Start up success

Celebrating its first year in business, joint company directors Yian Stavrou and George Dingley of Sub-CNC Precision reflect on how they launched, and have subsequently grown, their subcontract precision engineering business from a standing start – as the recession started to bite.

Mr Stavrou comments: "We launched Sub-CNC Precision in early 2009 at a time when market conditions were incredibly challenging. Manufacturing businesses were looking to control costs, gain efficiencies in their supply chains, and for smarter, more innovative ways of doing things. We saw an opportunity to respond to this by providing high quality products on time and at highly competitive prices, using our combined engineering skills and experience in the turned/milled parts sector built up over 25 years, to do so.”

He continues: “Whilst we appreciated the huge challenges that the market represented, we also recognised that the environment could create opportunities for companies to distinguish themselves and for us, this meant being confident, determined and willing to take bold action.”

Mr Dingley concurs: "Our initial focus was on providing a service to other subcontractors who were seeking a reliable overspill service where delivery times and quality could be guaranteed. This initial focus allowed us to develop our brand and reputation in the market, strengthen our skills and importantly, develop a number of relationships that would stand us in good stead for the future.”

Within six months of starting Sub-CNC Precision the need to invest in more machinery to run alongside a multi-axis Citizen sliding head lathe was apparent as the customer base and order book grew. Investment was therefore made in a Haas fixed head turning centre, expanding the company's turning capacity from 22mm to 44.4mm bar fed and 220mm chuck diameters.

"This machine has allowed us to bring in-house the larger diameter work we were previously outsourcing and enabled us to tightly control quality and delivery times ourselves,” Mr Stavrou explains. “Having conquered the initial learning curve, we are now able to keep set-up times to a minimum on the fixed head lathe, using our multi-axis Citizen for any milling operations that are required."

With an expanding customer base, Sub-CNC Precision is machining turned parts for companies in a diverse range of industries including sports and leisure, motorsport, photographic, lighting and electronic sensors. Materials used are equally as diverse, encompassing stainless steel, Inconel, titanium, mild steel, aluminium alloys, brass, copper, bronze, nylon and delrin.

Additionally, the company is finding effective ways of bringing its experience to bear in terms of consultancy services. Recently, with a job for a particular customer, enhanced efficiencies through modified set-up processes and programming methods resulted in a cost saving of 10% for the customer – simply by speeding up cycle times and maintaining existing tooling costs.

More recently, Sub-CNC Precision has won a large contract for a blue chip company, involving complete sub-assemblies being designed, prototyped, field tested, manufactured and assembled in-house. “This is a part of the business we have been looking to expand for some time,” Mr Dingley reveals. “Being able to design and produce in-house gives the customer greater input to the product, and in return we can offer greater accuracy on leadtimes and cost. Innovation in design will be a key area in which manufacturing businesses will be able to differentiate themselves, and Sub-CNC Precision is well-placed to take advantage of this.”

So what does the future hold? In the near term, Sub-CNC Precision will be expanding its premises, increasing office space and creating a larger area on the shop floor for a further sliding head machine. “Our primary focus will continue to be our customers, maintaining and developing trusted supplier relationships and delivering a first class service at a highly competitive price,” says Mr Stavrou. “We also aim to achieve BS EN ISO 9001 registration this year.

“Whilst an early economic recovery is likely to be fragile, many companies have now stabilised their business position and performance sufficiently to begin to think about the future,” he concludes. “For Sub-CNC Precision – whilst we've had a clear focus on near term performance, we've also been taking steps to position ourselves positively for the future. We want to support our customers in emerging from the downturn as winners, and secure this position for our own company too.”

Sub-CNC Precision has recently been approved as members of the British Turned Parts Manufacturers Association (BTMA), the Trade Association in the UK for precision turned parts and machined component manufacturers.

Sub-CNC Precision
www.sub-cncprecision.co.uk