Date of issue: 17th October 2007
Reference: HONE-MOVE-WSK25
Media Release
Hone-All Precision decides it is time to move to larger premises
At 20,000 sq. ft. Hone-All Precision Ltd’s new factory in Cherrycourt Way, Leighton Buzzard, is twice the size of the specialist sub-contractor’s existing premises in nearby Dunstable. The move will be completed by the end of January 2008 and coincides with the purchase of two additional honing machines and the re-conditioning of the largest of the company’s three deep hole boring machines.
“This marks a new beginning for Hone-All Precision,” says Andrea Rodney, Director. “Doubling the size of our premises means we will be able to achieve significant productivity improvements by re-planning the shop floor with the emphasis very much on lean manufacture. Consolidating onto a single site will also ease the pressure on the management team and, while we have no immediate plans to recruit more people, we will be much better placed to expand the business in the longer term.”
Although honing is a core expertise, Hone-All Precision’s emergence as a one-stop-shop for precision machining has required an investment strategy aimed at maintaining efficiency levels across the whole of the shop floor. The recent purchases of the Jones & Shipman vertical hone and a Sunnen honing machine have been prompted in part by an increasing demand for shorter lead times and tighter tolerances. However, husband and wife team Colin and Andrea Rodney point out that extending the company’s honing capability was unavoidable if production bottlenecks resulting from the increased productivity of the turning and boring sections, the outcome of previous investment decisions, were to be avoided.
Demand for the company’s services has remained steady this year with petrochemical and precision tubing the most buoyant market sectors. “It is often the case that we can machine high-precision tubing from solid material at a lower cost to the customer than purchasing tube to specification,” says Andrea Rodney.
As for the move to a completely refurbished factory, “the benefits from relocating will be seen right across the business, from workplace improvements such as better heating and ventilation and more natural light to process improvements such as easier access for loading and unloading of material and finished parts. Customers will benefit not just in terms of our precision machining capability but from an increased capacity for holding stocks of materials and customers’ machined components – which will enable Hone-All Precision to offer a ‘call off’ facility for repeat components.”
New offices and a meeting room will also feature in the ‘new look’ company, with the ISO 9001:2000-accredited sub-contractor acknowledging that image has a part to play in retaining customer confidence. “Our current site has certain limitations that we have had to find ways of working around,” says Andrea Rodney. ”We have a loyal and experienced team here that shares our vision for the future and is determined to seize the opportunity offered by the move to new premises to make further improvements.”
“Our level of repeat business is around 75 per cent, which means we haven’t been doing too badly up to now. However, we want the new factory to serve as a visual guarantee to all our customers that they will receive the highest quality and the best service, with their job delivered on time, correct to specification and at a competitive price.”
Andrea Rodney, Director, says Hone-All Precision Ltd is “determined to seize the opportunity offered by the move to new premises to make further improvements”.
Hone-All Precision’s new Boehringer mid-range deep hole borer takes billets up to 200 mm diameter by 2 metres long.
Hone-All Precision’s TBT twin-spindle deep hole drilling machine has a 16 mm diameter by 500 mm depth capacity.
Issued on behalf of:
Hone-All Precision Limited
Unit 1, Frenchs Avenue
Dunstable
Bedfordshire LU6 1BH
Tel: 01582 477721
Fax: 01582 477728
sales@hone-all.co.uk
Contact:
Andrea Rodney
Director
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