Johnson Security : Secure future
Published : May 2006
Johnson Security has been the UK’s leading fabricator of security vehicles for nearly 50 years and it’s now spreading its wings overseas.
Ruari McCallion reports
As we move into a plastic card-based, cashless society, the need for cash reduces – anyone can see that. Well, anyone would be wrong.
“Last year was the first year ever that cash didn’t grow. It didn’t reduce, it plateaued,” said Robert Johnson, international sales manager for Johnson Security. “What has changed is the distribution method, according to research from the European Security Transport Operators association (ESTA). Twenty years ago, people would be paid on a Friday in cash, in brown envelopes. Today, salaries and wages are electronically transferred – and, every day you see queues of people lining up at ATMs up and down the country, drawing cash from the hole in the wall. People talk about a cashless society but it’s a long way away yet. When you go on holiday, you’ll use cash; if you’re going to the pub, you won’t use a credit card – you’ll pay in cash. You’ll pay your gardener in cash. People still like money in their hands: it’s just the way it gets there that has changed.” There has been a major shift in money transfer, though: it’s from cheques to debit cards – one type of virtual money to another. But that’s in the advanced west: in developing countries, the electronic funds revolution has a long, long way to go.
“I was in China recently, only about 80km outside Beijing, and our hotel wouldn’t accept credit cards: we had to settle the bill in cash,” he said. Johnson Security employs about 170 people at its Toddington, Gloucestershire, factory, where it’s been building security vehicles for over four decades. It’s comfortably the leading British manufacturer.
“The UK market is now mature and totals about 3500 to 4000 vehicles. They’re largely divided up between four companies: Group 4, Securitas, Brinks Mat, and the Royal Mail,” Johnson said. “We produce 350 to 400 vehicles annually, ranging from 18-tonners down to transit connect, small vans that collect cash from parking meters, for example. We probably produce 85 per cent of the new vehicle market.”
“The company began in 1959 as a sheet metal fabricator but we got involved in security vehicles when the market was in its infancy. Group 4 happened to come across us and asked us to carry out what were, initially, straightforward conversions. Nothing very sophisticated, to begin with,” he said. That was then: it’s different today. “It’s a very specialist market. There are thousands of bodybuilding companies out there but they aren’t in security vehicles. We take in a chassis – usually a 7.5 tonne Mercedes but sometimes Ford Transits or something else – and we reinforce them. We’ll modify the van body and the cab, primarily with sheet steel.” The American approach is to go in for armoured cars, and to use weapons: Johnson Security makes ‘secure vehicles” that are armoured’.
“All our trucks currently in operation have single-door access: we don’t rely on weapons to keep intruders out, we design the vehicle to make unauthorised access well-nigh impossible,” he explained. “Johnson vehicles are built with intelligent design, and intelligence built-in. It only works within certain parameters: all the money is contained securely, and the release of cash can be controlled to just what is required at a particular point in the round. The system recognises where it is and what it should be releasing.” It was Johnson Security that invented the rotary access secure door. It doesn’t open completely: it will only allow a single transfer at a time. The company has to work to tight customer parameters.
“Secure vehicles are basically specialist goods transporters. Our customers require specialised bodies but they are operating in a commercial world: they want the lightest solution, the cheapest to run, the best mpg and tyre wear, and so on,” said Johnson. “We build the product to have a long life, so we focus on corrosion prevention – we use stainless steel and aluminium – and reliability in the electrical systems is an absolute must-have.” Perhaps surprisingly, the brakes, gearbox and suspension aren’t uprated. “We operate within the vehicle’s design parameters: we don’t do anything to affect type approval and compliance with construction and use regulations. Our modifications will take the vehicle up to around 70 per cent of its gross weight, so there’s 30 per cent left for the payload.” Johnson has committed significant amounts to ensure that its own systems are as effective as possible.
“We’ve invested over £1 million in CNC, laser cutting equipment and in presses over the past four years,” he said. “We committed to SolidWorks CAD in 2002 and we’re constantly upgrading it, with bigger and faster servers, bigger screens and so on – we do all our design in-house. We’ve recently started implementing lean manufacturing and we’ve begun with 5S. We can see those results already – the work areas have been reorganised, they’re cleaner and tidier and the workflow has improved.” Like everyone else, Johnson Security faces cost pressures. There’s virtually no export from the UK, because of the cost base. Its solution isn’t to ship out completely: the domestic market remains important.
“We have a joint venture with an entrepreneur in China, which serves the Far East and Russian markets. We’re also looking at importing some fabrications from there to here. We’re also expanding into selling broader security ideas and solutions on a global basis,” he concluded.