, processed and re-sold as much as possible.

After transitional changes, all reclaimed timber is now sold through a company within our group, Hednesford Reclamation

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Ltd, leaving us to entirely focus on using and supplying new timber all of which is sourced from sustainable forests meaning our customers can buy with confidence from a green company.

We take pride in working closely with our customers (largely consisting of steel and

other manufacturing industries) ensuring we satisfy their requirements at the expected standards every time. Our confidence in the reliability and service we provide is backed up by the loyalty of our existing customers, many of which have been dealing with us 20+ years.

Published in association with: HUMPHRIES TIMBER PRODUCTS LTD

Portway Rd, Wednesbury, West Midlands, WS10 7EQ

Tel: (0121) 5560097 Email: sales@humphriestimberproducts.co.uk Web: www.humphriestimberproducts.co.uk

Steel forming Hadley Group

engaging in some spot buying in the UK and with forward buying abroad. We are being careful how we balance the risk of getting involved too deeply in either one of those tactics.”

The collaborative pre-production process at Hadley Group Technology

Showing metal Towe believes that at some point every company must be responsible for its own fate and for building an internal resilience that responds to external conditions. For Towe, the key development at Hadley, which he believes sets the company apart, has been in connection with technical customer support: “We have an internal roll forming “academy” within our group of companies called Hadley Group Technology. As far as I am aware no one else has anything quite like this technical solutions development department.”

Hadley Technology Group works across departments and other group businesses to ensure that every opportunity for the enterprise as a whole is captured and capitalised upon. Furthermore it ensures that the capabilities of the whole group are made easily accessible and usable for the customer. Towe explains: “It is a technical hub. A multi-disciplinary engineering team that means customers can bring a requirement, or a range of requirements, to a single point of contact.”

Towe is convinced that dedication to the principle of prioritising delivery will continue to demarcate Hadley from other, perhaps equally technically, capable competitors. It is this conviction which is driving a key improvement initiative across the group, honing in on customer lead times, not just for manufacturing, but for the progression of new innovations from concept to market launch.

Being first to leap on opportunity while maintaining a service to existing customers which protects them from global volatility is central to Hadley’s plans and the company has invested time and money into making sure it can do this in the most effective way possible. Towe expands: “We have created a new off-line manufacturing cell which will fill our time to market gap that elapses while new tooling is in manufacture and help us tackle lead time challenges.”

Hadley launches around two or three new products every week, a standard that has stayed steady even throughout the recession but the speed to market for these is generally about 12 weeks. Towe says that the new off-line cell is enabling customers to have test models and low volume supply of their bespoke product within days while the traditional tooling is still in mainstream manufacture.

Further customer and delivery focused investments at Hadley include the recent installation of new Finite Element Analysis software. Towe explains: “As an engineering business we want to offer our customers the very best solution to their particular requirement. This new software enables us to critically analyse a customer’s product which allows us to constructively advise them on ways to optimise use of the product in life or to see ways in which a small modification, for instance to where a hole is pierced, could have a significant impact on both the tooling price and the price per metre of the product since it can affect the manufacturing speed or complexity.” This focus on getting the best for customers,

Hadley Group at a glance Points of interest: In 2007 Hadley Group received a Queens Award for Innovation for their patented Ultrasteel® rolling process. The process brings together the need for high performing, resilient steel products at a competitive price with the need to consider the environmental impact of production and the pressing concern of resource scarcity.

Core products

Cold rolled and allied products

Established

1969

Turnover

£92m

Employees

450 worldwide

Key global locations

UK, France, Germany, Dubai, and Thailand.

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Steel forming Hadley Group

both in terms of performance and cost is ingrained in the Hadley Group through from its unique inline rolling process, Ultrasteel®, through to its choice of future investments.

The Ultrasteel® process, which won Hadley a Queens Award for Innovation in 2007, is at the heart of the Hadley Group’s operations and offerings. Ultrasteel® is a cold rolled pre-forming process that locally work hardens the base material improving its strength by up to 20%. The process is applied to the standard base metal in-line so it does not increase manufacturing cost and is ideal for high volumes.

The innovation, which took 20 years to develop, is now used in over 300 mills worldwide turning out more than one billion metres of product per year. The process is internationally patented and trademarked and the company has been very active in franchising the process to roll formers in India, North America, South Africa and Eastern Europe.

Hadley has also redesigned its own product range to incorporate the UltraSTEEL® process. This rapidly growing range includes roller shutter door sections, strut profiles, internal and external framing profiles, window reinforcement profiles and the recently launched steel post range for use in vineyards. The latter product was commended with the “Birmingham Chamber of Commerce Manufacturer of the Year 2010” Award. The company is currently following up leads to utilise weight-out/ strength in aspects of UltraSTEEL® within the automotive and aerospace sectors. Hadley is not, however, resting on its laurels as Towe makes plain: “We are also looking to expand through diversification and through areas aligned with our core business.”

Indeed a significant proportion of the £1.5m Hadley has spent in the last 12 months has gone into buying the redundant assets of companies who have succumbed to this frustrating situation and refurbishing them, using in-house expertise, to meet new requirements in addition to major purchases of new plant, equipment and technical expertise.

