Long-term relationships

The Havant, Hants-based company threw open its doors to a select number of current and prospective customers, with some 20 individuals attending, at the beginning of March. The event, at the family-owned and managed firm, was intended to prompt business discussions, based on a better understanding of its capabilities and philosophies. Image: The Havant-based subcontractor opened its doors to a select audience of invited guests. Its workforce skills, married to modern equipment, are key in its achievement of demanding requirements Opening the event, chairman Michael Long, who established the firm some 37 years ago, underlined the event's focus, saying he believes that "many people in purchasing positions don't recognise fully what a company can do, unless they walk round it and get a good insight". The idea of the day was to offer the opportunity to gain such an insight, he added, while also, of course, helping Long & Marshall to increase its business, using some of the capacity available. The AS9100-approved £2.6 million turnover company moved to its new 24,500 ft2 location in Havant some five years ago, providing it with room to grow, but with two years taken to "steady the ship", the recession subsequently put growth plans on hold, the chairman pointed out. The plan now is to grow the company to £5 million over the next four years, he said, with room still available at the Havant plant for further expansion thereafter. CORE FOCUS Mr Long underlined the core focus of the company as one of "low to medium size volume, very high quality, close tolerances, very tight deadlines, getting it right first time". He added that the company has gone "10 years without a reject on some products". Indeed, on a tour of the workshop, some 80 per cent of the working going through was repeat – "typical", Machinery was told. And, if things do go wrong, the chairman emphasised that his first response is "what corrective action have we put in place, so that it doesn't happen again". Qualifying 'close tolerance', production director Mark Long said this relates to maintaining tolerances of "half a thou" or better (0.013 microns or less) – the use of the term thou being commonplace at the 35-employee company, because of its high involvement in military work and where drawings for existing or older programmes are in imperial units. Half of the company's work is related to MOD – submarine, aircraft and land systems; 30 per cent civil aerospace; with the remainder other commercial and industrial business, including oil and gas, as well as F1. Image: A clean shopfloor where 5S actions are said to be ongoing Michael Long also stressed the family nature of the concern, noting that his two sons, Vincent and Mark, now managed the company day to day, while one of his nephews worked on the shop floor. Underlined, too, was the long-term employment of many of those on the factory floor. The company also has two apprentices, while others that have finished and stayed with the firm and are absorbing knowledge from the more experienced team members – there are three recognised levels of skill on the shop floor, in fact: programmer/setter/operator; setter/operator; operator. And, during the downturn, Michael Long emphasised that Long & Marshall's "best asset", its employees' skills, had been protected through a move to cross-train and job share between millers and turners. Taking up the story, sales and business development manager Robin Collinson explained a bit more about past, current and future investments and initiatives. "In the current market, for many companies things tend to go by the wayside – investment, plant and equipment, training – but we have continued to drive forward, so that, when the recession ends, we are best placed with the capacity to fulfil requirements. In addition, we are also driving continuous improvement, having recently initiated a lean manufacturing effort," he added. Long & Marshall is, he explained, a one-stop-shop, offering total project management. This means that where operations required are not within its in-house competence – NDT, painting, fabrication – it sources these from trusted and approved suppliers. He also put a bit more flesh on the bones of the type of work that the company is involved with. These embrace sub-sea military, with the Astute class submarine; fixed wing military aircraft, under wing weapon release systems; rotary wing military, weapons release systems again; military land systems, 105 mm light gun; plus civil aerospace. OEMs, tier ones and below are included in its customer base, which comprises a current core of 25 companies. NOT RUN-OF-THE-MILL "While we have a good level of military and civil aerospace work, we want to expand more in the commercial area," Mr Collinson highlighted, adding that the intention is to stay within the boundaries of its current type of work – it will not be able to compete for run-of-the-mill, work "and neither do we want to be involved with that". He again singled out the company's long-term employee attribute as underpinning its claim to high skill and expertise levels, and also the complex, close-tolerance nature of its work. "Now, a lot of companies might claim that, but the difference