fastening & assembly solutions and technology - Approved Business

HOW TO: DEVELOP BESPOKE ACCESS CONTROL
Innovation
through engagement
Manufacturers are always looking for
ready-made answers to those difficult
engineering questions that can arise
in the area of access control. Whether a
solution is needed for a specialist vehicle
or for enclosures and large units like generators,
compressors and other items of
capital plant, Weston Body Hardware
(WBH) is confident it can provide the
solution.
The company has four main sectors to
its business with some 30% of turnover
being derived from resellers and partners.
Direct sales to the generators and compressors
market – including companies
like Atlas Copco, Cummins, F G Wilson
and Ingersoll Rand – account for around
25% of turnover while the construction
industry, where customers include CAT,
Terex and JCB, takes around 20%.
Specialist vehicles, such as Morgan, Land
Rover, and London Taxis manufacturer
LTI, account for a further 15%. WBH can
proudly claim that 48% of its turnover is
exported to manufacturing companies
overseas. Other markets such as renewable
energy, medical.
The company’s design and technical
team have decades of experience in
developing products and are on hand to
provide expertise relating to design, specification
and production aspects for each
customer. Design facilities include the
latest computer aided design techniques
that provide drawings, visualisations,
specifications and production prototypes.
The use of 3D software enables the
team to create prototypes using a variety
of rapid prototyping methods. And an inhouse
model shop gives engineers the
opportunity to machine and fabricate
concept parts.
New designs are often developments
of an established theme and involve a
degree of lateral thinking. “I do some of
my best work in airport lounges and on
aeroplanes,” said Martin Woolacott, technical
director. Not quite drawn on the
back of a fag packet but often an idea in
the form of a doodle hurriedly drawn in a
departure lounge can lead to a novel
solution.
All new designs are created back in the
office on a 3D Solidworks system; the
company sees innovation as a surefire
way of keeping ahead of the competition.
With the 3D-design capability, entirely
new conceptual designs can be created
on a contract basis, where volumes are
significant.
Smaller volumes are also very important
to the company’s success. Take for
instance the Morgan Car Company where
WBH has been supplying door and boot
locks for the past 15 years. Here, WBH
designed a bespoke access control product
by modifying an item from the standard
and modifying it for look and feel to
use it on the Morgan.
“We are happy to do lowish volume,”
FAST OCTOBER 2011
Paul Gay visited Weston Body Hardware’s Redditch factory to find that clever design is providing
the company with an edge when it comes to bespoke design
said sales and marketing director Ashley
Heath. “Our motto ‘Innovation through
engagement’ is the key. We find people
with a problem and solve it.”
Northern Irish generator maker F G
Wilson wanted a special latch for the
doors on its generator enclosure. WBH
came up with a weather proof paddle
latch to suit the application and solve specific
problems being experienced during
assembly. FG Wilson had expressed a
preference for a standard latch used by
one of their competitors. WBH duly
redesigned the product specifically for the
enclosure and has been supplying them
ever since.
Once the paddle latch had been developed
WBH found numerous other components
on the enclosure which it could
either manufacture in the UK or source
from reputable manufacturers in the Far
East. F G Wilson now produces 18,000
units annually, consuming some £1.5 million
of components from WBH.
Heath is a keen advocate of the apprenticeship
scheme to the extent that he has
adopted the role of learning champion.
“We invest in people and ensure that others
do the same,” he suggested.
By investing in employees personal
skills, WBH created a more flexible
workforce which could adapt to the special
requirements of operating though an
economic downturn.
WESTON BODY HARDWARE 01527 516060
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