Extending horizons Another move for strategic market diversification is embodied in the doubling of Hadley’s presence in Dubai where, despite glum press reports about financial stability, Towe says there is a wealth of business to be had: “Whatever the press may be reporting, the fact is that Dubai will have to get finished, as does Abu Dhabi. We understand that Dubai itself may not be a place to look to for new sales but the fact is that there is around a decade’s worth of work to be done simply to deliver everything that has been sold so far and we are seeing emerging interest from neighbouring countries.

This pro-active approach to unearthing growth and value opportunities recently led Hadley to acquire the assets of a Wolverhampton based roll-forming company. The firm was identified for integration with Hadley due to the skills and capabilities it would bring to the groups growing interest in the steel framing market as well as other interests which will require flexible manufacturing lines together with a higher degree of automation to minimise cost and deliver sustainable efficiency improvement.

The future is shaping up well for the Hadley Group. The scale of the business allows it to compete on the world stage for major global customers on an increasingly competitive basis. Towe maintains, “Hadley has the technical competences to attract and support the most demanding customers combined with a fast track, collaborative approach to product development through to market launch. Furthermore its long term programme of investment in technology has borne fruit in the UltraSTEEL® process which further enhances its ability to offer sections and systems with a unique competitive advantage.” Any short term material supply turbulence – perceived as a major threat within this sector - can be offset by the Hadley Groups global sourcing policy, thus ensuring that the effect on the customer base is minimised.

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Waste Not: Want not!

A

n old phrase perhaps, but one that has a very modern theme.

Waste represents loss, way beyond removal costs. Waste means lost resources, lost efficiency and lost profit.

Waste comes with responsibilities, not least every increasing environmental legislation, auditing and reporting.

Waste management is now a core managerial function.

Waste creates risk; to your staff, customers, your products and the environment. Waste creates social responsibility issues. Waste threatens the world we live in and the world we are going to leave behind.

Waste matters. Time and resources are running out.

Forward Waste Management works

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in partnership with manufacturing and service industries, starting from a position of waste reduction commencing at the point of production.

Everything we do is based on this premise.

We’re experts in waste management; we understand its implications right through an organisation. We enable our clients to minimise, reuse and recycle redundant resources across the whole spectrum of waste, from recyclables to hazardous materials. We manage every step of the waste cycle; elimination,

minimisation, diversion, removal and disposal. Waste management, risk reduction, legal compliance, cost control and environmental consultancy from one single source.

So, if waste is an issue in your organisation. If you know deep down that the old saying is true‌then we should be talking.

Forward Waste Management Waste. Sorted.

Published in association with: Forward Waste Management Tel: 029 20664023 Web: www.forwardwastemanagement.co.uk

Healthcare Pelican Healthcare

care Have a

Pelican Healthcare manufactures about 5.5m ostomy pouches a year

When health and wellbeing are in the balance issues of quality and service excellence become more than just business jargon.

Pelican Healthcare tells TM how it is rising to the challenge of providing specialised products and sensitive service delivery to their vulnerable customer base.

Established

in 1989, Pelican Healthcare has been functioning as part of the Eakin healthcare group since 2007. A niche company servicing a sensitive customer base, Pelican has recently experienced rapid growth and an exciting period of investment. Colin Kent, operations manager at Pelican, took the time to share the details with TM and give some insight into the distinct but surprisingly competitive sector he works in.

Describing the dynamic period of investment Pelican has experienced since its acquisition by Eakin, Kent recalls: “Since November 2009 we have been undertaking a massive refurbishment of our site. The motives for the refurbishment were twofold. Partly it was prompted because we were experiencing a lot of growth. We were only utilising about 40 per cent of the space, with tenants in the other 60 per cent and we were outgrowing our share rapidly. We gave notice to our tenants and they were re-housed in the local area.�

The second need for refurbishment came from a desire to automate. We have brought in a number of new machines

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Engineered Adhesive Solutions N

early 40 years ago, Parafix Tapes Ltd realised that the significant increases in performance and subsequent applications for adhesive tape materials would lead to a sizeable market. Parafix Tapes and Conversions Ltd was then born and set about becoming a leader in the field.

Global high technology manufacturers began educating the design and manufacturing community of the benefits of adhesive tapes over more traditional methods of fastening such as nuts, bolts and rivets, whilst Parafix concentrated on making these flexible materials more convenient to use for their customers.

Parafix now employs 100 people at its manufacturing locations in

150

the UK, Hungary and Russia and utilises a suite of flat-bed, rotary and laser cutting equipment to provide bespoke solutions to customers in the electronics, medical, automotive, defence and aerospace sectors.

Covering a wide range of applications from EMI shielding and thermal management to diagnostic test strip and ostomy products, Parafix has added a range of materials that complement its traditional pressure-sensitive adhesive offering. These products include performance foams, metal foils and plastic films along with microporous, hydrophilic and absorbent materials.

Along with its Class 7 clean room facilities and rapid prototyping ability, the most recent addition to

Parafix’s capability has been island placement equipment, enabling conversion of wound care products as well as multi-stage, high tolerance parts. Also, to negate the need for handling of these parts, Parafix offers low cost pick and place equipment, enabling accurate, consistent placement of customers’ die-cut components.

Published in association with: Parafix Tapes & Conversions Ltd. Tel: 01903 750000 Email: sales@parafix.co.uk Web: www.parafix.com

Healthcare Pelican Healthcare

Pelican at a glance Sites

Cardiff

Key products

Ostomy pouches and vaginal speculums

Employees

170 (Cardiff)

Major customer(s)

NHS, T.G. Eakin

Annual turnover

£25m

Points of interest

• Pelican produces around 5.5 million ostomy pouches a year and supplies 80% of the speculums for the NHS Obstetrics and Gynaecological feminine healthcare contracts.

