It’s all in the detail

In a Q&A session, Paul Beckett, CEO of 5-axis CNC machining specialists, Total Machining Solutions says that when it comes to pattern & mould machining capabilities, the company’s attention to detail is second to none.

Established in 2010, Chatham, Kent-based Total Machining Solutions (TMS) was set up by Paul and Diane Beckett who still run the business today. Starting with three staff members and two CNC machines, the company now employs 24 staff over three sites and has just acquired a new unit for planned expansion in 2021.

TMS manufactures patterns, moulds, models, props and products from PU/epoxy-based materials, as well as aluminium. The company serves sectors including F1 teams, racing and automotive, through to aerospace, and films and TV productions. Operating in a highly competitive market, TMS competes not just on price, but also on speed of work and quality of finish. Many of these industries require very tight tolerances, so it has to be very accurate and backed by highly efficient quality assurance and inspection regimes.

Q) What are the types of performance demands placed on your company by today’s customers?

Customers today are very savvy and largely understand what they want. They are looking for flexibility, adaptability and speed of production. We pride ourselves on the relationships we have with our customers and suppliers – this has been the key to our success which has been achieved by helping customers be successful. We’re always looking for a long-term relationship where we are working together.

One particular success story involved the development of a specialist cutting technique for foam protection which is now in use in almost all F1 cars. I cannot divulge the details, but we’re proud that our methods are able to contribute to the safety in such a high profile sport.

Q) Tell me more about your four CMS CNC machining centres and what kind of productivity benefits have you derived from them?

Our four 5-axis CMS Ares machines have a maximum cutting envelope of 4.8m x 2.6m x 1.1m. They were selected for being the best value all-round machine in a competitive market, offering high cutting speed with precision. The benefits of being 5-axis means there is no need to reposition work which makes us quicker and more efficient; we can also programme longer runs. In addition, we have re-invested profits year-on-year in CNC machines and now have thirteen machines across the business, with this number growing annually.

Q) Were any tooling packages rolled into CMS’ CNC machine tool purchases, or have you done this separately?

We operate across a large number of sectors and therefore the needs vary very much between the tasks. Therefore, we handpick what product tools we use on the machines for the job in hand. Having a general set of tools as recommended wouldn’t be ideal for us because of the multiple sectors we operate in. We tend to use the same types for each sector as they are similar types of jobs regarding similar skills.

Q) Has the company gained any kinds of productivity benefits from the implementation of automation technology?

We started systemising our workflows and processes in 2019. We’ve seen some marginal gains in productivity and as this bespoke system is developed, we’re expecting to see future advances. For us, robotics isn’t suitable as we currently manufacture a large number of bespoke items which makes it very difficult to have those things programmed, whereas robotics works really well with similar actions all day long.

Q) What are your thoughts on industry 4.0 and the Internet of Things (IoT)?

This is all new technology at the moment, so we’re keeping a very close eye on developments by the major manufacturers, including CMS, to see where it takes us. The IoT and AI in systems is something which is of great interest to make our connected world even more connected and our systems operable. We would love a peek into the future to see where this technology will be in a decade’s time. We hope to be on the forefront of this development.

Q) What do you feel are the most important assets of a company?

The business has been built on the skills and technical expertise of people we have within the company. Even with the advent of AI and machine learning, we don’t see this being replaced in the foreseeable future from a skilled worker perspective. As we’ve supplied so many items that are one-off bespoke, it makes ‘machine learning’ very difficult as every job is significantly different.

Therefore, it’s not as straightforward as it would be if we were manufacturing custom ‘widgets’ by the thousands. Our strategy combined with people who are experienced and technically qualified - together with the cutting-edge technology that the CNC machines bring - are vital to coming together as an asset of the company to make us the success we are.

Q) Is there a particular area of your business that has been hit by the pandemic in your opinion, or is everyone equally affected?

All engineering companies have been equally hit, but we’ve responded to these challenges positively. We originally furloughed staff as the work immediately dried up on the first lockdown. As the lockdown relaxed and more businesses were able to return to work, we got more and more of our workforce back to work. We’ve tried to be prudent to ensure we didn’t need to have mass redundancies.

Q) Do you think companies should use this pandemic enforced downtime to effectively ‘reset’ and look at how efficiently they are running their business?

Yes, if they haven’t already done so. We had already started the systemisation of the business and a ‘resetting’ of the internal processes to revaluate what we were doing at every stage of each process. This is time-consuming and complex, but it’s starting to pay dividends. The business is getting more streamlined and efficient as possible so that we become more responsive and flexible with our work and the ultimate service we provide to our clients. Businesses definitely need to reset and look at the efficiencies and the effectiveness of what they are doing as we believe the market will become more competitive over the next 12 months. We’re expecting a contraction within the whole manufacturing sector arising from the pandemic combined with Brexit leading to an all-time low confidence for most businesses. We believe that this will be quite short-term and it’s an opportunity for those in the sector to get their houses in order.

Q) Are there any positives in general to come out of all this?

We’re very positive and can see many opportunities as well as issues. Uncompetitive businesses who aren’t efficient will struggle to survive, but those people and businesses who are providing expertise, service and value and not just competing solely on price will be successful.

What kind of industry landscape will we face with when everything gets back to normal? We’re positive that we will be back to a more normal basis within the next six months or so. The mass testing and vaccination programmes will have a big impact as we adjust to a new normal. We believe that longer-term demand for our services will be there and we are ready to exceed those demands.

Q) Where to next for your company?

We are looking to take on apprentices. The automation and systemisation means this will be a very exciting time and we are delighted to partner with excellent highly reputable businesses such as CMS. Having them on board enables us to meet the demands of our customers in a flexible and forthright manner.

https://totalmachiningsolutions.co.uk

www.cmsukltd.co.uk