The only way is up

Once upon a time back in 2009, a new start-up company called J8 Precision was born. Then based in Sutton Coldfield and headed up by brother and sister partnership Kate and Jack Edwards, this was never going to be a walk in the park by any stretch of the imagination. The great news however is that the company has since gone from strength to strength and is a shining example of how perseverance, passion and good old fashioned hard work can really pay dividends. Dave Tudor reports.

In reality, 2009 was quite possibly the most difficult year imaginable to start an engineering company. The world was in the middle of the most brutal recession in living memory and manufacturing was, for all intents and purposes, on its knees.
For company directors Kate and Jack, whilst the timing was far from perfect, the birth of J8 was somewhat influenced by natural evolution – their father, Ray Edwards started his own company, Edwards Precision Engineering 30 years earlier and had decided to retire. The siblings simply couldn't walk away from the family's roots in manufacturing and decided to take the reins. “We wanted to build on the sound foundations that Dad had established – but do things differently,” Kate reveals. This is evidenced today by J8's customer base which has quite literally been built from scratch and is entirely different from Edwards'. “We've made real inroads into some pretty competitive sectors like F1 and motorsport,” Kate says, “and it's important we carve out our own identity in the marketplace, but Edwards was known for the high quality of its workmanship and also for the traditional family values that underpinned the business. We definitely want to continue that tradition. Our mantra is that we'll do whatever is required to get the job done. We want our customers to be 100% satisfied with the service we provide.”

J8's work in the F1 fraternity is certainly worthy of note – when the company began it had zero customers in the sector whereas today it regularly undertakes work for three F1 teams. “We've actually worked with no less than seven F1 teams in total,” Kate divulges. “It can be highly demanding work but we've embraced the challenge in every respect.”

Initially, J8 occupied an 18,000ft² factory in Sutton Coldfield but extortionate business rates and a somewhat inefficient shopfloor layout meant it was time to look for new premises so in August 2012 the company relocated to its present home in Aston, Birmingham. “At 9,000ft² there's less real estate but the layout is much better,” Kate explains. “The impact on the business however has been nothing short of dramatic – we've managed to cut our overheads by 50% and that has certainly contributed to the fact that in 2013, J8 Precision became profitable for the first time.”

Falling short

The lack of skilled people in engineering is well-documented but for companies like J8 the problem is worryingly real. “It's definitely restricting our plans for future growth,” Jack affirms. “The Government purports to be helping SMEs but in reality the training provision offered falls way short in terms of technical content. There also seems to be a definite focus on larger companies rather than smaller organisations that exist further down the supply chain “Learning the basics is one thing but like many subcontract engineering companies our needs are quite specific,” he adds. “We need programmers as well as machinists and some of our equipment – like our recently purchased Mazak Variaxis 5-axis machine requires operators of a certain skill level to be able to optimise its capabilities. We simply can't find the calibre of operators required – so like other manufacturing businesses we've had to train from within. Mazak machines of course run under Mazatrol CNC control and finding operators familiar with this platform is challenging to say the least.”

It seems the penny still isn't dropping on a local level. With J8's own apprentices, Kate recalls the time when they went to enrol at nearby Bourneville College – which apparently runs engineering courses – only to be told that the college had ran out of budget and had fallen short of setting up a machine shop. So for their practical training, J8 apprentices would have had to travel to Dudley. Hardly an efficient use of time and resources.

On the right track

At 36 and 29 years of age respectively, getting J8 off the ground has been a pretty steep learning curve for Kate and Jack but by their own admission, the past five years have been invaluable in terms of real world experience. Both have university degrees – Kate in Business Management and Jack in Mechanical Engineering and their roles reflect their individual skill sets: Kate looks after business development, finance and company strategy whilst Jack handles the production, engineering and technical side of the business – including liaising with customers.

Today the company employs 13 members of staff including three apprentices on the shopfloor and a university engineering graduate in the office. Turnover is definitely going the right way – in the first year of trading (2009) turnover was around the £200,000 mark whilst the target for the next financial year is £750,000. Sensibly, J8 has embraced the fact that selling its services overseas is key to long-term success – currently 20% of its turnover is through export sales. Large oaks from small acorns grow as the saying goes.

Invest wisely

It's no coincidence that the most successful manufacturing companies invest regularly in new technology and equipment, but getting the balance right between adopting a structured investment programme and overstretching yourself financially is challenging, particularly for a new company like J8 Precision. “In the early days when we started there was a temptation to approach the banks and borrow ridiculous sums of money to splash out on new equipment,” Kate remembers, “but that's not how we wanted to do things. We were fortunate enough to inherit a number of machines from Edwards, so the plan was to build a solid foundation on which the business could grow and then invest later.” And that's exactly what happened – the investment floodgates have well and truly opened. In May this year, a Mazak Variaxis i-500 machine was purchased at a cost of around £220,000 (with tooling) which enabled J8 to take its first foray into 5-axis machining. “The machine will definitely provide new opportunities for us,” Jack enthuses. “We have a number of Mazak machines on the shopfloor and personally I've always liked their reliability, flexibility and build quality so sticking with them as a supplier made sense. We machine quite a lot of exotic materials like Inconel, Duplex and titanium so our machines need to be solid and robust.

“Although the Variaxis can be used in 3+2-axis mode, our intention was always to take advantage of its full, simultaneous 5-axis capacity and it has already made a positive impact on the business,” he continues. “In the F1 and motorsport sectors specifically it has enabled us to take on work that previously was beyond our capabilities and, moving forward, I'm sure it will open new doors in other advanced engineering sectors. We're looking seriously into breaking into oil and gas and we also exhibited successfully at the DSEI show last year. Defence is an emerging market for us.”

Completing the recent investments made at J8 are an X-Orbit CMM purchased from Wenzel at a cost of £50,000 and a further £12,000 on a new compressor. “Not exactly a glamorous purchase,” Jack explains, “but definitely an essential one. Our previous model was not only unreliable but it was also so loud it was deafening our operators! Things are much more peaceful now.”

Somewhat more glamorous and due for delivery in the next month or so at a cost of around £100,000 is a new Hurco VMX60Ti vertical machining centre. Featuring travels of 1,625mm x 660mm x 610mm (XYZ) and a 1,676mm by 660mm table, the machine will replace an aging Bridgeport mill that is nearing the end of its shelf life.

“We held back on investing, but by my calculations – albeit with some RGF assistance – we've spent around £380,000 in the past six months,” Kate advises. “To be honest the factory relocation was expensive and we didn't want to overstretch ourselves. Now it's time to take the company to the next level and demonstrate that we're in it for the long haul and are serious about what we're doing.”

Well deserved recognition

It's a monumental challenge to tempt new blood into engineering generally and harder still to persuade females into this finest of careers so it's always welcome to hear about women excelling in what is still largely a male-dominated industry. It is therefore commendable that Kate Edwards has been nominated as one of seven finalists in the 2014 Business Woman of the Year Awards. “I was nominated by Sir Richard Halstead of EEF and I have to admit it was a complete shock,” Kate says. “I'm the youngest of all the finalists and I feel very honoured to be nominated, but what's really encouraging is that someone from an engineering company has made the shortlist. Of course from a wider perspective, the publicity can only be good for J8 Precision.”

J8 Precision
www.j8precision.co.uk