• A proportion of all profits from the sale of Pelican’s vaginal speculums is donated to Jo’s Cervical Cancer Trust; a charity for the support of women suffering from cervical cancer and cervical abnormalities.

• Pelican Healthcare is delighted to announce that they were nominated as finalists in the Continence and Promotion of Care category of the Nursing Times Product Awards 2010.

and initiatives to support this and the refurbishment of the ground floor is now almost complete. The investment so far has cost approximately £5m.”

Much of that investment (£1.7m) has been spent on new automation machinery including one machine which produces two ostomy bags every five seconds. Kent says: “We are looking to purchase another of these machines in the next two to three months. All the investment activity reflects a complete commitment from the board to turning profit around and putting it back into the company – since purchasing the company the board have adopted a policy of continuous investment in the Company. All profits have come back to the business.”

Furthermore, Kent explains that the money is not only being targeted at supporting existing capabilities.

A culture of innovation and an open mind to new markets characterises company strategy with the company

aiming to bring a new product to market every six months and, through competitive expansion, to open up access into new national and international market segments. The most recent example of this latter intent has been the acquisition of Oxfordshire based healthcare company Clinical Innovation Europe which will relocate to the Welsh Pelican site. The buyout will double the size of Pelican’s feminine healthcare division and has added around £5m to the annual turnover taking it from approximately £21m to £26m overnight. Looking forward Kent says the plan is to achieve a turnover of £45m within the next five years.

Pelican is separated in two major divisions: namely ostomy products and feminine healthcare. A third division called home delivery is responsible for the distribution of ostomy products direct to end customers – or as they are rather more sensitively referred to by Pelican, patients.

The ostomy products manufactured by Pelican include a variety of ostomy pouches for the sanitary collection and drainage of bodily wastes following bowel surgery.

As Kent explains supplying into this market necessitates the highest level of delicacy and commitment to quality: “We are supplying to patients who have just undergone traumatic and invasive surgery and both branches of the business, ostomy and feminine care, are frequently

151

supplying to people suffering from cancers of a very private nature. We are continuously improving our products and services, partly to improve our cost base, but mostly because we are driven by quality. The patients we supply to have gone through enough. We have to make sure that our products and services help to give them comfort and that patients have peace of mind that the product will do what it is meant to.”

In pursuit of perfect quality standards Pelican carries out rigorous testing on all its products with some lines being tested as regularly as every 15 minutes on criteria like drainage, adherence to the body and leakage.

Goods inward are also carefully audited to ensure that all materials and components taken into the plant are up to scratch and at point of use the finest expertise for the application and use of products is ensured by employing qualified stoma care nurses to deliver products.

Having this level of care and dedication to excellence in operations is essential if Pelican is to protect its competitive position as well as its moral obligation to patients, for despite operating in a niche area Kent says that the supply market for ostomy and feminine healthcare products is surprisingly crowded: “We are the market leaders in feminine care products for the UK ,with by far the largest market share and are a growing player in the Ostomy market but you would be surprised how many companies there are competing in these areas in the UK.” To keep ahead of this competition and maintain

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the company’s leading position Kent says targeted innovation is the key.

As an example Kent pointed to the release, just a couple of months ago, of a paediatric convex ostomy pouch.

This product is the only one of its type on the market and its design specifically with children in mind. The material is softer than that used in most conventional ostomy pouches and is hypo-allergenic.

In the feminine healthcare division, which predominantly produces vaginal speculums for use in smear tests and coil fittings, there has also been innovation. The five core products, which vary in size, have recently been joined by a new lighted speculum for the facilitation of delicate medical procedures. Similar products have been launched by competitors in the past but hefty battery packs which cannot be disposed of in medical waste meant such devices were inconvenient for surgeries and clinics.

Pelican’s innovation uses LED technology powered with normal household batteries in a detachable charger, so the speculum is easy to use and dispose of. Kent says: “It is early days yet but demand for this very new product, only launched three or four months ago, is steadily increasing. It is much more mobile than anything similar being offered on the market.”

Constant improvement and innovation are intrinsic to the everyday culture at Pelican but Kent explains that this organisational attribute is thanks to the nature of the company’s work and people rather than any formal improvement programme: “Our continuous improvement is not structured around kaizen or poke yoke and the like, although I am a former NVQ assessor and trainer for Business Improvement Techniques so there is knowledge of all those techniques. We just take an approach whereby we are continually looking at our processes. We have just introduced a new test lab and we develop products on site.” All meaning that product concept, design and production are aligned, with fluid feedback and development of products and processes.

A key influence and consideration that needs to be taken into account in all of the above is that nearly all

Healthcare Pelican Healthcare

Our continuous improvement is not structured around kaizen or poke yoke and the like, although I am a former NVQ assessor and trainer for Business Improvement Techniques so there is knowledge of all those techniques Colin Kent, Operations Manager, Pelican

Pelican’s feminine healthcare products must be medically sterile when they arrive with customers and patients.

Although sterilisation takes place offsite and is carried out by a third party, its necessity impacts on the materials that can be used for products and, perhaps most importantly, impacts on the lead time for delivery of products to customers. “There is a turnaround in sterilisation of about two weeks and we promise all our customers that if they order before 3pm one day they will receive their order the next day.� This necessitates the holding of varying levels of stock for certain products; stock which is balanced

against flow in production and demand for high runners.

