SECAL NEWS Issue 3 1 Secal News June 2017 SECAL’S LATEST NEWS IN THIS ISSUE Welcome to the third edition of Secal News. After such a fantastic response from our in-house editions we couldn’t resist sharing this one with our customers and suppliers. This is the first time Secal News has been available outside the company so we hope you enjoy it! We are very proud to have a team on hand in the marketing department to help Secal grow and develop our brand, we try to keep everybody up to date with significant news within the business and find that publishing ‘Secal News’ keeps everyone ‘in the loop’! Secal will be releasing a newsletter every six months in order to keep everybody updated; this is also an opportunity for our employees to get involved by sharing any information or achievements they wish to be featured. In this Newsletter, you will find stories from one of our apprentices, Logan Thomas, exhibitions I have visited, and much more! I hope you enjoy reading the newsletter and if you have a story you would like to share or any feedback on this edition, please email [email protected]. Apprentices at Secal Ltd Radan gave Logan Thomas the chance to attend a Free Radpunch Training Course. Read all about it on page 3! Autosport 2017 Do you like cars? Read about Autosport 2017 on page 2. Secal News By Annabel Smith
Transcript
SECAL NEWS Issue 3
1
Secal News
June 2017
SECAL’S LATEST NEWS IN THIS ISSUE
Welcome to the third edition of Secal News. After such a fantastic response from our in-house editions we couldn’t resist sharing this one with our customers and suppliers. This is the first time Secal News has been available outside the company so we hope you enjoy it! We are very proud to have a team on hand in the marketing department to help Secal grow and develop our brand, we try to keep everybody up to date with significant news within the business and find that publishing ‘Secal News’ keeps everyone ‘in the loop’! Secal will be releasing a newsletter every six months in order to keep everybody updated; this is also an opportunity for our employees to get involved by sharing any information or achievements they wish to be featured.
In this Newsletter, you will find stories from one of our apprentices, Logan
Thomas, exhibitions I have visited, and much more!
I hope you enjoy reading the newsletter and if you have a story you would like to share or any feedback on this edition, please email [email protected].
Apprentices at Secal Ltd
Radan gave Logan Thomas the chance to attend a Free Radpunch Training Course. Read all about it on page 3!
Autosport 2017
Do you like cars? Read about Autosport 2017 on page 2.
The Laser team at Secal are excited to be laser cutting a decorative architectural panel for a new customer. The customer has been with Secal since January and so far, it has been great for us to branch out in to the architectural cladding industry. We are rapidly expanding our ability and knowledge within the sector and are looking to take on the challenges that come with introducing a new type of product. As Secal have the ability to produce a wide range of products within our 38,000sq ft. premises in Telford, working with different industry sectors on a variety of products is all taken in Secal’s stride. The architectural panel featured above was cut using the latest addition to our laser cutting facilities, a state of the art Trumpf 5KW Fiber Laser. The aluminium panel is part of a large exciting new project for our customer and we are happy to be a supplier supporting them.
Cutting into New Markets with Fiber
Autosport 2017 – What an Exhausting Day! By Annabel Smith. Written: January 2017
In January, I attended Autosport International at the NEC in Birmingham. As it was my first time attending the show I wasn’t sure what to expect but as the tickets were around £30 I hoped for some very high-quality exhibits. Autosport is Europe’s largest indoor pre-season motorsport event and it was interesting to see the mix of visitors ranging from world class suppliers, manufacturers, mechanics and professional racing drivers. I was also surprised to see that the show was big enough to cater for everybody’s interests. For motorsport enthusiasts it was fantastic with super cars, classic cars, trade stands and live interviews with famous faces, even YouTube stars like Shmee150 and seenthroughglass visited to vlog about the experience. The cars that caught my attention were the Oakley Design Bugatti Veyron and the Porsche GT3 RS, I could take them of their hands, no problem! The noise from the stunt arena blew the minds of some visitors as a Mercedes GT and a McLaren 675LT Spider put on a great show, and if that wasn’t enough, driver Terry Grant completed a loop-the-loop in a buggy! You may be wondering why I attended the Autosport show for Secal Ltd; it is because I aim to visit around 10 exhibitions a year. I look for shows based around engineering, manufacturing and market sectors with a need for sheet metal based products like automotive and commercial vehicles. The exhibitions are a great way for me to expand my knowledge on the range of market sectors that Secal can supply to and what type of products are our strengths. The shows help to expand Secal’s prospect database and as I have only been working in the industry for around a year I am always happy to learn new things and see what new parts we can produce. The Autosport show spanned eight halls of the NEC so I had to cover a lot of ground. It was great to see that the show branched out to international businesses especially European companies. The trade section of the show had a high footfall which surprised me as the halls with entertainment were very busy too. The show upheld an upbeat atmosphere all day and the mixture of trade and non-trade visitors was good. For the adrenaline junkies there was a drifting arena and a go karting section so an enjoyable day out can be had by all; it is safe to say no matter what your day was intended to achieve this show had it. My Managing Director also attended the show and, being a keen touring car racing driver, it was great to see the show from both of our perspectives; and of course, it is definitely a show for the petrol heads amongst us. After seeing news from the car industry that investment had slowed pre-Brexit it was great to attend a show dedicated to the industry and local to me in Birmingham.
