Carving out a niche north of the border

To some subcontracting engineering companies the key to success is to offer as many services as possible whilst others prefer to specialise and become experts in a specific discipline. Wishaw, Scotland-based Swissmatic falls squarely into the second camp and has carved out an established reputation for the manufacture of high quality, high precision turned parts. Dave Tudor headed north of the border and met up with the company's managing director Jim Corbally.

Swissmatic's 14,000ft² manufacturing facility is conveniently located virtually equidistantly (around 30 miles) from both Glasgow and Edinburgh airports on the Netherton Industrial Estate. The 11 employee company began trading in 1979 and has enjoyed consistent growth ever since; interestingly, there's actually a logical reason behind how the business decided on its company name.

“The ‘Swiss' part of the name is deliberate and actually very much describes what we're about,” Jim Corbally reveals. “I wanted the company name to reflect our core values which are precision, accuracy and attention to detail and Swiss manufacturing – particularly its watch and clock making industries – is synonymous with these values so the name Swissmatic evolved quite naturally. Without doubt it has contributed significantly to the success of the business over the years,” he adds.

In the early days, the Swiss influence was more than just a name. From day one, Swissmatic set out to specialise in the manufacture of precision turned small parts and many of its machines were of Swiss origin with banks of Escomatic coil fed lathes and Petermann sliding head turning centres adorning the shopfloor. “We were a typical Swiss cam shop,” Mr Corbally recalls. “In addition to making parts, we also designed and manufactured cams for other companies.”

In pursuit of performance

These days, Swissmatic's modus operandi is centred around one hit machining and its plant list reflects this capability with no less than 17 sliding head machines from Citizen and Star at its disposal. The upper end of its 0.5mm to 42mm diameter capacity is handled via a Miyano BNJ fixed head turning centre.

Perhaps more than any other, the small turned parts market is one that requires regular investment in new equipment and technology as companies strive to squeeze ever-higher levels of performance out of their machines. “Speed, flexibility and higher levels of accuracy are the main drivers for the purchase of new equipment,” Mr Corbally advises. “A good example is the Star SR20R IV we bought in April this year. We like the option of being able to use the machine in guide bush mode on long slender parts or non-guide bush mode for shorter components or parts made from expensive materials where minimising the remnant is important. We do invest regularly and none of our machines are more than eight years old.”

Despite the machine tool mix, Mr Corbally's supplier of choice is Star GB with 13 sliding head machines purchased from the Melbourne, Derbyshire-based company. These comprise two SB16s; six SR20R IIIs; two SR20JNs; two SR10Js; and the latest acquisition the aforementioned SR20R IV.

“Our first sliders were from Citizen and they're still in use today but what I really like about Star machines is their reliability,” Mr Corbally explains. “In our line of work where we run 24/7 under lights out conditions, keeping the spindles turning is an absolute priority and our Stars provide that peace of mind because their downtime is virtually zero. That's a vital consideration for us.”

Perhaps not surprising then is the fact that Mr Corbally is looking at purchasing another machine in the near future. This time it's likely to be an SV-38R which comes with a programmable B-axis on five stations of the turret, balanced turning and milling capabilities, 11kW main spindle motor and 7,000rpm on the main and sub-spindle. The other model under consideration is the triple turret ST-38.

Squeaky clean

Three things Swissmatic's customers can be sure of is that their parts will be dimensionally accurate, clean and well packaged on receipt – on the quality control side Swissmatic has recently purchased a Keyence IM-6120 vision measuring system costing around £35,000 offering the ability to measure and verify complex, multiple component features in seconds. It also operates an Amsonic EGAclean ultrasonic cleaning line and makes effective use of a fully automated counting, bagging and packaging facility.