In addition to lead time considerations, a newer driver for process innovation at Pelican is environmental regulation and the increasing cost of sending waste to landfill. To counter this, a series of intensive innovation programmes have been carried out and the company has sought strategic partnerships in order to reduce waste and, where possible, turn waste into new revenue.

Seventy per cent of waste from the Cardiff site is now compacted for use in a waste-to-energy initiative, the amount of defects, already low, is being chiselled down and new materials which will degrade naturally without jeopardising the resilience of products during use are also being looked into. While having a care for maintaining the highest standards of service today there can be no doubt that Pelican is making ready to meet an expanding bill of requirements in the future.

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Spectra XTR power wheelchair is now available with the Leckey KIT modular seating system

The

wheel

deal

Less than a year after consolidating two of its production facilities, Edward Machin talks to Chris Bevan, general manager of mobility products manufacturer Invacare UK, about building lean houses — one brick at a time.

154

With

global headquarters in Elyria, Ohio, the Invacare Corporation is an undisputable global leader in the $6bn home medical products industry.

Central to maintaining such prominence, and located 3,000 miles across the Atlantic, in Pencoed, is Invacare UK — the first European site the corporation purchased, more than two decades ago. “We’ve actually been manufacturing wheelchairs in South Wales for well over half a century,” says Chris Bevan, Invacare UK’s general manager. “Firstly as Zimmer Orthopedic, which then became Carters J&A in the late 1970s; Invacare acquired the company in 1988. In the UK we can sell any and all of the Group’s products: something could be made in the USA, France or Germany, but it will be part of our product portfolio at Pencoed.”

After a European consolidation exercise in 2006, the volume of both powered and manual wheelchairs made

by Invacare UK decreased. Bevan takes up the story: “The parent company decided to install two European

Mobility products Invacare

Centres of Excellence: one for manual wheelchairs (Sweden) and one for powered (Germany). It left us largely with products that we only sell into the UK market, so it didn’t make sense to set up Continental supply chains.”

All was not lost, however, Invacare acquired MSS, a manufacturer of wheelchair cushions and bed mattresses, previously based in Treforest and “with the wheelchair side of the business based in Bridgend, and given Invacare’s strategy of continual growth, it simply made sense to base everybody at the one facility, as is the case now.”

On the pressure area care side of the business, as those at the company call it, Pencoed is the Centre of Excellence for the Invacare world. The UK is the only European site that manufactures such products and, accordingly, it distributes a wide range of both pressure reducing mattresses and cushions to the organisation’s global sites. “We have 120 guys on the shop floor, predominantly making cushions and mattresses - operations which were, until last year, undertaken at our Treforest site,” he says.

Invacare ships to order approximately £6m per month, of which a fifth is traced to the company’s pressure area care products which,

when added with in house wheelchair production, amounts to 40% of the daily shipping figure; the remaining percentage is distribution of products manufactured at Invacare’s other sites around the globe. Indeed, the latter was one of Bevan’s greatest challenges in merging the two plants. “I think perhaps we underestimated the logistics in shifting the factory’s warehouse and distribution operation.

After the huge success of the manufacturing move from Treforest, which was thought to be the more difficult part of the merge, I simply expected to be able to pick up the warehouse and move it to a new premises - job done,” he says. “Given that we were so busy due to the company’s continued growth, this certainly proved to be a much bigger challenge than expected.”

Leading on lead times “We build to order, and therefore hold very few manufactured products in stock. Everything Invacare UK makes is done with a maximum lead time of five days: cushions in under two, and wheelchairs and mattresses in under five.” Further improvements are just around the corner.

This ultra efficient approach to manufacture can be traced to 1993, and the input of Eric Michel, General Manager of the Invacare French Operation who visited Bevan’s corner of South Wales. However after the initial training the UK pushed on further. “Why hold superfluous inventory, they said, so we went from Kanban to one piece continuous flow in little under five years; each and every part of a wheelchair, for example, is made for that product alone.”

Things were not always so for all products. “When we acquired the plant at Treforest, work was done in large batches, with queuing, silos - you name it,” he explains.

By merging the processes Invacare used in wheelchair

Sonic welding is one of the processes used to seal the cushions and mattresses

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Joining forces In January 2011, Invacare announced a new partnership within its Specialist Rehab Seating Range, offering the Leckey KIT and MYGO range of products throughout the UK. The new KIT Seating System is highly adjustable and designed in a modular format for teens and adults with moderate to complex disabilities. With its innovative Pelvic Cradle, three part backrest with ball and socket joints as well as multi-positional leg guides and footplates, KIT gives clinicians the tools to meet the requirements of the most complex individuals.

The Mygo Seating System further allows therapists to optimise the postural care of children with moderate to complex needs. The seat base, backrest and pelvic harness have been reinforced, and the Size 2 option can accommodate windsweeping of up to 30°. Of the partnership, Mark Babb, the company’s national sales manager, says, “The Leckey KIT and Mygo products complement our expanding product portfolio. By addressing the needs of individuals with complex disabilities from infants to adults we are committed to delivering high value solutions that improve quality of life.”

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manufacturing, things improved rapidly, lead times in mattress manufacturing build to order products reduced from 28 days to five, with on time delivery performance increased from 10% to 100. “Very seldom we fall off the one hundred per cent mark, so that’s a nice improving picture, but it’s not come without its hurdles,” says Bevan.

