COMPANY IDENTIKIT:
Company Name: Partwell Group
First name: Ashley
Family Name: Bradburn
Function: Group Managing Director
Headquarters: Blackburn, Lancashire, UK
Year of foundation: 1979
Start of collaboration
with Serviform: 2008
Branches: 2 sites, 3 companies, one of which is dedicated to die making and machines, which is the biggest company.
Nr. Employees: 40
‘Core’ Activity: Steel rule and die making accessories (agents of Böhler for UK and Ireland).
Things we do best: Provide quality products to our customers to optimize the die making production process
Questions:
01. Which production requirements prompted your customers to choose the Serviform machines?
Customers are finding that the market for making dies getting more and more competitive. After the development of fast lasers cutting the dies, the processing and bending of steel became an area of limitation in the die making process. Apart from the demand to speed up this process, the market is also demanding same day die deliveries as well as next day becoming the norm. Designers are also specifying intricate shapes to be made. With overtime, it means the cost of paying skilled staff is higher even though the previous day may have been relatively quiet. The ability for Serviform machines to bend intricate and repeat shapes quickly enables an agile response to customer demands. In the past, running benders was quite difficult. Today, the machine software is very user friendly and so is the general use of the machines. This aspect makes the use of these machines flexible throughout their internal organization.
02. What are the main technical features on which your customers focus on choosing the machines?
The Serviform machines are now recognised to be the market leader worldwide. Technology is among the first and winning features of the machines; besides their size (which are the smallest and helps die makers to optimize their working space), they are fast and speed up the production process to meet customer’s lead time demands. These machines are now not just bending and processing steel but also nicking, broaching, cut-crease, perf and stripping claw producing. Spare parts are well organized and linked to the service of the machines and that is now regular business. Material wastage is also a technical advancement, which is brilliantly minimized by the Serviform machines.
03. Why do customers choose Partwell?
We have always worked hard to gain and keep the customers’ trust and to create and preserve excellent relationships. We have done that over the last 35 years. We have kept our reputation for quality by representing the best products. Serviform’s reputation is very powerful and we are proud to offer their range of excellent machines. Partwell are also providing customer training as well as a technical engineering service and support team. This gives the customer, the confidence to invest.
04. What is the aspect that makes you proud about the way you do business?
I think it is the values by which we share and live as a team. We were very quick to learn those values were shared by Serviform too. That is about being honest and trustworthy, working together as a team and understanding the customer drives what we do. We are very proud of the staff’s commitment to that. We succeeded in creating a very collaborative environment where people share experiences and focused on common goals.
05. The challenge for the next 5 years?
The greatest challenge is, in my opinion, the continuity of our business. We operate at high service levels and it would be great if as a small business you could have 2 people for every role when that is impossible. It is difficult to find and train people to those levels quickly. We are also continually needing to adapt to market changes which demands more flexibility in staff roles. The die making industry must also adapt and anticipate new trends to be able to continue and flourish. There are always new technologies on the horizon. Serviform have shown that they understand that very well.