Ahead of the game

As the tide of recession at last begins to ebb, the manufacturing landscape for subcontract companies has undoubtedly changed. Many have lost business as customers have gone under or moved to lower cost suppliers abroad and in turn several companies have cut costs themselves as they sit tight until things pick up. Dawson Precision Components (DPC) has taken a wholly different approach. By continuing to invest in its staff and facilities it claims to have emerged from the recession in a strong position. 

DPC is one of the UK's leading precision machining SMEs and a British manufacturing success story. It is a family run business offering a broad range of subcontracting services from metalworking, turning, milling and precision machining services, as well as production and design consultancy. DPC's components grace everything from Formula One cars to jet fighters, through to healthcare spectrometer.

The company was formed in 1965 in Shaw, Greater Manchester by brothers Frank and William Dawson. Today it is still a family business run by a second generation of Dawsons – managing Director Simon Dawson, sales director Paul Dawson, and finance director Julie Hughes.

Quality investment

A few years ago, DPC took the decision to embark upon a £2 million investment programme involving a complete revamp of the factory, increased staff training and a range of new machines.

This has transformed the company's operation and output. New turning and milling machines enable volume flexibility and greater accuracy, enabling it to produce turned parts to almost any specification to an accuracy of 5µm.

Managing director Simon Dawson explains: “One machine can perform a series of tasks, creating a consistent operation that saves time and manpower. Before we could only handle shorter runs, but now we can break work up into batches which helps with our customers' stock and cashflows. The new equipment has allowed us to offer much more and keep within budget.”

This is important to a business which carries out a broad range of tasks, ranging from metalworking in steel, brass, aluminium and titanium as well as producing finely machined Perspex, delrin and plastic components.

“For example,” adds Mr Dawson, “our £25,000 videoscope camera used for design applications carries out multiple tasks and does so in minutes. In the past we have found that the cost of a project outweighs the profit and have taken on work solely to maintain the client relationship. Now we have the technology to carry out all these tasks in an efficient and profitable way, meaning we get value whilst maintaining the quality of service to our customers.” Satisfied customers

The company has also made full use of £20,000 of grant aided training available from the Learning and Skills Council, Train2Gain and the National Physical Laboratory. Its employees have taken vocational qualifications in areas like customer service and teamwork. “Investing in our staff has raised morale and commitment, they have responded fantastically,” says Mr Dawson.

“The improved feel of the factory is certainly worthy of note,” he affirms. “It's light and modern and little things like everyone knowing where everything is stored has a real impact on our efficiency.”

This level of service is important to Dawson's customers, which come from industries as diverse as defence, medical instrumentation, automotive and rail.

Engine specialist Cosworth uses DPC to support its own in-house capabilities. Its components buyer is Richard Kiddle. “In Formula One there are extremely tight deadlines and tolerances and we only select a small number of suppliers to work for us on major contracts that can meet our own exacting standards,” he explains. “We need to know that what comes through the door is delivered on time and to specification.”

Another satisfied customer is Rowe Hankins, which provides engineering solutions globally for the railway industry. Production and purchasing manager Paul Bamford relies on DPC components for 90% of Rowe Hankins' projects.
“In our industry we need to solve problems rapidly and effectively,” he declares. “We use Dawson Precision Components because its staff are quick, reliable and prepared to jump through hoops to get the job done.”
DPC's components also adorn the optical and cathode ray tube displays for the F16 jet fighter and replacement cockpit screws and fastenings for the Eurofighter Typhoon. The company is registered to ISO9001:2008.

You get what you pay for

And the investment seems to be paying dividends. All of DPC's 37 members of staff are still gainfully employed and although turnover was down slightly in 2009, the first quarter of 2010 has seen the projected turnover return to and exceed 2008 levels. New business has been won in the telecoms sector.

DPC believes that investing in the equipment and staff, and not compromising on cost or quality will give them a head start as the recovery begins. “We have kept our service at the highest level and have found customers are more than happy to pay for quality,” Mr Dawson reveals. “We believe this will only improve as the recovery kicks in and more engineering companies start looking for high quality suppliers with a proven track record.”

Mr Dawson isn't prepared to rest on his laurels. “It's a rapidly changing industry and we intend to continue investing in our equipment and people to ensure we stay ahead of the competition,” he announces. “For example we are committed to ensuring all our engineers have completed their NPL dimensional measurement training by the end of the year. This has a proven record of improving efficiency in the production process and providing customers with added confidence in the product they are receiving.

“As the recovery starts to kick in, we also need to start shouting about what we've been doing, to ensure we continue to pick up potential business as it appears. We will be exhibiting at Mach for the first time in June and will be looking at other ways of raising the company's profile in the near future,” he concludes. “Our investment has served us well during the recession and we're looking forward to seeing the benefits it will bring as we start the recovery.”

Dawson Precision Components
www.dpc.co.uk