And yet, with the major share of the UK market for its powerchair products, and over half the market share for its manual chairs and pressure area care portfolio, such obstacles are proving more than negotiable for Invacare UK. While the company is continuing to pinch work from its major competitors, “We are simultaneously looking to diversify into sectors beyond mobility: primarily the bed and lifting markets, which we’ve earmarked as areas of huge opportunity for 2011 and beyond,” he says.

In order to maximise such growth, Invacare UK has implemented an organisation-wide 5S programme, of which value stream mapping exercises remain an ongoing - and critical component. “Before 2008 we were

Mobility products Invacare

shipping £50,000 worth of spare lines per day; a spares planner was charged solely with ascertaining how many lines we could dispatch in zero to two days,” says Bevan. “That was another challenge: if you order on Monday then it’s delivered to the customer by the Wednesday. Equally, if Pencoed doesn’t hold something in stock we’ll have it ordered from Europe in double quick time. Because purchase and sales orders have been tied, nothing sits on the floor gathering dust; it’s booked in, the guys can immediately see the sales order and the part is shipped out as soon as it arrives. This is a relatively new initiative for us, but one that is proving revolutionary to the way we work.”

The house that lean built Bevan, an MSc Lean graduate from Cardiff University, has long been focused on driving lean through the company: “Since last March we’ve been laying the building blocks - climbing the lean house, so to speak.” On 14 February, he oversaw the value stream mapping of Invacare’s cushion area, with many action points around safety, quality, delivery, cost and inventory reduction identified as a result.

“We started a similar project for mattress manufacture last August,” he says. “One of the key points to come from it concerned the fact that at Treforest operators would cut material before sending it away for screen

Invacare UK at a glance At a glance

Invacare’s UK operations were founded in 1856, and the company now employs over 250 people. Based in South Wales, Invacare provides the UK healthcare market with a range of wheelchairs, scooters, beds, bathing, mattress and cushion products. Invacare’s commitment to product design and quality has resulted in a comprehensive range of solutions for independence and mobility.

Address

Pencoed Technology Park, Bridgend, Wales

Employees

250

Turnover

£60m

Contact

www.invacare.co.uk

printing - after which it would return to Bridgend for welding, sewing and packaging. Because two days were lost in this process, the screen printing operation now sits in our factory; we simply pass the work to the printer as it comes off lay-cutting and they pass it to high frequency welding one piece continuous flow.”

During the project inventory reduced by a massive 33% and customer lead times reduced by a further 20%.

“On 29 April we’ll measure our progress on the cushion project in terms of safety, quality, delivery and cost, so it’s very much all hands to the pump at the moment,” says Bevan. “What we’ve inherited with blending the two plants is hugely exciting. I think that previously some of the supervisors at Treforest perhaps felt a little bit removed from the processes; now we’ve empowered them, and they’re running the show.”

Material is cut for the exterior of the cushions

157

Talk Roberto Priolo and Tim Brown speak to SPTS and find out that, in the microelectronics industry, attention to the smallest level of detail is absolutely vital in the production process.

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Microelectronics SPTS

Providing

assistance to facilitate the mass production of consumer technology products, SPP Process Technology Systems (SPTS) is at the forefront of high tech manufacturing. A subsidiary of Japanese company Sumitomo Precision Products, the firm manufactures semiconductor wafer processing equipment used in the fabrication of a wide range of microelectronic devices.

The systems developed by SPTS use gases which are excited to form a ‘plasma’ which etches or deposits materials to create microscopic structures on a silicon wafer. These structures are then used as component parts of other products such as airbag sensors, or flash memory devices.

SPTS technology is used by a number of different industries including: microelectronic mechanical systems (MEMS); Light Emitting Diodes (LEDs); advanced packaging; and high speed electronics. The evolution of the company can be traced back to the 1960’s, and a south west based UK technology company called Electrotech.

This is a fast-changing market, because it is linked to the consumer market and is therefore exposed to consumer electronic trends David Butler, Vice President, Marketing, SPTS Having undergone a number of branding transformations since then, its more recent history is almost as complex as the products it makes.

In the 1980’s Electrotech had a research equipment arm called Surface Research Systems (SRS, renamed Surface Technology Systems, STS in 1990. In1995 STS was sold to its Japanese distributor, Sumitomo Precision Products (SPP)..

In parallel, Electrotech was acquired by a US company and became Trikon Technologies and then through another acquisition, became Aviza Technology Incorporated in 2005. Finally, after acquiring some of the business units of Aviza, SPP merged it with STS, creating SPP Process Technology Systems —

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Rimor – delivering excellence to SPTS

B

ased in Hampshire, near Portsmouth, Rimor has seen huge changes in the market place and customer demands throughout its 31 year history. With over 100 employees, Rimor is well established as an ‘engineering excellence’ manufacturing business, partnering with several major International customers in a range of high technology industries.

Rimor has built a reputation for manufacturing to the highest quality and has recently been approved to AS9100, a higher level approval than ISO9001. This underpins Rimors’ capability in managing both internal manufacturing and external suppliers, both of which are critical to delivering on time and to specification.

