48 Hours from order to consignment
20 February 2023
When a tier 2 manufacturer supplying the automotive sector had been force to stop their line due to false delivery promises, it was the last straw.
Production flexibility proved key to switch success
Switching plastic injection moulding companies at anytime isn’t the most straight forward of tasks at anytime. Switching to a new supplier when the production line was on hold because a key component was fully out of stock, simply increased the pressure. Fortunately Tex Plastics were the company recommended to the tier 2 manufacturer. With two sites, a wide variety of capability and potential short notice capacity – through their flexible production scheduling protocol - enabled them to have the line running again within 48 hours.
When you trust a supplier and they tell you parts will be there – you believe them!
Following several failed delivery promises, the trusted incumbent supplier had used up their last chance. Unfortunately the Monday night shift of the tier 2 manufacturer had also used the last of the plastic components in stock.
Tuesday morning the call was made to Tex Plastics, and by Tuesday afternoon the tooling had arrived at the injection moulders’ Barnstaple facility. Tex Plastics had hastily organised extra shifts to manage the surprise contract. From the tooling engineer’s who inspected and prepared the machine to run the contract, to moulders who were able take on the extra production required.
Benckmark samples were produced by Wednesday morning
Couriered to the client, they were approved by Wednesday afternoon, and the production run was booked that evening. The initial production run was produced overnight utalising spare shift slots, a key contingent in Tex Plastics production capacity flexibility protocol. This was only typically activated when their was an issue with a tool, a moulding machine, or an existing client had needed increased volumes at short notice.
Thursday morning the tier 2 automotive client arrived at Barnstaple
Arriving the evening before and overnighting in a local hotel, they inspected the initial production run and conducted the mandatory onboarding supplier checks at the Barnstaple facility first thing Thursday. By mid day they were happy with their findings and on their return trip. Arriving back at their manufacturing facility just in time to restart their evening shift that same day.
“Understanding the challenge, everyone pulled together. It was an opportunity to win a significant piece of work, but it was also about being realistic on what was possible. Our internal procedures across the two facilities at Derby and Barnstaple mean we have a wider than typical range of injection moulding machines at our disposal. This coupled with our production capacity flexibility protocol, which is designed primarily to avoid letting our clients down, meant we could potentially accommodate the production at short notice. However, there were lots of unknowns, which meant we couldn’t make any promises, other than we’ll do our best. The client was hugely grateful and surprised at what we had managed to achieve. The great processes and fantastic people here at Tex Plastics is behind our success – it’s a team effort and everyone involved deserves a big pat on the back.”
Kevin Payne Operations Manager, Tex Plastics Barnstaple facility.