OPERATING THEATRE TECHNOLOGY ‘‘
Chief Technical Officer, Nigel Davill: “One of the immediately noticeable things the cells do is eliminate a lot of the clerical bureaucracy – by recording everything automatically”
happy. One of the reasons I had been keen to talk to Graeme Hall and Nigel Davill was to see how the business has addressed a global shortage of some components, and the steps it has taken to maintain its supply chain’s resilience. Graeme Hall said: “Brexit has been a major disruption, we’ve had COVID, and now we have China switching lockdowns on and off. There is also the war in Ukraine, an energy crisis, and a situation where very few organisations can get the staff they need. It has also proven quite difficult to obtain some parts and materials in the last 2-3 years. Fortunately,” he added, “we’ve managed to address these challenges remarkably well – one of the reasons being that we made a lot of timely preparations in the run-up to Brexit.” Having foreseen early the potential impact on supply chains and costs, Graeme Hall explained that Brandon had secured agreement for stocks of strategic components, and undertaken work to ‘shorten and condense’ its supply chain, particularly for key, widely used items such as pendant arms, castings, spring balances, and mouldings. He elaborated: “We stocked up on difficult-to-get items, and, as far as possible, brought our supply base closer to home. So, today, for example, around 80% of the parts for our operating lights now come from within the Leeds area. Previously we obtained more of these components from overseas. Today, we are mostly using UK suppliers, and, where components aren’t available here, suppliers in nearby countries – predominantly Switzerland and Germany.”
Not an easy task I wondered how easy it had been to find more local suppliers for critical parts. “Not that easy,” Graeme Hall replied, “but if we can’t find a local supplier, we’ll try to design and manufacture the component ourselves.” I wondered how much of an impact the widely reported difficulties in recruiting staff had had on the business. Nigel Davill said: “Recruiting good engineers has always been a challenge, but one of the things we have done recently, which has had an obvious impact on our productivity, is to install ‘smart’ assembly cells in our factory, which basically automate the assembly process, making it extremely efficient, and simultaneously help us manage our Medical Device Regulation obligations”. Nigel Davill explained that Brandon had initiated this work as soon as it realised the potential future impact on its workforce of a shortage of skilled people from a sizeable European labour pool post-Brexit. Graeme Hall said: “So, what we did
was to design all the knowledge into our production process, beginning with a visit to the smart assembly cells built for Airbus at the Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre, where they were building aeroplane wings using them. We didn’t, in the end, take up their system, but the learnings were useful when we decided to design our own smart cells, via a Knowledge Transfer Partnership with the University of Huddersfield. This gave us access to the considerable expertise of academics and engineers at the university.”
Computer-aided assembly Graeme Hall explained that the smart assembly cells – Brandon currently has four, but plans installing more – are based on a computer-aided assembly process, which guides the operative through every step: ‘the components you need for each part, each step of the process, the tools required, and detailed instructions, via video in some cases’. He elaborated: “Cameras also monitor every step to survey production quality, recording which operative has done what. A combination of cameras and sensors can literally identify every item down to a single screw, and even how many turns it undergoes, and ensure the correct torque settings. We designed most of the equipment in conjunction with engineers at the University of Huddersfield, apart from the software. We had a Knowledge Transfer Partnership lead jointly employed by the University and Brandon, Mark Firth, on site here, throughout much of the development process.” Installing the ‘intelligent’ assembly
cells’ has had a significant impact on staffing, Nigel Davill explained that their deployment has considerably speeded up Brandon’s assembly process. He added: “One of the immediately noticeable things the cells do is eliminate a lot of the clerical bureaucracy – by recording everything automatically. This massively increases the accuracy of our production data, and means operatives don’t need to be so expert in each process, and can more easily move between machines. To date we have used the cells on parts such as surgical lights, pendant arms, and equipotential bonding components, but we will certainly extend their use. The smart cells can be used to manufacture some products from start to finish.”
Training ‘built in’ I asked if their installation had necessitated additional training. “Quite the opposite,” Graeme Hall told me. “The training is built into the process. In combination,”
A Medicontrol iTCP unit being manufactured. 56 Health Estate Journal January 2023
Computer-aided assembly ensures the highest standards of quality control, Brandon says.
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