Meeting the high quality expectations and schedule demands of the global

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semi conductor business requires incredible focus plus robust business processes, systems and very capable people. Ongoing significant investment in the latest CNC machine tools, cleaning systems and the in house Class 10,000 clean room, positions Rimor well to service and support SPTS. Developing its supply profile to SPTS has required a significant investment in terms of time and cost. Confidence in both quality and on time delivery is paramount to support the rapid growth of SPTS in the market. Dedicated resources including project management and manufacturing plant, ensures that Rimor can quickly manage and react to schedule changes that best support SPTS.

By working closely together at all levels, Rimor and SPTS have established a strong working relationship that is delivering world class performance to enable SPTS to exploit a buoyant global marketplace.

Published in association with: RIMOR Tel: 02392 264063 Email: excellence@rimor.co.uk Web: www.rimor.co.uk

Microelectronics SPTS

or SPTS as it is known today — 16 months ago.

Trade and trends Only 5% of what SPTS produces is destined for UK domestic use. David Butler, vice president of marketing, explains: “If you consider the companies in the microchip market in the UK, the majority don’t actually make chips, they design them. There are a few that still manufacture in the UK, and a number of those rely on us for their equipment.

In terms of sales however, Asia is our number one market with more than 40% of our business attributable to that region, mainly to Taiwan, but also Singapore, Malaysia, Korea and China.

Another 35% goes to big European markets like Germany, Italy and France; the remainder is exported to America.”

The strategy of the company is to focus on high growth emerging markets (such as MEMS, LEDs and Advanced Packaging) and to create stable longterm partnerships with customers. “This is a fast-changing market, because it is linked to the consumer market and is therefore exposed to consumer electronics trends,” explains Butler. He says that it is crucial for customers in the microtechnology industry to receive constant support in their operations.

“Take micro gyroscopes which are now present in virtually all smart phones and tablet PCs, those are the devices which recognise how your phone is orientated.

In 2009, no-one used any gyroscopes.

This year 26 million will be consumed by these consumer devices. So from nowhere, there are suddenly millions of them. If you make gyroscopes and aren’t ready for something like that, you won’t catch up. If you buy the wrong equipment, you may never recover.”

Some of the SPTS competitors are in Europe and Asia, but the biggest ones are in the United States at the moment and include companies like Applied Materials and Lam Research. According to Butler, SPTS has a carefully calibrated approach to a number of target markets in which the company can not only perform strongly but where it will also be likely to develop its operations.

MEMS and LEDs The 270-strong workforce at the company’s manufacturing plant in Newport, Wales, manufactures a large range of products. One SPTS offering

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City Engineering T

o City Engineering, business is about building long term partnerships with its clients. One of its most successful partnerships has been with SPP Process Technology Systems, and City has been the key supplier of sheet metal work and fabrications to its Newport site for over fifteen years.

Supplying into this and other high-tech sectors such as defence and oil and gas is a demanding business and City Engineering is very much geared up to cope with their stringent requirements.

As important as anything in these days of economic turbulence, City is a low-risk business partner.

A successful trading record under family ownership for over 60 years and a strong financial background with no debt means that City has the

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resource to sustain and develop its business in the years to come.

Also, City Engineering is a substantial business organisation with 55 employees, large purposebuilt premises (which the company owns), a solid management structure and sophisticated business systems.

It almost goes without saying that City is a technologically-based and very well equipped organisation driving through a far-reaching investment programme in its search for continuous improvement.

Dealing with clients of the calibre of SPTS, it is essential to have high levels of engineering expertise throughout the company, and City regards the quality of its staff as its greatest asset, and one that is constantly nurtured through training and development programmes.

For further information, contact Richard Ashby on 0117 9654314 or email rashby@cityengineering. com, who will be very pleased to talk to you.

Published in association with: City Engineering ltd Tel: 0117 9654314 Email: rashby@cityengineering.com Web: www.cityengineering.com

Microelectronics SPTS

is machinery for use in the production of Micro ElectroMechanical Systems (MEMS). This type of technology is found everywhere in modern consumer technology from phones to navigation systems, from health monitors to gaming. MEMS are used by companies such as Bosch, Infineon and ST Microelectronics in the manufacturing of their end products Products for the MEMS market include: pressure sensors for tyres; gyroscopes and accelerometers for airbag sensors, smart phones and even the Nintendo Wii; optical switches; and devices for the biomedical applications.

Butler says: “MEMS appear in everything we do. It’s a massive market.

In 2009 sales of these devices were $6.5bn, they’ll grow to $16bn in 2015.

In our application market, we are the number one equipment supplier to the companies that make MEMS.” With the number of smart phones produced every year set to grow by hundreds of millions, the demand for gyroscopes will increase steadily.

Another industry SPTS sells technology to is LEDs, for products such as: signs and signals; automotive lights; industrial and domestic lighting; and LED TVs. Butler adds: “That’s an emerging market for us and has grown into a significant part of our business very quickly.”

paths or insulators to prevent a connection from shorting out, and then etch those same materials to create circuits, or produce micro electromechanical structures in Si.” says Butler. “It is the same principle as exits in general electrical engineering but shrunk to a microscopic level.”

Silicon is not the only substrate that SPTS machines can interact with. For companies in the high speed electronics market, for example, the ideal substrate is gallium arsenide.

“Silicon is cheap and there’s a lot of it everywhere,” says Butler. “When you go to the beach, you stand on it. But it isn’t the fastest semiconductor in the world. If you want to make a very high speed semiconductor, you want to use compound materials such as gallium arsenide (GaAs) or indium phosphide (InP),” Butler explains. “GaAs was a niche material for years , excellent for high speed electronic devices, but because of its cost, only applicable to very specialised, small volume applications. However today, GaAs devices appear in the RF circuit of every single mobile phone; it’s a perfect example of an emerging market in which we excel.

