Suffolk company expands composites manufacturing facilities

Matt Herbert, Broadwater Mouldings' managing director, commented on the recent completion: "This expansion has not only given us more capacity but the extra space has now enabled us to reorganise the factory for greater efficiency and implement many of the excellent ideas that have come from the shop floor production teams as part of our lean manufacturing programme." This additional factory space has enabled the management team at Broadwater Mouldings to reorganise key production areas to improve overall work flows and productivity, as well as installing much needed additional space and capacity for its low pressure cold press moulding (LPPM) and resin transfer moulding (RTM) processes, especially RTM Light (LRTM). Reinforcement cutting has now been relocated into a new purpose-built enclosed work room, along with the transfer of all large component assembly operations into the newly built factory area. Further streamlining of workflow has been achieved in all areas of manufacturing, not only for moulding, but also for robotic machining and finishing, component assembly, final inspection and packaging. The net result is a reduction in lead times of over 50% in some cases and a doubling of closed mould production capacity. The investment has taken the company's factory area to just under 7,500 m2 increasing the production area by over 20%. Further capacity has been gained, not only from addressing the issue of physical shop floor space, but also by improving the systems used to manage and control the business and work flow. As well as investing in a new purpose built unit, at the same time the existing ERP system has been upgraded and new MRP functionality has been introduced to help achieve key productivity goals of: shorter lead times; reduced work in progress; increased flexibility; and single-piece workflow. The combination of the two investments has resulted in a halving of total manufacturing cycle times for a significant proportion of the business. The new factory space has been fitted out to a high specification to comply with the latest environmental, health and safety (EHS) standards. This includes a fire protection sprinkler system, fire containment doors, smoke detectors, heat retaining hi-speed exterior access doors, low energy LED lighting and an overhead crane for the safe and efficient handling of large components. The factory expansion by Broadwater Mouldings has been in response to continued growth in both UK and export orders, especially for large medical scanning equipment for hospitals and from customers in the transportation and automotive sectors. Demand has also increased for assembled 'ready to fit' finished FRP components complete with metal grills, fixing points, wiring looms, lighting and switches, which has required additional production space.