The Amsonic cleaning cell is certainly worthy of note. To minimise damage throughout manufacturing parts are handled as little as possible. When components leave the machine tools they're placed in a barcoded container; the Amsonic then reads the barcode, recognises the part via its internal database and initiates the appropriate pre-programmed cleaning cycle. “Prior to installing the cleaning and packaging plants, 99% of our customer complaints were damage and cleanliness issues,” Mr Corbally explains. “Now these have been virtually eliminated.”

Core skills

Whilst productivity is obviously important to Swissmatic, a potentially differentiating core strength is its engineering expertise built up from many years in the business. It often works closely with its customers before metal is even cut, offering invaluable advice on the best way to approach a particular job or component.

“This is the case with both new and existing work,” Mr Corbally affirms. “One scenario that often occurs with existing components is that the customer may want a part manufactured from a different material – from carbon steel to titanium or 17-4ph for example. “These materials can be more difficult to machine and often require process modifications so we'll work with the customer to establish the optimum method. Not only that, if necessary, we'll carry out trials to verify that the process will work under production conditions.”

All this of course is heavily dependent on staff skill levels and this is an area where Swissmatic really excels. Since its inception, the company has adopted a ‘train from within' policy and in terms of its existing workforce, with just one exception, every engineer employed is home grown, trained in-house and educated to degree or HND level. “Our people are the lifeblood of the company,” Mr Corbally enthuses. “They're multi-skilled, highly experienced, loyal, and totally customer focused. To date, I've not had a single engineer ever leave the company.”

Tried and trusted

Swissmatic operates within a wide range of demanding industries from aerospace and defence through to instrumentation, electronics and telecommunications so quality is of paramount importance to the company – predominantly because its customer base demands the highest levels of workmanship.

“The most common question we get asked by customers is ‘what can you offer us that will virtually guarantee the supply of fault free parts',” Mr Corbally says. “We have such good longstanding relationships with many of our clients that they don't need to inspect the work we provide and that trust has been built up through years of supplying high quality parts on a consistent basis. This is something we're very proud of – the fact that our customers trust us to provide the quality they, and their end users require.”

When you consider some of the applications that Swissmatic manufactures parts for, achieving these levels of customer trust is commendable. 30-40% of the company's business is in aerospace where it produces components for often highly critical environments such as aircraft fire protection systems. Indeed one of its highest profile contracts is the manufacture of parts destined for passenger safety equipment on the Boeing 787 Dreamliner.

“We get our fair share of new clients but it would be true to say that a large proportion of our work is repeat business,” Mr Corbally advises. “In fact, our first customer way back in 1979 was Sangamo – a company that manufactures time switches and heating controls – and we still supply components to them today, 35 years later. We must be doing something right!”

The right decision

Although based north of the border, the vast majority of Swissmatic's work – around 90% in fact – emanates from outside of Scotland. English customers make up the lion's share of the company's business but exports outside of the UK account for a healthy 10-15% of the order book with customers in the US, Mexico, France, The Netherlands, Southern Ireland and India.

I couldn't pass up the opportunity to ask Mr Corbally about the recent Scottish independence referendum: “On reflection a no vote, purely from a business perspective, was probably the right outcome for the company,” he says. “We do most of our business with English companies and have worked hard over the years to minimise the perceived impression that even though we're based in Scotland, we're not a million miles away geographically. I believe Scottish independence could have exacerbated that potential isolation even more and adversely affected the business.”

If it isn't broke…

Swissmatic is a shining example of a company that has chosen to focus on its expertise and resist the temptation to diversify. If it isn't broke, don't fix it is a phrase that springs to mind – a sentiment echoed by Mr Corbally: “Every year we sit down at our Management Review meetings and discuss our short and long-term objectives,” he says, “and every year we unanimously decide to just keep doing what we're good at.

“There's no room for complacency though – we aim to stay at the forefront of our niche by continuing to offer our customers the exemplary levels of service and quality that have served us so well over the years. To achieve those objectives, we'll continue to invest heavily in our people and new technology.”

Swissmatic
www.swissmatic.co.uk