R&D and lean Given the complex nature of the processes its equipment is deployed for, SPTS invests a lot in Research and Development, to keep abreast of customers’ needs. “15 to 20 per cent of what we earn goes into R&D,” confirms Butler.

“This allows us to constantly improve what we do, in terms of how fast we put down and etch materials, to keep customers happy and attract new ones.”

The basis of a complex process Wafer processing is very complex. It represents the basis of the fabrication of silicon chips in a sequence of multiple steps, during which electronic circuits are gradually created on a wafer made of pure semiconducting material (usually silicon). Chips are created on a regular and flat silicon surface, in a process broadly entailing four steps: deposition; removal; patterning; and alteration of electrical properties.

The UK division of SPTS specialises in the manufacture of equipment used in the first two categories. Deposition is a process through which material is grown, coated or in general transferred onto a wafer. Physical vapour deposition and chemical vapour deposition, along with etching (the removal step), are the main focus of products made by SPTS. The company’s mission is to become a market leader in the supply of equipment performing those actions. “Our machines will put down metal to make conduction

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Lymington Precision Engineers Co Ltd L

ymington Precision Engineers established in 1980, is a leading manufacturer of precision machined components, fabrications, assemblies and kit sets for the Oil and Gas, Defence Aerospace, Land and Sea Systems, Telecommunications, Nuclear, Satellite Systems, Medical and Marine industries. The Company is located on the south coast of England, in the heart of the New Forest with access to excellent transport links.

LPE is approved to BS EN ISO 9001: 2008 and utilises the latest manufacturing technology.

This includes CNC machines with turning and milling capability up to

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4 meters in length. Semi Automated Circumferential Welding System with extendable capacity up to 5 meters. Flexible Manufacturing Systems capable of working unmanned to produce components to close tolerances 24 hours per day.

LPE specialise in Project Management. Close liaison with all customers at the design and R&D stages enables the achievement of a cost effective product, designed

for manufacture. Emphasis is placed upon concurrent engineering during the early stages of manufacture incorporating R&D prototypes as appropriate. Consignment stock and supply agreements are established with key suppliers to ensure an agile response to meet customers’ immediate and diverse requirements. This approach has resulted in successful partnership agreements with many major customers.

Published in association with: Lymington Precision Engineers Co Ltd Tel: (01590) 677944 Web: www.lymingtonprecision.co.uk

Microelectronics SPTS

The consumer market is unpredictable, and it’s tough for device makers to see the next killer application. However, Butler continues, “they need to be confident that the equipment they use is going to be able to complete the task they require now and in the future. Our customers value our experience and knowledge for production, resulting in high yields in the chip manufacturing process.”

Early product development, the research and the feasibility assessment, is conducted on site, but SPTS also cooperates with customers, analyzing performance of equipment they have through regular meetings. “We realise you have to talk to customers all the time,” says Butler. “To take back what we’ve learned and feed it back to what we do here.”

In manufacturing, SPTS implements continuous improvement. The company started to invest in lean and uses 5s methodology. Mike Hewlett, vice president, operations, says: “We also have a pretty robust training programme.

In the UK division, we have three specific product ranges and the manufacturing

staff are trained to a generic level where they can test or assemble all those three products through the same process.

It’s a moving target, as new products are designed they are introduced into the manufacturing stream.”

Although equipment made by SPTS is expensive, it allows the companies making the chips to do so in high volumes.

In fact, customers use equipment to create sometimes thousands of devices on a circle of silicon. Butler explains: “It’s all about economics of scale, volume and cost. Think of the cost of the modern computer or mobile phone, and then compare the performance to what you had just a few years ago. That incredible reduction in cost/performance is all down to what our customers do in their factories.”

SPTS aims to achieve higher capacities.. At the moment, however, the firm’s current focusis to continue to develop the markets in which it has already made inroads and, as the sectors in which it operates expand, to undergo organic growth. They will of course continue to keep tabs on new types of applications that cater to customer needs, while expanding future business.

Butler is confident about the future of SPTS.. “We aim to provide a high service-level offering to our customers and that level of service often leads to other business elsewhere.” By developing trust in its customer base and the continued development of technological innovations in its products, SPTS is looking to grow and develop its business while continuing to cater for the growing demands of a fastmoving market.

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3

is the magic number

TM meets Fascia Graphics, a Wiltshirebased manufacturer of membrane keypads which has seen both profits and staff numbers hit an all-time high during the recession.

It’s taking the supply chain along for the cost-saving ride, too…

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Beginning

life in 1994 with a customer base of 40 and first year turnover of £130,000, 2011 finds Fascia Graphics supplying in excess of 600 customers, with turnover nearing £3.26m. Having seen growth year-on-year, expansion into Asia, Europe and the United States, and an employee increase of 20%, this manufacturer of graphic overlays, membrane keypads, keyboards and switches shows no sign of slowing either. Indeed, such has been its rate of growth that in 2005 new premises were required: initially a 13,000 sq ft facility in Chippenham, which has been extended by a further 2,000 sq ft due to increased customer demand — including a remarkable 40 new customers during a two month period in 2009.

