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successful go-to-market strategies for early- stage companies, to work with the SSEL team. Reid explains: “We take a business from
start-up to scale-up. So when it’s a start-up, everything revolves around the founder. Working with the first contractor was absolutely fine when Tom could be involved in everything. He knew how it was designed, built and what parts went into it. He could resolve any issues that arose. When Tom and I discussed moving to a scaling strategy, it was very obvious that – to support big expansion ambitions and higher volumes - going forward we had to look at new resources.” Focusing primarily on the creation and
Design engineer Kyle Dooley with a Safe Solvents
Shockwave Pro 3000, a powerful industrial ultrasonic cleaning machine made for the company by manufacturing contractor ICEE. The machine uses APWF Ambimization fluid and 3000 watts of energy to create microscopic bubbles. Jetted at the workpiece, the bubbles in the fluid release localised energy upon impact, a highly efficient cleaning combination designed to blast all dirt and grease out of the smallest crevices
make parts and fabrications, assembled by SSEL in the barn near Maidenhead. Launching the range at the 2015 Autosport
International motor racing show in Birmingham’s NEC, the first visitors to step onto the stand were engineers from a leading F1 motor racing team, soon to become SSEL’s first customer. A great start to the fledgling business. As sales quickly grew, it became obvious the
barn was no place to continue assembling and testing SSEL’s machines. Suitable premises at the right price were offered to the company by the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead. Sands and his colleagues moved in, turning a small, ex-clothes-making factory into a gleaming centre for assembly, test and centralised administration. Around the same time, it looked
clear rising market demand and higher levels of quality control and testing requirements would soon outstrip current resources. First-generation Typhoon machines plus new additions to the range required review to meet the stringent quality assurance demanded by motor racing and increasingly, automotive manufacturers and other large customers, where on-time delivery and faultless performance is paramount.
START-UP TO SCALE-UP Twelve months ago, Sands brought in Aspremont, a venture builder which helps founders of disruptive companies with unique intellectual property (IP) achieve their full potential. Aspremont seconded Ben Reid, who has a track record in creating and executing
commercialisation of IP, SSEL had no interest in becoming a manufacturer and started looking around for a new contractor. ICEE Managed Services met requirements because it had years of experience designing, making, fitting out, installing and maintaining its own core product range – robust and high quality, electrical enclosures made from sheet metal, plus other bespoke structures. It knew how to reliably assemble electrical and
mechanical devices, fit and connect cables and test integrated systems. As Reid says: “The work ICEE were doing with companies in the telecoms sector is not a million miles away from metal boxes that have pumps in them and clean parts.” Moreover, it possessed ample evidence of
accreditations and quality control procedures, all complemented by rigorous project management and modern, lean-based manufacturing scheduling, monitoring and control systems. This is vital to SSEL as working with Formula 1 and tier one automotive manufacturers means, whether the order is one machine or many, it cannot risk missing a delivery deadline.
ICEE: A VITAL INNOVATION PARTNER ICEE began working with SSEL in January, 2019. First, existing drawings had to be converted into the Solidworks standard the contractor uses. Next, SSEL took the opportunity of getting the contractor to review and help improve product designs, in effect produce a second generation of machines, embodying all the feedback and field experience SSEL had gained over several years. ICEE
value-engineered one model at a time, refining design for manufacture and making changes aimed at perfecting quality and reliability. Sands explains: “The rigorous nature of
doing that forced us to look hard at the design, components and functionality. ICEE were incredibly helpful. I hadn’t really thought of them as a specific prototype shop, but there’s no doubt they have an inherent skill set [in that area], allowing the process we were doing to be incredibly iterative and productive. “They fed their ideas and experience into the
process, not just from a theoretical but also a practical, shopfloor perspective. They have been integral at finessing the final versions of each of those machines. I suppose we hadn’t really thought of them as being a technical partner, but that’s what they are really.” He cites an example, a backplate on an
ultrasonic SSEL machine. This features actuators, which lift up a workpiece support platform locked inside the cleaning fluid tank. Because of the way it’s designed and the weight it carries, when the actuators lifted the platform, there was a degree of juddering, it wasn’t quite smooth enough. ICEE did two things. First, in the sleeve
where the actuator slides, a ball-bearing system was designed that allows it to run more smoothly. Second, he says, they replaced a flat steel plate located at the back of the machine with one made from aluminium, which reduces the weight that has to be lifted and therefore eliminates juddering. “I thought that was really innovative, because
it was very end-user focussed. There was nothing wrong with the juddering, it wasn’t dangerous, it performed right, it just wasn’t a great customer experience, but now it’s far better,” he says. Reid adds: “Other key benefits include reduction
of production time, from eight weeks to a target of four weeks, so that’s quite significant. That’s because we are not assembling, yet thanks to the level of transparency offered [by ICEE] there’s much more timely sight of their production and delivery progress.” Sands concludes: “From my side, the coalface
on design and innovation, I’m seeing ICEE as an innovation partner, so when we go in there and I say this is what I want to achieve, this is what we’ve got so far, they have helped us get to a perfect product quicker than before. There is no doubt about that. They are as much an innovation partner as simply a manufacturing and assembly company.”
Contact: ICEE Managed Services T: 02392 230 604 E:
sales@icee.co.uk www.icee.co.uk
Left: Part of a range of high performance cleaning machines, the Safe Solvents Typhoon 450, made for the company by manufacturing contractor ICEE, replaces traditional sink-on-drum, manual cleaning machines
DESIGN SOLUTIONS | APRIL 2020 7
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