Manufacturer safeguards jobs and investment

A NORTH Staffordshire manufacturer has helped to safeguard jobs and investment by working on new innovative projects.

Greenway Pepper, which employs 20 people at its Parkhouse Industrial Estate East site in Newcastle-under-Lyme, is using over 25 years’ experience and the latest CNC machining to manufacture the aluminium casing for a new DNA profiling machine that is set to be sold all over the globe.

Supported by the Manufacturing Advisory Service-West Midlands (MAS-WM), the company has estimated the £150,000 contract has not only secured existing jobs but has helped to create five new ones.

Greg Pepper, joint owner with John Smith, said despite the tough conditions, 2009 proved to be a good year for the firm.

“We not only managed to consolidate existing work, but actually won new orders, invested in our facilities and employed more people,” he said.

“The contract to work on the DNA machine was the culmination of three months prototyping work and underlines our evolution from a jobbing shop to a value added machining facility, offering production of small to large volume batches and a fully integrated design, development and assembly function.

“Manufacturing the aluminium case is extremely complex and requires precision engineering of the highest quality. It also requires fast turnaround under a strict delivery time, a challenge we have met head on.”

Established as part of a merger between Greenway Engineering and B Pepper & Son in 1998, the North Staffordshire firm worked with MAS to implement lean processes and new quality management systems.

It also invested more than £250,000 on upgrading its capabilities, including three new CNC machining centres and later this month the introduction of its latest acquisition – the high speed twin pallet Brother machining centre.

The latter, one of the fastest in the world, has enabled the firm to significantly improve quality and has cut the production cycle on individual components from two hours to just 40 minutes.

Mr Smith, who also runs nearby food machinery specialist All Foods Engineering, said support from MAS-WM had been vital.

“Their  advisers understand what manufacturing is all about and we have seen some real bottom line benefits, including a 25% increase in productivity  and on-time delivery performance rising by 12% to 92%,” he said.

“We’ve had specialist assistance in helping us diversify and, in addition to successes in medical, we have also been able to make inroads into automotive, aerospace, yellow goods and the care sector.”

Greenway Pepper s also keen on boosting the economy of this part of North Staffordshire by working with as many local suppliers as possible – around 90% of its supply base is in the immediate area.

Maxine Chapman, MAS-WM specialist adviser, said: “There are two things we always stress to the companies we work with – lean manufacturing and diversification.

“Greenway has embraced both philosophies and is now driving forward with a solid business base, a great workforce and innovative thinking that allows it to win major international orders.

“It is well on the way to meeting its vision of becoming a leading player in the precision engineering sector.”