Proud to manufacture
in the UK
ver the last few years, much
of the UK’s manufacturing
work has been outsourced
to overseas locations especially China - for a
variety of reasons. The economic
downturn which began in 2008 was
disastrous for the British manufacturing
industry, causing a lot of firms to
go out of business and forcing their
customers to look elsewhere. The cost
savings on volume production offered
by Chinese companies made them
seem like a logical choice.
O
Recently however, many companies
have begun to bring their
manufacturing work back onto British
shores. Leicestershire-based QTS, who
design and manufacture wire mesh
based products for the warehouse
logistics markets, made the decision in
2013 to retake control of their entire
production system.
The company began life as a major
importer of their products, importing
completed decking and anti-collapse
safety systems direct from the
manufacturer for re-sale in the UK
market - which was not without its
problems.
“We found ourselves running into
more and more complications,” says
MD Shaun Ingram. “For example, lead
times were a constant worry. It would
often be 12 weeks before products
would reach us, which was frustrating
both for us and our customers. Small
orders were all but out of the question
- we’d frequently have to order far
more product than we needed just to
could fill up a shipping container to
meet our customers’ deadlines. As a
result, our spending our stockholding
went through the roof, and our service
levels credibility went in the opposite
direction.”
After moving into their new premises
in 2011, QTS decided to change
their approach. Rather than buying
in complete decking systems - which
would often be over specified for the
customer’s particular needs – they
decided instead to buy in components
and manufacture from scratch in the
UK. This gave them the increased
flexibility to produce every part of their
racking solutions, including the mesh,
support bars, and related accessories
in-house in order to provide better
quality control and a better service to
their customers.
Changes in the warehousing industry
have also driven demands for bespoke
racking setups to be delivered at
shorter notice than ever. Thanks to the
expansion of e-commerce, many large
wholesale companies have been able
to make the jump into direct consumer
retail, meaning that their distribution
cantered designed for bulk palletised
storage have had to be reconfigured to
incorporate small part picking areas.
This necessitates more intelligent use
of available space.
Thanks to their new entirely in-house
system, QTS’ design process has been
greatly streamlined.
Without having to liaise with partners
operating on a vastly different time
zone, completed blueprints can be
delivered to clients within 72 hours.
QTS are now able to fully design,
manufacture, and deliver customised
racking systems to customers all across
the UK and Europe in as little as three
weeks – a drastic improvement on
the three-month waiting period they
had been accustomed to when using
Chinese manufacturers. The company
now has greater control over its pricing
and can offer its customers a clearer
picture of their order’s progress.
“It’s been a fantastic move for us,”
continues Shaun, “We’ve got so much
more control over our work. It really
shows that our customers prefer to
use a local manufacturer – since we
brought production back in-house,
our capacity has grown from 750
completed units a week to 5,000
– and we’re on track to expand to
10,000 a week this summer. One of
our key suppliers for logistics Velta
International has also been very
supportive of this change. Where
they are shipping less for us on an
import basis they are expanding on
our outbound logistics to newly formed
export markets
“Aside from selling direct to the
customer, we’ve also had a few other
racking manufacturers begin using us
as a supplier. I think the appeal for
them is that we free them from having
to go to overseas suppliers. We source
all our parts from trusted European and
British suppliers with full traceability,
so we know our final products will be
of a high quality. And because we use
locally-sourced steel, our products are
not only far stronger than those made
of timber, but also flame-retardant which means they’re far more hard
wearing and reliable, and help you
meet health and safety requirements.”
By bringing their processes back
to British shores, QTS are helping
to lead the way for a stronger UK
manufacturing industry
For more information, please visit
http://www.qts-ltd.co.uk