A Case Study Example - Transfer of rubber component manufacture to Metflex.

The challenge

In 2002 Metflex landed one of its biggest contracts in years. The customer based in the North of England has been a world leader in the design and manufacture of flexible couplings for more than 40 years. They are best known for their highly engineered products which are used in a range of arduous applications such as power generation, marine propulsion, compression and rail traction.

The customer's existing rubber supplier was closing down. This left a huge problem in finding a supplier that was willing to develop quickly, over 30 technically complex compounds and be able to handle over 100 existing tools to produce more than 500 different parts.

The customer's Managing Director said:

“Once we found Metflex through their internet site and met them, we were immediately impressed by their commitment to the project.”

“We were never concerned that these components and the associated tooling were new to them because what we required was a company with a solid skills base and a creative approach to problem solving.”

“Their combination of flexibility and technical expertise is what secured the contract for us.”

The solution

Material:

As the original supplier were closing down, and had made compound internally themselves, it was difficult to obtain compound formulations. Very quickly it was decided to develop new formulations to meet the customer requirements. Working with the customer, utilising the experience of our technical resource and liaising with a major compounder in the North West , thirty formulations were developed, approved and put into production within a month. Our compound gave advantages over the previous solutions.

Metflex have not stopped there, we see the relationship with our customer as one of continuous development. Since the project started, new compounds have been developed, allowing our customer to develop new and exciting couplings, which are now in use throughout the world.

Plant and equipment:

Once the decision to move manufacture to Metflex was made, the clock started ticking, we were originally given three months to transfer technology, and reach full production. Metflex invested £80k on plant and equipment to produce a dedicated cell of manufacturing parts. However things never go to plan, and due to the customers order book, we needed to be in full production within a month! This was achieved by careful project management, and the ability to develop and put into production compounds and the process quickly.

Tooling:

One of the problems we faced was the delivery of over a 100 tools, it took three lorries to bring them to us. Unfortunately we were not given any moulding instructions with the tools, the task ahead was not going to be easy. Dedicated tool racks were put in place and tools were identified with unique codes.

Looking at the tools, it became apparent that to run in production would require a lot of manual handling, this risk was deemed to be too great, and the decision to put tools on plate sets was made, this removed the Health and Safety risk. A bonus was that in many cases it became more efficient to run the tools this way, a benefit passed onto the customer, since orders were met on time, and prices were favourable to the customer.

Since going live, tooling is continually reviewed, and in order to drive down costs for the customer, we have identified inefficient tooling and added new cavities to increase output and reduce cost.

Rubber to metal bonding:

Although Metflex have bonded rubber to metal for many years, our components have always been small in weight (less than 50g) and now we were having to deal with coupling components weighing up to 50Kg.

Metflex solved this problem by dedicating a technical resource to this one problem. As part of the investment made by Metflex, a dedicated metal prep cell was developed, with equipment used just to handle the large blocks supplied.

Day to day production:

A cell leader was appointed to liaise with the customer, plan production on a daily basis, and ensure tooling and rubber blanks are available on the required date to meet the customers delivery requirements.

A zero stock policy was adopted, there are over 500 components, it being more efficient to run to order than to hold high stock levels with the associated cost.

The way in which the cell is run, and the flexibility of the workforce, means that when the customer comes with a seemingly impossible request, Metflex delivers and shows anything is possible.

For more information or further case studies of companies that have transferred products and tooling to Metflex please contact our sales department on
+44 (0) 1254 884 171