Product category:
Lubricants
News Release from: Castrol UK | Subject: Metalworking fluids
Edited by the Engineeringtalk Editorial
Team on 11 April 2005
Fluid management contract produces cost
savings
When the decision was taken to bring fluid management in-house Adwest invited four companies to tender for the coolant supply contract.
Adwest Engineering specialises in the design and manufacture of manual and power assisted steering racks and gears for the European OEM automotive industry Notable customers include Land Rover and Bentley Motors Group, for whom the company developed and built a tailor-made steering gear for the Queen's Jubilee Bentley
The machine shop at Adwest's state-of-the-art design and production facility based at Woodley near Reading employs a workforce of more than two hundred and houses over 300 CNC, NC and manual machines as well as sixteen dedicated test machines.
The shop machines vast quantities of cast iron and cast aluminium to produce steering boxes, as well as turning steel components.
Adwest has been working with Castrol for just over a year following a major review prompted by the poor service being provided by another supplier as part of a full management contract.
As the company's health and safety manager David Miles explains: "We were paying a fixed amount for our metalworking fluids and a substantial management fee, yet our supplier didn't really have things under control and I was having to get involved more and more in a function that we were outsourcing".
"We certainly weren't getting value for money, and we had a number of issues including stock shortages and the efficient disposal of empty drums".
When the decision was taken to bring fluid management in-house Adwest invited four companies to tender for the coolant supply contract.
David Miles says Castrol, though not the cheapest, was chosen because he and Plant Director Derek Batton were confident that the company had the products, experience and technical expertise to support Adwest's in-house team.
With its machine shop operating on lean manufacturing principles the potential for disruption caused by the change to new fluids was a real concern for Adwest, but the introduction of equivalent products was managed by Castrol and the transition proved to be extremely smooth and trouble-free.
Explaining how Castrol and the machine shop team work together, Miles says: "An account manager visits regularly to check stock levels and any other issues with the machine shop team leader, and reports back to me".
"Technical queries are usually dealt with over the phone directly with Castrol's technical department and to help monitor fluid usage Castrol is providing a database and training to enable us to record consumption and any maintenance that's carried out".
"This will give us a programme of fluid usage and create a 'history' for each machine".
Adwest has also involved Castrol in a number of cost saving exercises at the site, including recycling which had been neglected by the previous supplier.
Castrol recommended installing a filtration system that enables Adwest to recycle fluids in-house, which Miles says has proved very successful and very cost efficient.
He reports that terminating the fluid management contract has produced cost savings of 25% to 30%, yet with the support Castrol provides for Adwest's in-house team he actually spends less time dealing with fluid issues than when they were paying for a full contract.
Summing up, he believes that Adwest will eventually return to some form of management contract but concedes that it is still early days and, with Castrol also advising in a number of other areas, he is really pleased with the way things are progressing at present.
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