Emplas has announced a multi-million pound investment in its shop floor as part of its continuing quality and service drive.
This includes half-a-million spend on a state-of-the-art Schirmer saw centre, alongside new welders and a digital measuring system.
The Schirmer, delivered to Emplas earlier this year, automates profile cutting and machining, with profile scanning technology to introduce ‘pin prick’ accuracy to positioning of cuts and routs to within 0.3mm.
This delivers improved product quality but able to convert a 6m bar length into a fully prepped frame within seconds, it also massively increases Emplas’ production capacity.
Jody Vincent, National Sales Manager, Emplas said that the Schirmer delivered a step-change in Emplas’ operational capability.
He said: “Our shop floor has always been pretty good and the quality of what the team pushes through has always been high but mistakes do still sometimes happen and we do occasionally get mis-measures.
“The cost of remaking that single frame is less significant than the potential disruption it can cause downline to a delay in getting the customer order away on time so accuracy is very important.
“Because the Schirmer is so accurate and positions each cut with absolute precision, it eliminates mis-measures almost entirely and if one does slip through, we can remake it far more quickly, heading-off any impact on the customer ahead of time.”
Emplas product quality is rated good or excellent by 98.7 per cent of its customers compared to an industry average of 79.2 per cent. Complete and on time deliveries similarly gave Emplas 99.3 per cent compared to an 84.6 per cent industry average.
The Schirmer brings new accuracy to straight and angled cuts; ‘V and Y’ notching; drainage channels; night vents plus screw location pip holes; pressure equalisation holes; window handle and lock routing and keep and hinge prep holes.
It also increases precision of preparatory holes for various locking mechanisms, including the defender restrictor door lock; handle and keep routing; door hinge preparation; and low aluminium threshold options in addition to gasket relieve milling.
Earlier in the summer Emplas announced that in partnership with Pilkington and following a two-year development programme, it had now integrated the manufacture of glazed units within its factory management system.
Using a bar-code system to track each product every step of the way through the manufacturing process and giving its customers visibility of that process through the Emplas Customer Portal, Emplas has driven improved quality by introducing new transparency throughout the production process.
Separately, Emplas is currently going through planning to increase the size of its shop floor by more than a third, also creating a new logistics centre and office space, with planned delivery before the end of the year.
Jody added: “As a business, we are very much looking to the future. We have seen some really solid growth in the first half of the year – we’re up by more than 24 per cent.
“But we want to keep growing and to do that we need to invest to make sure that we continually improve our already industry leading product quality and the service that we provide with it to our customers.
“This isn’t about us investing in new kit because we can, it’s about working towards delivering more to our customers because they’re the foundation of our growth, now and into the future.”
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