between them and Long & Marshall is that today you will be able to see this in action. And you will see small turned parts right up to large parts for the oil industry," he told the assembled audience, adding that "right first time, one time, every time" was a company theme. Michael Long underlined the skill levels and depth of knowledge by pointing out the particular example of Maraging steel (AMS 5829), where knowledge of how the material reacts to heat treatment is key in pre-heat treatment machining decisions. "Many companies are new to this, but we have been working with Maraging steel for years and understand it. When you are working to a thou tolerance at 3 in diameter, and you know its going to shrink five-tenths of a thou per inch, then you have to have a lot of confidence in your knowledge that it is going to come out right after heat treatment – or that you need to have a grinding operation after heat treatment to maintain tighter parameters. Our ability to work in such areas is, I believe, above the average. "I am a self-taught engineer, with a real depth of knowledge gained over the years," he added. "In fact, I would say my knowledge is second to none in a small manufacturing firm, and, although I am close to retirement, that depth of knowledge remains available to the company." Turning to its machining capabilities, these take in CNC turning and milling, including 5-axis machining, as the main production processes, with these backed up by surface grinding, die-sink EDM and gear hobbing, as well as assembly. The company has seven CNC mills/machining centres – three offering 5-axis capability - and six CNC lathes taking in mill-turn technology, with its CNC technology supported by Open Mind and Catia CADCAM technology. The company's most recent machine tool investments are a CMZ TC35Y CNC lathe (500 mm diameter by 1,350 turning length - 01788 562111), a Mazak VTC 300C-2 4-axis machining centre (01905 755755), and a Mikron HPM 500U 5-axis machining centre (Agie Charmilles, 024 7653 8666). That last one, in fact, was a replacement for an existing 5-axis machine of only just over two years' standing, which was taken out of service because it couldn't support the company's precision requirements. Incidentally, regular machine tool performance checks are made in-house in support of machining accuracy, using the Renishaw ballbar system (01453 524524). Image: This 5-axis machine replaced another that failed to measure up to Long & Marshall's demand for tightest tolerncemachining A future investment will be a larger capacity CMM of 1,000 by 1,000 by 800 mm, required to support more efficient processing of larger work, while a recent quality-related investment has been Visual Fair software, which drives First Article inspection reports, making sure these are in the correct customer format (IPI Solutions, 01623 272 500). APPROVAL LISTINGS On quality approvals, the company has ISO 9001 and AS9100, but also a number of company approvals, such as Messier Dowty, Babcock, EATON Aerospace, Flight Refuelling, BAE Systems, GE Aviation and Pall Aerospace. The company is also a member of the Farnborough Aerospace Consortium and is working towards Rolls-Royce, Airbus and GKN company approvals. It also holds a Home Office Sect 5 firearms certificate. Other quality accreditations, such as Nadcap, would be initiated, if "flowed down by customers", while SC21 is currently under consideration, with its business benefits being reviewed. Turning to the lean initiative and continuous improvement, driven by production engineer John Emery, this has so far seen the company's coolant and lubricants supply and management aspect brought under tighter control, with a central coolant tank and pipe work taking this straight to a dispensing point close to each machine. The set-up is now managed by Gulf (0845 430 5515) on a six-week cycle. Lower costs, better performance and better environment are all benefits. Office initiatives have also been undertaken, a reduction in copier paper waste being an outcome. But, more broadly, the application of 5S (sort; set in order; clean; standardise; sustain), process FMEA (failure mode effect and analysis) and the more systematic analysis of rejects are tools that will be increasingly used within the company, Mr Emery explained. In addition to lean, improved company performance has been achieved by measuring and managing key performance indicators, under the direction of production manager Richard Jeffreys. In particular, shop loading has been improved by tailoring Microsoft Project, with better efficiency, in terms of higher utilisation of both plant and people achieved. Another initiative sees 'easy jobs' available ready to run, so that these can be quickly set while machine operators wait for first-off inspection on another job. The use of a quick-change fixture system to better support this is an ongoing development, added Mr Emery. But, in all of this, working in partnership is key, concluded Mr Collinson, telling the assembled audience: "We want to work with you to help you win more business and, therefore, build our business. Days like this Open Day are part of maintaining and developing long-term relationships." First Published in Machinery, May 2010