Reshaping a lucrative future

Change at any company can be difficult but sometimes it’s the only way forward to secure continuing business. Ed Hill visited Flexible Machining Systems in West Sussex to discover how it is utilising its skills and capabilities in its existing markets to earn and find contracts in new ones.

It’s an easily touted maxim in business but the Darwinian principle of evolve or face extinction is hard to argue against. Although it can be an understandable predicament to lapse into, treading water or complacency is not an option for any enduring commercial growth.

Flexible Machining Systems (FMS), based in Horsham, West Sussex has been undergoing its own reinvention in recent years, partly due to the shockwaves of the COVID pandemic and partly as a result of its former parent company being sold to a new American owner.

As neither FMS, or its sister company Horsham Sheet Metal (HSM), fitted the business portfolio of the new owners, the company chairman and owner was faced with trying to find a more financially secure future for the two businesses. It was at this point that he approached current managing director Russell Levell.

He says: “My background had been in operations and project management for large corporate oil and gas companies, but I wanted to do something different and work with a business where I felt I could add value and bring my experience, especially where a company might need to restructure itself. It needed someone to look at the customer accounts, understand the business and see where we were making money and where we were losing it.”

Timed transformation

The origins of FMS date back 40 years and over that time it has earned a solid reputation as a supplier of high quality (AS9100D and ISO9001/2015) certified precision components to sectors such as medical, aerospace and oil and gas.

By 2019, although the company was bringing in steady business, its profits were stagnating and some of the existing contracts needed re-evaluating. It was at this point the chairman and Mr Levell decided there needed to be a new focus away from just being a precision machine shop to encompassing a wider range of engineering capabilities to offer customers.

“With my experience in project management and auditing company’s capabilities, I had come to the conclusion that it is difficult to find a supplier that can tick all the boxes, not only in terms of on time delivery and quality, but also wider capability such as assembly. As a customer if you have to go from company to company to find these competencies it can be very time consuming for any supply chain team. I thought as a business we had the skills and assets to provide them.”

Mr Levell’s new business model involved transforming FMS and HSM by combining their capabilities to offer production planning, project management (for complex components and assemblies and also complex projects) as well as standard orders, effectively turning it into a single source manufacturer.

“I like to describe us as an engineering services provider. We offer a level of support that removes many of the headaches for our customers when they give us a contract. If it requires machining, inspection, treatment, cleaning, welding, plating, painting, mechanical or electrical assembly we can coordinate and manage it. A ‘special’ order as we call it is in some ways like operating as a small OEM.”

In the mix

A major part of the restructuring of the business was the combining of FMS and HSM not only in terms of capability but also physically. This required an additional factory extension being built at the Horsham site to house a new Mazak Optiplex Nexus 3015 Fiber flatbed laser and utilise the assembly skills that staff had acquired at HSM after many years of supplying into the sheetmetal sector.

Fortunately, just before the pandemic hit, the company also took delivery of a Matsuura MAM72-35V 5-axis machining centre with a high element of automation, including a 32-pallet loading system and 520 automatic tool changer, significantly increasing its unmanned and lights out running capability.

Currently the Horsham site operates in three main adjoining facilities: Factory 1, where its machining capabilities in turning and milling are carried out in the Matsuura machining cell and a wide range of predominantly Mazak CNC machines, along with CMM inspection; Factory 2, where the company undertakes ultrasonic cleaning, assembly (both mechanical and electrical) stock control and goods in/out, and lastly Factory 3 where sheetmetal laser cutting, bending, fabrication and assembly, and large storage takes place.

“We are looking to invest in new plant but we are doing things in stages and there may be other priorities we need to address first,” Mr Levell affirms. “You have to choose the right machine and equipment for a particular situation but eventually by having better capability it will open up new opportunities.”

The changes that Mr Levell has implemented have also meant changes for the company’s 33 members of staff involving promotions, re-training and the assignment of new responsibilities. “It is very rewarding for the whole management team to see employees promoted from within the business,” he says.

“Rob Dennis started his career as an apprentice at FMS. He has been promoted from production engineer to projects engineer to projects and engineering teams manager in the space of three years and is the benchmark for our young engineers.

“We are only a small company but we have a good mix of people and this new business model requires a flexible team, so from time to time we all have to take on additional roles. We can’t allow our operations to stop because of any absences.”

The company will also be looking to take on apprentices in the new year although like many small businesses finding and retaining the right candidates can be difficult.

“We have to give them an appealing career path and meet their expectations to an extent,” Mr Levell adds. “But it is a substantial investment for us so we need people with the right attitude who will repay that investment.”

Positive prospects

So far, the changes at FMS and HSM are producing results. The company is attracting contracts from large OEMs in the medical, power generation and semiconductor industry markets and is looking to consolidate its work in sectors including aerospace, automotive, telecommunications and marine. Projected sales for 2022 for the combined companies are expected to be just over £4 million.

However, Mr Levell admits the transformation of the company has not been easy and is still ongoing. Redundancies were unavoidable when COVID hit and the aerospace market collapsed overnight.

“I had to stretch the whole management team very hard during this period because we had to find a new way of working very quickly. I am grateful that the management team and our employees have found a way to implement new and effective production and project management processes.”

And like many companies FMS is facing the same inflation and material supply problems currently affecting the engineering subcontracting industry. He argues that some OEMs and Tier 1 companies need to improve communication with their suppliers and improve forecasting where possible to create more stable and longstanding contracts.

“We can invest in our capabilities if we have to, and give those customers better support, but we need them to provide some degree of continuity and assurance and better forecasts so we can secure better deals from our suppliers ourselves.”

So, FMS has had quite a journey over the last three years and the evolution and improvements are still progressing. Soon FMS and HMS will be merged into one company and it is looking to invest in a new ERP system to further integrate and improve its workflow and production processes. It also hopes to invest in more 5-axis machines and lifting equipment but first needs to sustain its recent growth and repay its creditors. Luckily Mr Levell has had the continued backing of the owner and chairman.

“He has been very forensic examining the changes I’ve proposed but very supportive of what we’ve been doing and agreed to every capital expenditure request I’ve made,” he says. “Both he and I are passionate about turning this business around but now the team and myself need to pay back the faith that he has shown in us.”

Flexible Machining Systems
www.flexiblemachining.com