And the secret to the company’s success? “We’ve long prided ourselves on operating with industry-leading turnaround times,” says Michael Hole, Fascia’s engineering manager. “So, if a customer needs a product in a certain place at a certain time, we’ll add extra shifts to make it happen.” Indeed, coupling a 24 hour shift pattern with Fascia’s digital prototyping service — ensuring low cost, pre-production prototypes with very fast turnaround — means the company can operate at a speed which the majority of its competitors simply can’t match.

Membrane keypads Fascia Graphics

“For me,” says Gary Knowles, the company’s operations manager, “Fascia has an excellent record in customer service, and the quality of our product is second to none. I’d put our continued growth down largely to the expertise and experience our guys have gained and trained during their years of service at the company — an average of seven years per employee. We’re continually looking to pass on information, hints and tips about our processes to the staff in each department: from sales, engineering and design through to production.”

Central to such joined-up knowledge is the company’s fully computerised production system, linking shopfloor and office alike, and enabling its controllers to accurately predict — and thus plan for — production requirements up to three weeks in advance.

Sounds like lean manufacturing to me. “You’re not wrong,” says Knowles.

“We worked with a company called Train to Gain in late 2007, kicking off our lean journey. Also, a number of the guys undertook offsite training with a provider through Wiltshire College, and from that we’ve brought on board a number of the techniques they picked up there.” More recently, Fascia has been working with the SW Manufacturing Association — “More on the 5S side of things,” continues Knowles. “It’s very much about improving your efficiencies, making sure that the areas you work in and with are tidy, and that you have the tools to work with rather than requiring a lot of transportation and looking for parts.”

“The three supervisors who have been undertaking the training will disseminate the knowledge to their staff, promote it and then look to get everybody involved in the implementation of things,” he continues. “This is crucial; rather than

bamboozling staff with complex diagrams and terminology, they are all involved from the outset. When it was being implemented in the first part of the business, people from the other areas were asking, ‘What’s going on? How we can get involved?’, and so on, which is hugely pleasing. The idea now is to roll it out over the entire site, while continually auditing and improving things as we go.”

Lean to green To remain flexible, a company needs flexible staff.

“Apprentices are, of course, key to our continued growth,” explains Hole. “However, we’ve recently looked to bring in a number of experienced senior staff to complement such youthful vigour” — Fascia’s QA manager, Mike Blanchard, appointed in December 2010, being a case in point. With 25 years experience in quality management, bringing the management team’s expertise to over half a century in total, Blanchard has already begun to introduce process preventative action plans, and is currently reviewing Fascia’s quality management system, too.

“Myself and Gary started on the shop floor, and worked our way up through the company,” says Hole. “Given that I work at the engineering and front-end stage of things, we spend much of our day looking to find solutions to customer requirements. The experience I’ve gained from the shop floor up means that, for me at least, I can rapidly understand the most cost-effective way of undertaking a project.”

(L-R): Michael Hole, engineering manager, Mike Blanchard, QA manager, and Gary Knowles, operations manager at Fascia Graphics.

Fascia Graphics at a glance At a glance

Established in 1994, Fascia Graphics Limited is the market leader for the production of membrane keypads in the printed graphics industry, providing the highest quality products for a diverse range of equipment, across a wide range of industry sectors.

Key products

Membrane keypads; membrane keyboards; membrane switches; graphic overlays; screen printed labels; nameplates

Location

Bath Road Industrial Estate, Chippenham, Wiltshire

Turnover

£3.26m

Employees

70+

Contact

www.fasciagraphics.co.uk

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Fascia Graphics

And for Fascia, a manufacturer whose products are regularly used in the most hostile environments (bomb disposal robots and operating theatres, among others), cost-effective product quality remains the benchmark for world class production. “There are a handful of companies leading the way in our industry, of which we are one — as well as being the market leader in keypads and graphic overlays,” says Knowles.

“While our competitors largely all existed prior to Fascia’s inception, by covering the country with sales personnel we look to maximise opportunities wherever possible.” With six people in our sales team — three on the road; three taking enquiries as they come in — Fascia enjoys full coverage of the UK and Ireland as a result. Of equal importance, however, is the fact that as raw material costs have increased across the industry, those at the company have

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By clever business practices internally, we’ve managed to maintain highly competitive costs to our customers Michael Hole, Engineering Manager, Fascia Graphics met such challenges with equally inventive responses. Says Hole, “Lean and the continuous improvement processes allowed us to swallow up a lot of the raw material costs without affecting profitability. By clever business practices internally, we’ve managed to maintain highly competitive costs to our customers. And word gets around that in tough times there is an industry leading company choosing to pass on price increases, so business almost wins itself.”

Doing whatever it can to maximise these business wins, the company has undergone a significant sustainability drive: recycling its waste and implementing a power management system and motion-sensitive lighting to reduce energy usage across the shop floor. The savings don’t stop there, though. Working with customers who may require multiple deliveries per week, Fascia will look to implement an arrangement whereby deliveries are reduced and/or condensed — thereby saving time on the road and, as a result, the environment.

This initiative, together with Fascia’s Value Engineered Review (FVER) - which identifies cost cutting exercises across its customer base to avoid margin erosion, has realised savings of between five and twenty per cent for those in the company’s supply chain. “We can make suggestions around materials, adhesives, specifications of parts — you name it,” says Hole, “using our joint technical knowledge to ensure that customers receive the most costefficient, high-quality product possible.”

A British SME ensuring its customers don’t get left behind in the savings game; things don’t get much better than that, do they?

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