MHW Magazine News and stories from the Materials Handling Industry
The capital investment over the past year is part of an ongoing process to enhance efficiency levels at the factory even further, commented Director John Cartwright.
"We are creating a more efficient environment in order to meet customer demand for our products which is at an all-time high.
"As a result of this investment we have now introduced smarter processes and increased the number of production/flow lines.
"We are operating a just in time Kanban system to feed our staff with materials which has resulted in major improvements on time saving and overall efficiency.
"Basically after many months of planning and implementation of our new production processes, the operation is more ‘joined up’ with departments better connected.
"The end result is that we are making more trailers whilst maintaining our quality levels and meeting our deadlines. The beneficiary at the end of the day is the customer," he said.
John Cartwright revealed that the capital investment in the factory had already resulted in a 10 per cent improvement in efficiency levels and the company is confident it will see a further 10 per cent increase in efficiency over the next 12 months.
"This obviously means that we are effectively reducing the manufacturing costs of our products because we are smarter and more efficient in saving time. We can pass these savings on to our customers through more attractive price levels as our efficiency and our volumes increase."
A major part of the investment was to relocate the company’s head office into the centre of the factory complex which covers an area of 38 acres.
"This has been a major benefit," continued John Cartwright. "It has led to significant improvements in efficiency as all parts of the production process are now better connected, from the drawing office through to the paint shop and pre-delivery inspection.
"If we have any bottle necks in our manufacturing it means we can move staff resource around to resolve any issues and keep the process moving," he explained.
John Cartwright added that the company’s investment in both capital equipment and key people would be ongoing and would cover every area of the business. This includes our new requirement to increase our technical sales resource where we are looking for two additional people.
"The company has grown considerably over the past two years and we see no sign of this pattern slowing down so we are building a platform for growth and that must include our production which is the heartbeat of the organisation."
