Re-shoring, the new buzzword that masks a growing trend in UK manufacturing

Politicians, the media and other people of influence are often guilty of inventing rather ugly and ponderous key phrases in the search for a successful soundbite. Some of the worst ones that come to mind include: ’Get More for your Monergy’, ‘The Big Society’ and ‘Hard Working Families’.

The latest fad in relation to British business is the phrase ‘Re-shoring’. I don’t know whether this was dreamt up by the prime minister or some bright spark at UKTI, but it is another rather clumsy phrase that masks a very important trend taking place in UK manufacturing industry.

What it represents is the actions of those manufacturers that had previously outsourced (another ugly word) a great deal of their production overseas, primarily to low-cost labour countries such as China, India, Mexico etc. They are now bringing large parts of it back to the UK. It is significant that, in the last three years, one in six companies have made this important change.

There are various reasons for this. Companies are keen to improve the quality of their components and finished products. They also want to secure their supply chains and to improve certainty and speed of delivery.

Furthermore, the phrase ‘Made in Britain’ is once more being perceived as a badge of quality to be worn with pride. This country has a world-class science and research base and a highly skilled workforce. Our universities are among the best in the world and thanks to a re-think on educational priorities, we are now seeing a return to popularity of courses in the science, engineering and business oriented disciplines.

Another significant statistic is that, in the last ten years, our exports to non-EU countries have grown by 100%. So, as we bring production back home, we are improving the balance of trade by selling our products to many of the countries that previously made them for us!

In the surface finishing industry, many of my colleagues are reporting an upsurge in the commissioning of new electroplating, e-coating, powder coating and vibratory finishing plants, as well as an increased demand for other ancillary machinery. The investments that are being made in the UK can only benefit our industry, as we have so many skilled people here in this field.

At the same time, new finishing plants that are being built overseas frequently draw upon the expertise of British plant designers, builders, chemical engineers and consultants to achieve the same high standards of process and production that we enjoy at home. Our industry can genuinely claim to be one of Britain’s major export success stories.

One of the few downsides to this whole scenario is our over-inflated energy prices, a consequence of political meddling in what should be a national resource and the volatility of global energy markets. At the time of writing this article, this could all be exacerbated by the unfolding crisis in Ukraine, so let’s pray for a peaceful solution.

Right now, I’m off back to the office for a spot of re-shoring. Keep up the good work!

Riley recycles former GKN robots for the benefit of Midlands skip manufacturer

RileySurface World recently completed the successful disposal of a large number of ABB robots and ancillary equipment from GKN Land Systems in Telford, UK. The robots were formerly used for mig, spot and projection welding of commercial vehicle chassis.

One of the beneficiaries of the robot sale was Dtec Manufacturing Ltd., a recent start-up company in Walsall. The directors all have backgrounds in materials handling and have now started their own manufacturing facility, specialising in the production of tipping skips, both light and heavy duty, and forklift attachments such as snow ploughs, scoops, cranes and other forms of lifting gear.

 One of Dtec’s exclusive products is the Tele-Skip. This can be locked to a forklift remotely from the driver’s cab, with no need for manual handling or retaining chains. This product has many health & safety and efficiency benefits.

Dtec Manufacturing supplies the construction industry and other sectors such as recycling, warehousing, aerospace, general engineering and metal refining. Their products can be customised to a customer’s own requirements, including corporate colours and logos, colour coding for ease of identification in the recycling process, specially made buckets, lights and other attachments.

According to co-director Tony Leaver, the acquisition of the robots, at a small fraction of their market value, will enable Dtec Manufacturing to double its output from 10 to 20 skips per day. This will help the company to satisfy the demand from its existing customers and win new business. Tony also complimented Riley Surface World for their helpful and professional attitude displayed during the course of the GKN sale.

For further information visit: www.tippingskips.com 

Improvements to our products and processes for 2014

Our company has recently undergone a number of important structural changes, which have improved our efficiency and the services to our customers.

We now have a dedicated team processing machines as they come into our central warehouse. This means that they are on sale more quickly and can be made available for a customer’s requirements in double-quick time.

There are now a record number of machines being added to our website on a daily basis, covering all of the major surface finishing disciplines. So there is greater choice and better quality.

In this issue, we have highlighted some of our many direct from site clearances. These are asset sales of redundant plant & machinery direct from clients’ premises, resulting in more streamlined and less costly marketing, logistics and transportation.

We have also diversified into online auctions. This issue includes details of our latest auction for equipment from GKN Land Systems in Telford, and a large selection of items available through our own online bidding channel.

And if you cannot find the used machinery you are looking for, you now have the option of our New Machines portfolio, covering ovens, furnaces, cleaning, shot blasting and dust extraction.