Secal Ltd is proud to give young people the opportunity to take on our apprenticeship schemes. We have been running the programs since 2011 and it has been extremely successful, our latest apprentice, Logan Thomas age 20, is currently studying an engineering apprenticeship. In February, he had the opportunity to attend training with Radan. The course was offered to Logan free of charge saving us £1155, Radan also gave another 2 Apprentices the same opportunity as part of their Apprenticeship scheme on the same course. Radan is one of the world's leading PC based CAD/CAM solutions for the Sheet Metal industry and it is core software at Secal. Logan has documented his experience of the Radan training and it is featured below.
“Training Days at Radan” by Logan Thomas. During the week commencing 6th February 2017, I was kindly given the opportunity to attend the “Radpunch Training Course” at Radan based near Bath. As part of their Apprenticeship scheme, training was given free to apprentices to utilise available spaces on Radan`s scheduled training dates. What the day included – · Basic 2D drafting functions including DXF · Automatic tooling, parameters, tagging · Overview of manual tooling · Layout of parts, parameters, plotting · Automatic Order mode · Program compilation, verification and output · Subroutines · Configuring User system data · Configuring Tool and Sheet Libraries · Introduction into the Radan nesting software (Rectangular & Shaped), configuration, scheduling, kits, automating the nester. · Configuring Automatic Tooling, Automatic Order During the 3-day course, I learnt new methods of drawing using the CAD package provided by Radan; this allows me to work much more efficiently. The course gave me the opportunity to spend time learning how to tool various parts on Punch machines like the ones Secal have on their manufacturing premises. I also learnt the common problems that may arise when doing so, such as floating scrap and how to correctly tag parts. On top of this, I was also provided with training on how to use the nesting software. This was useful because I have learnt various techniques to increase sheet utilisation and the orientation certain parts should be placed in. Since returning from the course, I have used these techniques on many different nests that have been used on the shop floor, increasing both the quality and speed of my work with their software. “Secal Ltd continue to use Radan software and thank Radan for their support” Darren Shimmons, Technical Director. “We have been working with Radan for 16 years and I believe it puts us at the forefront of the sheet metalwork industry.” Annabel Smith, Sales and Marketing Executive.
At Secal Ltd our strategy is to work with customers in many industries including Automotive, Retail, Agricultural, Electronics, and Construction; in fact, our customers span a wide and varied range of sectors. Whilst this spread insulates us from industry specific downturns, such as that seen in Oil and Gas in 2014, it leads to challenges requiring investment in process and training to meet the vast array of quality requirements and specifications.
