The facility represents £150 million worth of investment. In support of the F-35 programme and the increasing production rate, demand and growth in capability has in turn placed greater emphasis on tool presetting to keep these machines running efficiently.
It was here that operations manager for machining at BAE Systems, Gareth O’Beirne, turned to System Store Solutions for its assistance: “The cutter preset area is key to our operational efficiency; we have to keep the machines fed with cutting tools, so we needed an efficient and effective solution,” he explained.
“We looked at it with a Formula One pitstop mentality where cutting tools come in and are turned around very quickly, therefore the working area, which covers the size of a swimming pool, had to be organised in such a way that we could achieve a high level of efficiency.”
System Store Solutions was given a blank sheet of paper to come up with a design solution that met BAE’s requirements using its experience and workshop knowledge. The end solution has resulted in the operators having everything to hand, with individual stations for tool assembly, storage for the Kanban system and general racking for tooling. “What we have now is a highly efficient, ergonomic, working environment that enables the machining facility to meet its production targets,” said Mr O’Beirne.
System Store Solutions works across many industry sectors and it is this experience that enables it to create better and more efficient working environments for its customers. “The opportunity to work with BAE Systems on this project, and others, is down to the quality of product that we supply and the knowledge that we have of storage and workshop layouts to deliver the most effective solution for customers,” affirmed managing director, David Price.
System Store Solutions www.system-store.com