Because our website is updated hourly, with a huge electronic catalogue of surface finishing plant & equipment, we will no longer be publishing our Machine World magazine listing all of our general stock. If you want to search for machines by category, type or brand name, simply visit our website and use our search tool powered by Google.

Thank you for your interest in Riley Surface World. We look forward to satisfying your entire surface finishing equipment requirements in 2014.

What the Bible can teach us about economic cycles

At the beginning of 2014, lots of commentators are lining up to deliver good news about the prospects for the economy. Factors such as the purchasing managers’ index, last quarter growth figures and record car sales seem to herald better prospects than we have seen for at least seven years.

This brings to mind Pharaoh’s dream in the book of Genesis. After seeing seven fat and healthy cows emerge from the water to consume seven fresh heads of grain, they were followed by seven gaunt and unhealthy cows that ate the healthy cows. Joseph’s interpretation was that seven years of plenty would inevitably be followed by seven lean years.

When you look back on UK and world economic cycles since World War 2, it is remarkable how similar the pattern has been. From 1945, there were seven years of post-war austerity, followed by seven years of healthy growth in the 1950s, culminating in those famous words of Harold Macmillan: ‘You’ve never had it so good’. Then came the optimism of the 1960s, with another Harold (Wilson) who was master of the sound bite alluding to: ’the white heat of technology’. This was followed by the misery of the early 1970s, and so on.

So if history (supported by biblical reference) is repeating itself, we are at the beginning of another golden age, which will last for at least seven years. During this time, we can all look forward to increasing industrial output, lower unemployment, higher living standards and better prospects for the emerging generation. This trend is already being reflected by the sharp increase in UK exports and positive figures, in most cases, from the high street. We are also worryingly close to that familiar British phenomenon, the house price bubble, but that’s another story!

My only fear is that the opportunity will be squandered, as it has been so many times before. Economic growth that is driven by consumer spending on imported goods and services is not sustainable. We must continue with a re-balancing of the economy back towards manufacturing and exporting.

When I was growing up in the 1960s and 70s, my home city of Birmingham was one of the powerhouses of world industry. Anyone taking the train into New Street station would pass countless numbers of factories, both large and small, producing everything from nuts and bolts to articulated lorries, most of them working around the clock and making goods that were sold all over the planet.

The days of high volume production on this scale are unlikely to return, as these kinds of operations are generally going to low cost, developing countries such as China, Brazil and Mexico. However, UK Trade & Investment is doing a terrific job by nurturing high-end; high-technology manufacturing that is reaping dividends.

In addition, schemes such as Sir Richard Branson’s Virgin StartUp are providing the necessary liquidity for young entrepreneurs to realise their visions and invest in the machinery, premises and staff that new enterprises so desperately need. At Riley Surface World, we have seen a recent upsurge in equipment that is being acquired with the help of these programmes.

The surface finishing industry, in turn, must change and adapt to fulfil the demands of the new industries that are emerging. In the UK, we have unrivalled expertise in this sector and access to a great deal of plant and machinery that is becoming available from larger companies due to global restructuring. These opportunities must be grasped with both hands if we are to enjoy the spoils of the next seven years before it all goes downhill again. Happy New Year!

The use of power supplies in the modern surface finishing industry

In its simplest form, electroplating is a process that uses electrical current to reduce dissolved metal cations so that they form a metal coating on the surface of an electrode. The process is dependent on an effective and consistent power supply, or source, to produce the required electrical current, normally introduced into the process line by a device known as a rectifier.

The purpose of a rectifier is to remove any variation or fluctuation from the power supply, effectively ‘straightening’ it and making it consistent. Most power supply devices in metal treatments are set up to convert a standard alternating electrical current (AC) to a direct current (DC) in order to achieve the consistent input required for the plating process.

Earliest beginnings

Electrodeposition of precious metals can be traced back to around 1800, when Italian chemist and professor Luigi Brugnatelli developed a process for coating gold on to a silver substrate. He was aided in this project by Allisandro Volta, who was in the process of developing voltaic electrical batteries.

It wasn’t until the 1840s that the Elkington brothers of Birmingham, UK, refined the precious metal plating process and turned it into a proper commercial venture. From the UK, the technology spread rapidly to Europe and the USA. In Russia, large scale gold plating for cathedral domes, icons and religious statues were successfully completed. And as the growth of industrialisation continued throughout the world, electroplating using DC power based on the Elkingtons’ patents reigned supreme.

In the 20^th and early 21^st centuries, the electroplating process has largely adhered to its original principles, but at the same time developed improvements in chemical solutions, process plant automation and wave-form technology for rectifiers, turning electroplating into less of a black art and more of a sophisticated technical procedure, governed by industrial and international safety standards.

