Updated April 2008
7th April 2008
Hepworth moves on up!
B Hepworth & Co relocated to new, larger premises on 14th March 2008. Still based in Redditch, the move began with the offices and administrative staff, followed by the Assembly Departments on 17th March. The specialist machinery and heavy plant will complete their move by the end April.
The new premises give a much better working environment for all the staff, from the large, airier offices to the huge open plan warehouse, housing all the production facilities from welding and powder coating, to inspection and despatch. Lines of communication between all departments are better and the move will ensure increased productivity and the more efficient streamlining of orders from receipt to delivery.
A new Robot Welder was installed and welding bays were built on 24th March. Trained personnel who do not necessarily need to be experienced classified welders can operate the new machine. The Welder doubles productivity, accuracy is increased and a consistent quality of weld is maintained, which is capable of meeting both national and international welding standards, dependant upon customer requirements.
A Powder Coating Facility is being installed in May, becoming operational in early June. Again, this increases work capacity both in volume and size, shortening delivery times and further improving the quality of the coating applied.
The potential capacity of the laser cutter has doubled due to the larger premises giving this particular area of operation more space. This enables larger plates to be loaded, allowing for longer uninterrupted running times.
Hepworth has seen a continually growing demand for its products and a steady increase in its volume of business. The original premises had become a significant bottleneck, with the unfortunate result that lead times were being unavoidably extended. There is never a good time to move a manufacturing facility and, in the very short term, this has not helped the existing delays. However over the next few months, with the new layout, larger working areas and improved processes and product flows, we expect there to be a big increase in output levels to match the increased order book. We will also have the facility to increase capacity further as we continue to win more business in the market place, especially from our competitors!
The new address is:
2-4 Merse Road, North Moons Moat, Redditch, Worcestershire, B98 9HL.
Telephone and fax numbers will remain unchanged.
2008 Exhibition Schedule
SEAWORK, Southampton UK
10 - 12 June 2008
Stand No. 26
SMM, Hamburg, Germany
23 - 26 September 2008
Stand No. B1.0G.323
INNOTRANS
Berlin, Germany
23 - 26 September 2008
METS
Amsterdam, Netherlands
18 - 20 November 2008
WORKBOAT Show
New Orleans, USA
28 - 30 November 2008
1st LRQA approved UK company to achieve the coveted IRIS accreditation!
Hepworth Rail International, based in the West Midlands, became the first LRQA approved UK company to achieve the coveted International Railway Industry Standard (IRIS) accreditation. IRIS has been modelled on similar quality standards that are already in place in the aerospace and automotive industries, and complements the internationally recognised ISO 9001 quality standard.
The West Midlands based company is now in the enviable position of being a first tier supplier to the industry’s main players, such as Bombardier, Siemens and Alstom.
Mr Jonathan Eddy, CEO, proudly commented “the successful implementation of IRIS has created a win-win situation for both Hepworth Rail and our customers. It supports our commitment to provide an ever more proactive supply chain process, which achieves continuous improvements in our Quality, Customer Service and Project Management Systems, in line with both Hepworth’s and our customer’s demanding procurement strategies.”
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From Left to Right:
Adam Burrows (Rail Project Engineer),
Jonathan Eddy (CEO),
Linda Bates (Rail Project Quality Manager),
Alastair Timmis (Rail Account Manager),
Mark Jones (Rail Account Executive) |
Hepworth and Wynn - 3 years on
Following B Hepworth & Co Ltd’s acquisition of Wynn, a settling down period followed by change and reorganisation was inevitable, in the interest of both companies futures.
The strongest positives that have benefited both companies have been centred on the strong product brands, reputation, and the worldwide network of Distributors and Agents, who now have access to both Hepworth and Wynn Wiper Systems and Controls.
Streamlining of products and production
A major rationalisation of the competing products was undertaken: Wynn Straightline took precedence over the Hepworth Seawiper and, conversely, the Hepworth Pantograph range took precedence over the Wynn copied version.
The recent introduction of the now completed 6000 Wiper Control System will give major benefits for the group but, more importantly, to the installation engineers of our systems, with greater flexibility in operation and on site programming, as well as very simple exchange of modules, making both refit and servicing very simple.
Further rationalisations are currently being incorporated. This includes the production of the Wynn 1801 Externally Mounted Pantograph and the range of pantograph wiper arms that are now to be made by Hepworth, but with ongoing support to customers whom Wynn have supplied for the last 10 years.
Major changes have been introduced to the Wynn Straightline range, all of which will significantly improve the production time. This has been achieved by investing in new casting and extrusion tools from UK suppliers (not from the Far East!), so that the C and D models now share common parts.
Centralisation
Changes in the working practices through assembly cells, changes in personnel and the installation of the Hepworth Computer Production Control system in December 2006 now gives us a high degree of visibility in the whole production process.
In September 2006 Wynn was completely transferred onto the Hepworth computer systems, an investment of £80,000, so that there is now full access to the 2 companies from either site and also from any part of the world, through remote internet facilities.
In January 2007 we centralised the Sales Departments to Hepworth enabling us to focus on a common sales policy and further improve response times for quotations and sales acknowledgements.
Looking ahead
The introduction of the IRIS Quality Control system, initially being driven by our Rail customers, is a major step forward from the existing Quality Standards already held. We expect to achieve this by September 2007 and we may well be the first UK manufacture in Rail market supply to do so. Obviously this will also bring significant benefits for our Marine and Commercial customers.
New plant investment is currently being considered for Hepworth, ranging from automatic stacking machinery for the laser plant, a cad operated bending machine and another cad miller.
Key goals for the next 12 months are:
- Improving on both delivery and customer response times
- Ensuring that all orders are fulfilled correctly first time around
- Tightening up management of our supply chains, resolving poor supplier performance
- Putting steps in place to iron out the few installation issues we are still experiencing.
Our Year End to March 2007 has produced very satisfactory results and the current year looks promising. The very difficult issues that we faced in the first couple of years have been overcome, thanks to our very committed and professional management team who have successfully delivered good results and, as a company we are looking forward to the next stage of our development.
Hepworth / Wynn 6000 Series Controllers
The 6000 Series of Wiper Controllers was introduced in 2004, however as part of Hepworth’s continual R&D policy, further enhancements and improvements have made, together with additional features which now include:
• Different types of wipers with variations in voltage controlled by one system
• Modules have more outputs for greater operational flexibility
• Synchronisation of low voltage wipers (pantograph / pendulum) in low and high speed
• More than one keypanel can be integrated into any operational system.
Hepworth carried out testing with the systems supplied two years ago to the following countries:
• Denmark: 29 wipers controlled by one system with heat, wash, and purge.
• Norway: Two straight line wipers 230v AC 3 phase, four 50Nm wipers 24v DC with heat, wash and purge. Controlled by one master and one slave keypad and two remote control switches.
• UK: Two systems with 50Nm wipers including wash, purge and synchronisation in low and high speed.
Hepworth would like to thank Servi Motion, Norway and Gertsen & Olufsen, Denmark for their support, ensuring that the 6000 Series meets the requirements and high standards needed by today’s shipping.
