UK Manufacturing success As Plant Manager of HydraForce Hydraulics Limited, Birmingham, since June 2021, I bring over 40 years of experience in aerospace, automotive, and hydraulic engineering. With a background as a Six Sigma Master Black Belt, I’ve led global programs for over 15 years. Committed to continuous improvement, our team follows the Six Sigma DMAIC methodology to deliver the high standards associated with the HydraForce brand. Turnkey service HydraForce offers a wide range of services to end-users and OEMs. Our Application Engineering Team works very closely with customers. For example, if a customer wants to source hydraulic manifolds or valves for an application, then our team will design the circuit and offer various products to precisely meet the customer’s requirements. These products now also include the Bosch Rexroth range, following its acquisition of HydraForce by Bosch Rexroth in February last year. We are now part of Bosch Rexroth’s Compact Hydraulics Business Unit, and this relationship has given us the extra product dimension we needed. In all regions of the world, we work with OEMs of all sizes as well as distributors. Regardless of the size of the company, they all receive the same level of service from us. Indeed, some of the smaller projects sometimes prove to be more challenging. Once the design and prototyping process has been completed, we move on to prepare for manufacture, where we determine what tooling and fixtures are required based on the required volumes. In some cases, we may develop automation solutions to manage the assemblies that need to produce several hundred thousand valves per year, alternatively an equivalent manual assembly line might produce 300 to 400 units per day, depending on the required demand. Our manufacturing team designs the production infrastructure. We then receive confirmation of the orders and schedule production on the shop floor, the major focus is to ensure customers receive the exact types of high-quality applications they require on time and to specification. Once we have designed and manufactured applications for our customers, our service team is available to optimise product performance and ensure the equipment is up and running at full efficiency levels within a very short timeframe. We maintain regular communications with the customer to understand exactly what is going on through product launch in real time. This ethos and operational approach has been a key facet of HydraForce’s brand success ever since the company was first founded in the mid-1980s. Customer delight I believe part of the magic of Bosch Rexroth and HydraForce is our commitment to customers and our desire to continually push the technology envelope. We take great pride when our customers rely on us and bring us their Close customer focus is what drives us 56 www.bfpa.co.uk By Jon Bradley, Plant Manager, HydraForce Hydraulics Limited, Birmingham, West Midlands. Jon Bradley: “I believe it comes down to giving customers precisely what they want together with full ongoing support whenever required 24 hours a day, 7 days per week.”
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MjQ0NzM=