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SUBCONTRACTING
Wise heads on young shoulders
Solutions
To both casual observer and battle hardened entrepreneur alike, starting an engineering business during the worst recession since records
Report
began would at best be conceived as a risky undertaking. But for a West Midlands-based brother and sister partnership, following in their father’s
Dave Tudor
footsteps seemed a logical thing to do. Dave Tudor headed off to Minworth, Sutton Coldfield to meet the driving forces behind J8 Precision.
I
n my role as editor of Solutions, I meet managing directors, entirely on building up our client base. Work is coming in from a
business owners and engineers on a regular basis. But diverse spread of industries such as rail, FMCG (Fast Moving
what initially struck me about Kate and Jack Edwards was Consumer Goods), medical and automotive and we do have
their respective ages. At 32 and 24 respectively, they hardly fit ambitious investment plans for the company and a structured
the stereotypical engineering subcontracting company profile, programme of implementation but we’re not going to run before we
so how did the company come about? As Kate Edwards can walk. For the time being, we’ll focus on our core skills of sound
explains, engineering has been in the Edwards’ family blood engineering principles, quality and flexibility and build on those
for over 30 years. foundations.”
“Our father, Ray Edwards started his own engineering company, Kate continues: “One of the things I am particularly passionate
Edwards Precision Engineering over 30 years ago,” she explains. about however is the retention and development of engineering skills
“It was very successful but relied heavily on business from the which is why we hope to take on some apprentices in the near future.
automotive industry which had been on the decline for some It would be an absolute tragedy if the UK lost its engineering heritage
years. In June 2009, Dad made the decision to close the and apprenticeships are therefore of vital importance.”
company. Business was hardly booming and he was approaching
retirement age so it seemed a logical thing to do.”
Quality first, quality foremost
Jack & Kate Edwards
Sowing seeds
Like Edwards Engineering before it, J8 Precision puts quality of work
at the top of its priority list. Its quality control and inspection With Kate and Jack the expression ‘wise heads on young shoulders’
In the latter years of Edwards Precision Engineering, both Kate and Jack department is extensive and the company is already starting to springs to mind. It is commendable that despite intensely difficult
had become involved with their father’s business. Jack spent a couple develop a reputation for accuracy and precision. Underpinning this operating conditions, J8 was born and is starting to make its mark.
of valuable years working on the shopfloor before embarking on a ethic is the company’s quality system which will be audited by BSI at There’s a real steely determination to make a success of the company
Mechanical Engineering degree at university and Kate, with a degree the end of April against the requirements of ISO9001:2008. but as Kate concludes, there are more fundamental issues to consider
in Business Management already under her belt, introduced structured “Quality is so integral to the running of the business that we see as well. “I’m really concerned about the lack of young people involved
sales and marketing strategies to Edwards Engineering for the first time. ISO9001 registration as essential in today’s marketplace,” Kate in engineering,” she confides. “I’ve been around engineering all my life
When father Ray decided to run down the business, the seeds declares. “In essence the Standard reflects the way we do business and I’m genuinely worried by the fact that all the expertise, experience
were already sown for the formation of another company. “Jack and I anyway, so hopefully we’ll pass the audit with no problems. One of the and knowledge we’ve amassed over decades of innovation will be
simply couldn’t walk away,” Kate reveals. “Engineering was in our benefits of starting a company from scratch is that we were able to start gone forever if we don’t promote engineering and highlight what a
blood but while we wanted to build on the sound foundations that with a blank canvas and quality has always been high on the agenda.” great career it can be. Jack and I are totally driven by this.”
Dad had established, we wanted to do things differently. With both
Mum and Dad’s blessing after some pretty intense initial discussions,
Wake up call
Like I said, wise heads on young shoulders!
Jack and I set-up J8 Precision in October 2009. I think they could see Being a relatively young, forward thinking company, you would think
that we were serious and totally committed to this so they helped that J8 would qualify for financial help from government and local
> J8 PRECISION
fund the project. My real inspiration is the fact that our success is authorities, but according to Kate Edwards this simply hasn’t been the www.j8precision.co.uk
Mum and Dad’s pension. You can’t get a better motivator that that!” case. The Government really
Whilst J8 Precision is still in its infancy as a company, its seven does need to wake up to the idea
strong workforce is anything but inexperienced. J8 inherited five that manufacturing can play a
skilled operators, including three toolmakers from Edwards significant role in generating
Engineering and with Mr Edwards Senior around to offer a helping much needed revenue for the
hand and advice, there’s a talented pool of resources for Kate and economy and offer help and
Jack to draw on if necessary. assistance in the early years of
Natural evolution
new companies. Based on her
own experiences, Kate is both
Whilst aware of their obvious links to Edwards Engineering, both Kate sceptical and critical.
and Jack are keen and determined to carve out an independent “We’ve been knocked back so
identity for J8. Their vision is to evolve into a company that not only many times because of our
offers a wide range of precision subcontracting services such as circumstances,” she says. “With
CNC machining, CAD/CAM, grinding and toolmaking, but also Edwards, we were considered too
provides a number of ancillary and complementary elements such as ‘cash rich’ to qualify for any
design and assembly. business funding and with J8
“Although it’s early days for the company, we’ve got a pretty good we’re considered too ‘new’. We
idea of where we want to be,” Jack adds. “We want to be seen not only recently applied for some financial
as manufacturers but also as engineering consultants and solution assistance from MAS to assist us
providers – getting involved with projects right at the front end from in undertaking automotive project
design and concept through to packaging and despatch. We are a work. We were in a strong position
young company but our size and flexibility means we can turn work to win business but the funding
around quickly without compromising on quality or integrity. Our was refused because we hadn’t
customers really appreciate the fact that we can often get them out of been in business long enough. It
sticky situations in terms of meeting tight deadlines and delivery dates.” seems that everything we apply
Priorities and objectives
for is shrouded in red tape and
mountains of paperwork and
Sensibly, Kate and Jack are taking things slowly, letting the company about the only thing we’ve
build up momentum naturally rather than forcing the issue. In terms of qualified for recently is help with
machining capability, J8 is already pretty well equipped with a number our ISO9001 registration approval.
of lathes, milling machines and grinders from Mazak, Bridgeport, Help with outgoings such as
Chiron, XYZ and Jones and Shipman adorning the shopfloor. J8 business rates would be a great
specialises in prototypes and small to medium batch quantities and help but it all falls on deaf ears.”
can offer multi-axis machining
from solid models in a wide
range of materials, spark and
wire EDM, reverse engineering,
hot and cold form tooling,
production tooling – including
The complete supply package for all your metal components
refurbishment, and the design
combining UK & Czech manufacture with overseas sourcing.
and manufacture of gauges, jigs,
fixtures and special purpose
MACHINED PARTS • GEARS • RACKS • CASTINGS
FORGINGS • STAMPINGS • FABRICATIONS
machines.
+ 5 axis CNC ‘one hit’ machining capability
“The temptation was to
approach the banks and try to
For a quotation please send your drawings and
borrow large sums of money at
requirements to: enquiries@componentsworldwide.com
start-up,” Kate recalls, “but that’s
Components Worldwide is the global manufacturing and
sourcing division of an award winning company
not how we want to do things.
for Innovation, Machining & Supply Chain Partnerships
Most of our machines were
Tel: +44 (0)161 432 0222 Fax: +44 (0)161 432 0444
inherited from Edwards and at
www.componentsworldwide.com
the moment we’re focused
www.pesmag.co.uk
Production Engineering Solutions • March 2010 27
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