Who are we
Some editorial angles on Clamason industries Ltd

(1) THE ECONOMICS OF COMPETING WITH LOW LABOUR COST PRODUCERS IN
THE FAR EAST

The last decade has witnessed increasing pressures on UK manufacturing from producers with minimal labour costs & no health & safety system costs who as we know are based in Taiwan, mainland China & South Korea, countries with largely undervalued currencies. Nevertheless Clamason is finding that it can manufacture complex components automatically in the Black Country as cheaply as anywhere in the World. The reason for this is that Clamason’s processes are just not labour-intensive & the costs of production machinery, raw materials & tooling are the same the World over – as they all have to be purchased on the same global market.

In fact, the past three years have seen substantial sales improvements for Clamason, hence the company has undertaken investment in capital plant with new confidence & recently opened a 10,000 sq ft satellite plant in Slovakia at Nitra, 80km east of Bratislava. Components can be transported there in convenient flat pack form for labour-intensive second operations – such as welding, the addition of tapped holes & final assembly. For example, a car radio chassis made in a cell at Kingswinford is being welded together at Nitra for JIT deliveries, in returnable packaging, to a continuous, first-tier automotive, production line in Central Europe. Buffer stocks will be maintained at Nitra, too, for such customers.

(2) METALS VERSUS PLASTICS FOR SMALL PRECISION COMPONENTS

The wheel has turned full circle, and Clamason's precision metal pressings are now fighting back in all sorts of ways against plastics, providing superior solutions in many so-called "traditional" plastics applications. Accordingly, in comparison with metal pressings, plastics may suffer from shrinkage, joint line and RFI / EMI shielding problems, be degraded over time by heat, light and ultraviolet rays and hold lower dimensional tolerances. Then, unlike plastics, Clamason presswork is recyclable in 95% of cases. What is more, plastic mouldings have a lower perceived value than metals owing to less weight and an inferior look and feel.

(3) WHAT IS THE OPTIMUM METAL FOR MY PARTICULAR APPLICATION ?

Clamason uses its experience & expertise to propose the optimum metal solution for the project & the application. Individual pressings can be produced from materials ranging from cold-rolled & stainless steels to copper based alloys, aluminium & bimetallic combinations - selecting from hundreds if not thousands of grades to comply with the characteristics required & conditions of use specified, so the choice can be extremely daunting to the uninitiated !

A metal may of course be specified for its cost, weight, mechanical & physical properties, shelf life, recyclability & so forth. Mechanical properties will encompass tensile strength, yield strength, impact strength, elongation, shear strength, Brinell hardness & fatigue strength, whilst physical properties embrace melting range, density, electrical conductivity & the coefficients of thermal expansion & thermal conductivity.

One of the main problems is that our further education system nowadays teaches engineering design students a great deal about the myriad choices of "modern" plastics but far less about metals, so that young people don't feel confident enough to specify metals over plastics when they go on to join design & project teams & consultancies later.

(4) PRODUCTIONISING COMPONENT DESIGNS

Clamason Industries has always been closely involved from the start of a project in productionising customers' component design proposals whilst taking account of outside toolmakers' modifications. Productionising components may entail, for instance, the insertion of strengthening ribs, the combination of several parts into just one complex component, or the achievement of cost reductions.

(5) TOOLMAKING & PROTOTYPING

Clamason collaborates with designers & toolmakers whether they may be based locally or on the other side of the world. Tooling manufacture is all subcontracted out, although tool maintenance (for example, to offset wear over the life of a tool) is conducted entirely in-house at Clamason. Clamason's outside toolmakers are expected to provide flexibility in prototyping & in reusing parts of original press tools. Compared to casting & moulding, prototypes are far cheaper, quicker & easier to make with the stamping process (in 10-14 days) & are a far closer representation of what the final production component would be.

(6) PUTTING AUTOMOTIVE ENGINEERING DISCIPLINES TO GOOD USE

Clamason's JIT automotive experience & related technologies represent a substantial benefit when it comes to markets which are less demanding. Those characteristics of the automotive supply chain are for instance:- Just-in-Time or Kanban supply onto a production line ; the strictest production & quality control through dedicated cellular manufacturing ; the need for high-speed machines with quick-change tooling ; & zero defects to keep customers' assembly lines running & avoid the damage & cost of warranty claims on the manufacturer, product recalls or US-style product liability litigation.

(7) CENTRAL ROLE IN PROJECT MANAGEMENT

Nowadays, to get the job done, Clamason's experience is increasingly called upon to fulfil a central role in project management & organising & co-ordinating subcontractors. They may include suppliers of precision diecastings, plastic mouldings & fasteners or of zinc plating, anodising & painting services. The one-stop-shop or one-butt-to-kick concept fits in with the automotive industry's current policy of drastically reducing supplier numbers.
(900 words)

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