What is a power supply?

A power supply is a device that converts AC power from the mains into the appropriate source of power for, in this case, electroplating. The Power Supply Unit (PSU) most commonly used in electroplating is the rectifier.

The earliest type of electrical rectifier used to convert AC to DC was the Mercury Arc Valve, a type of Cold Cathode gas discharge tube invented by Peter Cooper Hewitt. As the commercial implications of this breakthrough invention became more significant, the need for rectification allied to electroplating began. So dedicated rectifiers were developed to support the new, booming electroplating industries, fuelled by world wars, consumerism and economic prosperity.

Throughout the 20^th century, original equipment manufacturers such as Westinghouse, Brentford and Drake exploited the demand for DC power supplies. In the UK, the aerospace, automotive and general engineering industries were booming in the period from the 1940s until the 1980s. Along with this surge in industrial production was a constant need for more sophisticated plating and coating processes, with a subsequent demand for efficient and reliable power supplies.

Set of standard rectifiers and transformers for electroplating

Decline in UK sales of standard rectifiers

Riley Surface World was founded in the white heat of this technological revolution, so the sale and refurbishment of DC power supplies took centre stage, allowing us to develop our company to the powerhouse that it is today.

The nature of manufacturing is that it is constantly changing. As products become obsolete and new ones take over, production lines are continuously being reconfigured, or in some cases dismantled and rebuilt. In the new globalised economy, these changes often take place across international boundaries, with the need for equipment suppliers to be very flexible and able to meet this ever changing demand.

Over the past 10 – 15 years, our company has seen a sharp reduction in demand for standard DC power supplies from the UK metal treatments industry. This decline is largely due to much of the bulk zinc plating of mass produced products, such as nuts and bolts or shopping trolleys, moving overseas to lower cost economies. As Britain moves to a more specialised manufacturing nation, traditional electrolytic treatments are being replaced by more modern e-coating and other organic coating processes, allied to the needs of the higher end aerospace, automotive and general engineering industries. These processes either do not require rectifiers, or use more compact switch mode units rather than the older ‘filing cabinet’ models traditionally associated with electroplating.

A good example is the power supply used for a powder coating gun. Older models use a separate, free-standing power supply unit, whilst more modern units have the power supply built into the device, resulting in a more compact and efficient unit.

Set of high powered rectifiers adapted from anodising to electrowinning applications

New, growing DC power applications

At the same time, new high powered rectifiers are being harnessed for a whole new set of industrial functions. In the oil exploration and construction industries, rectifiers are being utilised for cathodic protection of metal reinforcements in offshore platforms, bridges and other kinds of structures subject to corrosion. The introduction of the appropriate electrical charge to metal can work wonders for the life expectancy of such structures.

Rectifiers are also used extensively throughout the world’s mining and metal extraction industries in a procedure known as electrowinning or electroextraction. This is the electrodeposition of metals from their ores that have been put in solution via a process commonly referred to as leaching. Electrorefining uses a similar process to remove impurities from a metal. Both processes use electrolysis on a large scale and are important techniques for the economical and straightforward purification of non-ferrous metals. The resulting metals are said to be ‘electrowon’.

Detail of high powered rectifier

The most common metals to be processed as part of the electrowinning procedure are lead, copper, gold, silver, zinc, aluminium, chromium, cobalt and manganese. The growth of applications such as cathodic protection and eletrowinning are creating new markets for power supply manufacturers and resellers, such as our company.

Riley Surface World has recently won a large order from an Australian metal refining group for a set of 6 x 500 amp, 0 – 25 volt DC rectifiers formerly used in the UK for the anodising of surface finished aluminium coil, as used in light diffusers and other similar products. These high powered units are now being applied to electrowinning on a very large scale. This is just one example of how DC power supplies for one process can be adapted to another application in a different part of the world, providing opportunities for the UK electroplating and power supply industries. 

HS2 would be good for Birmingham, good for the surface finishing industry and good for the whole country

The government has yet again been forced to defend its investment in HS2. As Riley Surface World was founded in Birmingham and is still based in the West Midlands, I have decided to make my own views known on the subject.

The debate about the high speed rail network has inevitably polarised opinion. Those in favour point to Germany, France, Spain and the Netherlands as countries that have enjoyed the benefits of this form of rail travel for many years. Meanwhile, the UK lags far behind.

It has got me thinking as to why we are always behind the game when it comes to large, glossy infrastructure projects? After all, our economy may not rival Germany, but it is comparable to France and bigger than Spain or the Netherlands. What is it about the British psyche that causes us to shrink from such difficult decisions?

