Bakeware specialist feasting on success of Great British Bake Off

The phenomenal popularity of The Great British Bake Off is helping a manufacturer in the Lancashire town of Accrington achieve strong growth in its bakeware division.

What More UK, which employs 240 people at its factory on Altham Business Park, has seen demand for its highly popular ‘Wham’, ‘WhamCook’ and the recently acquired ‘Push Pan’ ranges reach new levels, as more people look to raise their game in home baking.

The increase in orders has seen the firm update its tool room capabilities by investing more than £750,000 into three Quaser VMC machining centres from Wellesbourne-based Engineering Technology Group (ETG) to give it greater capacity, a reduction in production time and the ability to handle large progression tools.

“I’m a die-hard Bridgeport man and installed the first tape controlled CNC machine in our predecessor’s tool room as long ago as 1982,” said Kevin Allum, press shop manager.

“We needed additional bed size and, once ETG convinced me of the excellent build quality and multitude of facilities on the Quaser MV 234, 3 axis VMCs, I had no hesitation in recommending to the owner that these were the machines to purchase.”

He continued: “It is not untypical for a tool to take 600 man hours to machine so obviously if we can achieve reductions in this, it improves productivity, reduces costs and contributes to the speed with which we can bring products to market.
“Our designers use Solid Works and VISI for the CAM element and they interface well with the Heidenhain machine controls.”

What More UK is a major force in plastic storage and plastic housewares.

From its custom-built factory, it exports to 71 countries around the world, designing and manufacturing a vast array of products including cake and loaf tins, oven trays, purpose designed products such as muffin and Yorkshire pudding trays and a wide selection of storage items.
 
There has also been a clamour for products reflecting the ideas of celebrity chefs and baking experts, which necessitates bespoke designs and shapes.

Allum added: “While our own designs predominate under the ‘Wham’ housewares brand we also do third party work. This can involve products with different shapes or signatures so once we have the designs and specifications we can reverse engineer to achieve manufacture in the most efficient way.

“It is a fast-moving consumables market and as such we need to act quickly when responding to trends and new product introductions – hence the major investment in our in-house toolroom.”