Half Million Bond Investment - Elddis is Licensed to Thrill
Elddis has just completed a £Half million investment into its production line to cement its ambition to be a world-class manufacturer.
The self-funded investment, part of a £1 million investment programme, by North East based Elddis, into an area known as the 'Bond Shop', has already resulted in huge benefits for the company.
The 'Bond Shop' is at the hub of the manufacturing process, where the main laminated side panels of the vehicle are assembled, pressed, cured & cut to size in before being used to construct the vehicles.
An 'Improvement Team' started work on the Bond Shop project two years ago. Their main objective was the introduction of a one-piece flow system to improve quality. This involved the simplification of scheduling by moving from batch to one piece flow production, reducing manufacturing floor space, as well as the reduction and redeployment of equipment
Alan Beel, Business Process Improvement Manager at Elddis, acknowledges the advantages so far from the investment: "Benefits include increased levels of operational performance, improvement to quality and better financial performance through the reduction of waste.”
With the project currently on target for completion by summer 2007, Alan believes it has been so far, so good.
"We did not expect to see the fruits of our labour until the end of the project, so we are incredibly pleased,” said Alan.
He continued: "This whole process of change started through a well known manufacturing best practice process known as value stream mapping. Through this we assessed how Elddis wanted to work in the future and how we could get there, step-by-step.”
While Elddis is pleased with the progress, Alan and his team have experienced some challenges along the way.
"If you imagine this whole process is like dealing with a giant jigsaw puzzle, where, as soon as you move one piece, you have to quickly insert another to ensure it still forms part of the bigger picture. Production cannot stop, so it is a challenge to ensure everything runs smoothly” said Alan.
Investment remains a key factor in Elddis's development as Steve Ford, Managing Director said: "Investment in technology and continuous improvement is tied in very closely with our business objectives and it has to fulfil very specific purposes—to increase quality, efficiency and effectiveness.”
He continued: "We hope our innovative approach to developing the business, as well as our experienced workforce, with a great work ethic, will differentiate us from other manufacturers in our field.”
Published: 27/04/2006
