Manufacturer stays on track

The business, which employs 35 people, manufactures seating and interior components for the railway and bus industry from its base in Corby, Northants. It contacted MAS to help it manage its stock levels following a buyout from the previous managing director. The company was also having a problem with overcapacity and had to find efficiencies to meet its busy order books. Owner and MD Martin Thornton said: “I have been delighted with MAS as they have helped me to save £40,000 in stock reduction and reduced my labour costs by 20%, enabling me to redeploy staff to help fulfil our busy order book. When you consider that we have achieved this with only five days of help from MAS, then the results are even more outstanding. We are looking at using MAS again.” The MAS practitioner John Ransford worked with Primarius to introduce a stock control system. The company had transferred from Bombardier where there was no need to control stock, so the discipline was new to them and was proving costly. Ransford said: “Many of Primarius’ stock items are expensive and we introduced a ‘just in time’ system for ordering these and many other items. The result was a huge drop in the stock levels. We also reorganised the stock room to provide a better layout and reduced the amount of walking to and from the stock room by the staff for spares. This was proving to be a very inefficient use of staff time.” Ransford also worked with the company to organise its factory layout when it moved premises at the end of 2006 and he encouraged them to update and re-introduce visual systems across the factory so the workforce could see the progress that they were making. Following the MAS project, the company has continued to make improvements. It recently invested in a conveyor system that transports heavy goods from the storage area to the assembly line, again enabling the company to increase its productivity. Primarius has enjoyed a rapid growth period in its short life. This year it expects to double its order book through growing its customer base away from Bombardier both in the UK and overseas. MD Thornton added: “If we keep growing like this, we will have to move premises again!”