As a company that develops and manufactures solid carbide cutting tools for companies all around the world, Tewkesbury based Quickgrind Ltd delivers its tooling expertise to the aerospace, automotive and general engineering sectors. Here, Managing Director Ross Howell tells MTD magazine about Quickgrind’s off the shelf and custom-designed tools.
“After over 50 years of operating from our Tewkesbury base, we are the best-kept cutting tool secret in the UK and we are the experts behind the scenes at some of the most well-known aerospace, aircraft, automotive, defence and medical subcontract companies.”
Training the next generation
“Despite the general consensus that the engineering industry consists of an ageing workforce and a shortage of skilled younger workers, this is certainly not the situation at Quickgrind. Many of our operatives are in their early twenties, and some did not have any previous engineering training before joining our company. Our employees come from a wide variety of backgrounds and the transition from non-engineering careers is facilitated by our advanced cloud-based IT systems and a McDonald’s-like system approach. Our systems are unique and highly customised to our modus operandi, having been designed in-house and coded by our team members.”
A flow-based model
“To avoid being trapped in a departmental silo style of working, we have adopted a ‘flow-based’ operating model. This means we view the business as ‘one system’ – from the time the order is received until the money is in the bank. Adopting the flow-based approach revolves around the first law of manufacturing, which states: All benefits will be directly related to the speed of flow of relevant information and materials”.
When everything is flowing well, service and delivery performance are good, and you can meet customer and client expectations – quality improves too. As fewer mistakes are made and quality and service are consistently high, market share tends to grow. “This model requires maximum flexibility from our team members, and many of them are trained in numerous different operations, meaning they can cover for another when a member is absent, so the flow is not interrupted.”
Infinite Possibilities
“We also pride ourselves on our flexibility and focus on innovation, which has been integral to our success. It is also the basis of our ‘Infinite Possibilities’ ethos and ‘Total Solutions Engineering’ programme. The Infinite Possibilities ethos challenges the way buyers and programmers choose their cutting tools. Determining the best tool for the job has always meant turning to thick cutting tool catalogues and selecting a tool based on what the manufacturer wants to sell you.”
“In today’s fast-moving world, companies need to push the production strategy envelope and always be looking for innovative ways to stay ahead. Standard tooling can serve a purpose, but it can also lead to a compromise that costs time and money. ‘Infinite Possibilities’ means you can customise, not compromise.
A specialised cutting tool, combined with an optimised cutting strategy, means you can produce highly accurate, better-finished parts without hurting your bottom line.”
Total Solutions Engineering
“The ‘Total Solutions Engineering’ programme is an integrated approach. It includes QuickLab, an examination of a client’s current tooling usage; QuickCAM and QuickCAM Pro, for advanced machining techniques; QuickVend, the in-house tool vending solution; and QuickEdge, our proprietary remanufacturing service. When implementing Total Solutions Engineering, our clients have seen cost reductions of up to 50% over two years.”
“The last strand of the ‘Total Solutions Engineering’ approach, the QuickEdge remanufacturing service, is one of the most important parts of our business model. This sees many thousands of tools being shipped back to our UK facility weekly, from all corners of the world, to be refurbished to an ‘as-new’ standard. Remanufacturing is often confused with resharpening, but they are very different with resharpening being an inferior process. Remanufacturing, on the other hand, means the tools are returned to their original profiles.”
“Our new tools are designed at the outset to undergo this process up to seven times, a huge cost saving for clients and another advantage of dealing directly with the manufacturer. We actively encourage the remanufacturing process as the production of new raw material leaves a large carbon footprint. As well as supporting the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals Initiative, we also through our education programme, partner with several university engineering departments, assisting with subsidised tooling, practical advice and support.”
“There will always be ‘bumps in the road’ for every business, Brexit and the Coronavirus has taught every business that. However, we believe our business model and strategy has created a business fit for the future, and we are excited to take on the challenges of being a worldwide enterprise.”