This reticence is not universal. In London during the last decade we have completed the O2 Arena, Excel exhibition centre, Olympic park, new Wembley stadium, Heathrow Terminal 5, two massive Westfield shopping centres and we are well into the multi-billion Crossrail project linking west and east London.

Londoners instinctively embrace these schemes. It is taken as read that a major international conurbation needs facilities like this. They project the image of a city that is constantly moving forward, responding to change and enhancing its global reputation.

However, the benefits of HS2 are not entirely for London. They begin with the line to Birmingham and eventually reach Manchester and Leeds, passing Nottingham and Sheffield along the way. The whole idea is about joining up the dots between the major provincial cities and the South East, making it easier for business and the public to engage with the Midlands and North and vice versa.

Once you reach the outskirts of London the opposition comes piling in. Residents of the affluent Chilterns and some of the most picturesque parts of Northants and Warwickshire, understandably, don’t want to suffer ten years or more of disruption and blight on their properties and idyllic lifestyles.

In more general terms, hard-pressed tax payers find it hard to envisage the benefits of spending £40 + billion on something that only a minority of the population will ever use. So how do you sell the case?

As a lifelong Midlands businessman and resident, I am conscious that I should have a view on something as important as HS2. When it eventually opens, I am sure that I will be one of the first to buy a ticket, if only for the thrill of travelling at 200 mph!

But putting frivolity to one side, there is no doubt that Birmingham will never return to its former glory without projects like this. Ever since the industrial revolution, Birmingham and the Black Country have thrived on bold, buccaneering industrial expansion. Without visionaries like Brunel, we would never have created the foundries and factories that were the basis of our famous metal bashing industries. Meanwhile, the great William Morris laid the foundations for our automotive industries that are such a feature of the West Midlands, now undergoing a revival that is contributing heavily to the 1 million plus cars that are built in Britain every year.

Although I have some sympathy with the sceptical, my heart tells me we should go for it. It is particularly attractive if the contracts for design, construction, rolling stock etc. are awarded primarily to UK companies. That will have a huge positive effect on employment and prosperity, not least in our own industry, which, as we all know, leads the world in its expertise.

Farewell to summer and hello to a new season of optimism

I am writing this month’s blog at the tail end of my summer holiday on the southernmost tip of Spain, just 12 miles across the straits to North Africa. Such a tranquil setting is the perfect backdrop to reflect on the busy trading season that we are about to embark on, as well as the prospects for our industry as a whole.

The beginning of September has brought a raft of good news stories for the global economy and the UK in particular. Vodafone selling its American business delivers a whopping £85 billion to shareholders, the majority of whom are in the UK. As is the norm nowadays with multinational companies, they will be deftly avoiding UK capital gains tax. However, an injection of liquidity on this scale into the economy is sure to have a positive effect.

There is further good news on the European front, as Microsoft buys Nokia for £5 billion. Even footballers are changing hands for staggering sums of money, with the total spent by Premier League clubs in the transfer window being somewhere north of £600 million. Rolls Royce and Bentley dealers should brace themselves for the invasion!

Which brings me nicely to the recent edition of BBC television’s Top Gear, which focussed on the current state of the UK car and commercial vehicle industries. Who could fail to be impressed by that huge fleet of British built vehicles that lined the Mall? Clear evidence, if ever there was any doubt, that Britain is a world class player in the automotive business once again.

To build on this success, we need a high percentage of the billions of pounds arriving in shareholders’ accounts to be re-invested in our manufacturing base. By creating opportunities for well-paid and highly skilled manufacturing and engineering jobs, we will begin to reverse the downward spiral of a low skill, low pay economy.

The banks also have an important role to play in this. I recently heard a respected economist liken bankers to toddlers. They run around in an excited frenzy, causing mayhem until they run out of energy and leave the room in a total mess. They then lie down and pretend that none of the mess left behind was their fault, and in any case, someone else will always clear it up for them.

The recent troubles at the Coop Bank illustrate that there will be consequences for banking profligacy in the future. Hopefully, this will encourage them to take a longer term and more measured view of their actions. Whilst there will always be a place for new shopping centres and housing developments, increased importance must be given to new manufacturing facilities, in order to harness the skills and talents that, as a nation, we have always possessed.

From high value consumer products to components and sub-systems for the automotive and aerospace industries, we still design and manufacture a great deal in the UK. All of these products and parts require surface preparation, cleaning, deburring, powder coating and all of the other processes that our own industry does so well. The greater the emphasis for investors on British made goods, the greater the benefit will be for industries like our own.

Tomorrow I will be leaving my Spanish sojourn for the grit, grime and graft of good old Birmingham. It is a journey that, for once, I will make with a great deal of optimism for the months and years ahead.