From small POS display brackets to large automotive body panels, through to an array of agricultural machinery components Secal have the capability not only to manufacture heavy duty steel products, such as laser cut blanks up to 25mm thick and heavy gauge parallel flat channels, but also the finesse of handling precision sheet metal products in exotic materials such as polished stainless steel, aluminium, brass and copper. To ensure we meet the high quality required by our customers, Secal operates a quality management system in accordance with the requirements of BS EN ISO 9001:2008. We treat these as a minimum standard and strive for excellence at all times. Our philosophy of continuous improvement ensures all aspects of quality are embraced throughout the company. As the quality standards are so specific throughout each sector we are pleased to be an approved supplier to multiple tier one automotive components manufacturers as well as a tier one supplier to off-highway OEMs and many more. All Secal’s QA supervisors are at NVQ Business Improvement Techniques Level 2 or higher to ensure the correct level of training and understanding. We use Advanced Product Quality Planning techniques with associated quality tools (PPAP), the latest investment in QA is the Hexagon Romer Absolute Arm (CMM). These tools and processes help everyone to truly understand the quality requirements for each customer, each part, right down to each operation. So, in summary, we have invested in ensuring we have robust processes and trained people so that whilst customer requirements can be diverse, the process of meeting those requirements stays the same.
Looking over the past year it is clear that Secal have developed their in-house capabilities and we are forever expanding our capability. Our most recent purchases have helped to reduce the need for subcontract operations such as Machining, Screen Printing and Spot Welding. Secal have invested further into quality control with the Hexagon Romer Arm and are already planning their next purchase.
Screen Printing at Secal - In line with Secal’s strategy to bring in-house as many significant subcontract processes as possible we have now introduced Screen Printing to the long list of services we have to offer. The new machine is located in our assembly department and will give Secal greater flexibility to satisfy our customers’ demands. Shipping painted parts to additional subcontractors can potentially cause damage at the final stage, by bringing screen printing in-house it will help with quality, costs and decrease turnaround time.
Multi Head Spot Welder - To increase productivity and reduce defects, last year Secal purchased a 4 Head Multi Spot Welding Machine, having 4 heads and working in 2 cycles to improve output, this in turn improves our competitiveness. We also take every opportunity to improve productivity, efficiency and quality, all of which directly, or indirectly impacts our customers. To mitigate the risk of costly product recall from failed spot welds, we use a weld monitoring tool, a device that monitors current to ensure
that the integrity of spot welds applied are within acceptable parameters and fit for purpose. Weld monitoring prevents issues with poor spot welds giving us confidence in integrity of the weld, improving quality, repeatability, and in turn ensuring confidence and customer satisfaction.
CNC Milling Machine - Our vertical milling machine brings another previously subcontracted process within our control. The XYZ vertical milling machine has the ability to produce machined components to high tolerances, the reliability is great and it has the capability to be used in manual or CNC mode. This gives us the flexibility to manufacture one-off bespoke parts or volume quantities.
Hexagon Romer Arm – Secal invested in the new Hexagon Romer Absolute Arm, with features including Instant Feedback and SmartLock and the ability to import / export electronic information and 3D models to streamline the inspection process and improve efficiency. The arm is user friendly, with no need to move parts to gain access to measure. The Arm also offers versatility, improving efficiency and generally is more user friendly than current measuring equipment. It can also capture data and generate capability studies. The technology that the system uses complements our current, cutting edge facilities.
We are now very excited to see what will be next for Secal.
Shop Floor Data Capture Written: June 2017
We are currently running trials of the new e2i Shop Floor Data Capture system. This new system gives us the option to use the touch screens we have recently installed. It also has the possibility to select operations from a filtered list on the screen, based on operator skills (laser, or fold etc.). With this functionality we are looking to the future where, from a scheduling system, we can send work directly to SFDC and you can pick the next available work from the list. We are not ready for that yet though.
People are very used to using the current system and we are using the data we collect from it all the time. It’s particularly useful when we have production times for repeat work so we can determine how much work to schedule for a shift. We are aware that the current system is very quick to use with barcode scanners so we will have to be sure that the new system won’t be too slow to work with.
Dave Clarke is currently helping with trials. If these go well we will ask more people to get involved.
SECAL NEWS | Issue 3 6
A word from our founders…
Secal News
June 2017
“I am extremely excited about our first public issue of Secal News; it is important to keep all our customers, suppliers and employees up to date with what’s going on at Secal.”
“Our first internal instalments of ‘Secal News’ were a really big hit with our employees and we are hoping the Summer 2017 ‘first public issue’ will be equally well received by a wider audience – hope you all enjoy it”
