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Smith’s (Harlow), The mighty smith

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Manufacturing in Action, Source : The Manufacturer
Published : May 2006

Smith’s (Harlow) has been investing in capacity and capability to ensure it continues to supply its high-profile customers with the highest quality components. John Tennison told Ruari McCallion more

Smith’s (Harlow) isn’t to be confused with Smiths Industries, although both operate in the aerospace sector. Smith’s (Harlow) was founded just over 50 years ago by Mr Gerald Smith, a former fighter pilot in the Fleet Air Arm. He began in a small engineering shop in north London and built on his contacts within aircraft manufacturers, like Bristol Aircraft Corporation, to develop his fledgling business into a recognised specialist in the production of challenging machine parts.

“Our core competency is the production of complex machine parts in high exotic metals,” said managing director, John Tennison. “The more complex the part, the nastier the design, the more we’re in our element. Sometimes, a design simply can’t be manufactured – you do come across people who think that, because they can draw it on a CAD system, it can be made. That isn’t so but it’s the sort of challenge we love getting our teeth into.”

In its early years, Smith’s worked on the Spey engine, which powered the BAC 111, Hawker-Siddley Trident and even some versions of the Phantom fighter-bomber. Today, it continues to be involved with aero engines but it also has extensive operations in airframes, undercarriages and other aircraft applications.

“The main section of our business is in engines, for which we make casings, rings and prismatics – gearboxes, effectively,” Tennison said. “At the lower end of aluminium alloys, we’re making wing spars for the Airbus A320 and full or part stringers for the A380 and A340.” It also undertakes a lot of work for a large UK aero engine manufacturer.

Around 70 people are employed by Smith’s, 42 on the shopfloor, generating turnover of around £8 million a year. It’s quite a good employee/revenue ratio and it’s investment in technology and skills that’s made it so. The company has increased the size of one of its machines to 37 metres, which means it can handle pretty much any wing size currently in production or contemplation. Nearly three years ago, it invested around £1 million in a 200-tonne five-axis CNC machine, which it bought from Boeing at Long Beach, California. Getting it from there to here wasn’t without its challenges.

“The ship carrying the machine was supposed to dock at Thameside port but it had to go to Antwerp for repairs after it was hit by a tornado,” he said. The additional transport leg involved more road travel and a police escort. Once on site, it was so big that a factory was built round the machine, rather than the other way round. Altogether, £1 million seems quite cheap.

“We saw the market lifting in the UK and Europe but the US market was still on its knees,” said Tennison. “It was only after we’d bought it that they asked us what we wanted it for, and we told them we would be making Airbus wing spars.”

More recently – this year, in fact – the company has invested a further £500,000 in four small multi-axis machines, for complex milling and turning programmes. Even high-end technology and complex production has to be competitive on cost.

“We are focused on keeping labour costs down: the gearing of labour is at the forefront of our minds. It’s the highest cost of our business – higher than energy,” he said. “We’re now pretty much two machines/one operator. We tend to go with proven track-record machines: we don’t get too excited about the very latest technology. Naturally, we have the latest software, to verify CAD drawings but, with high-end raw materials, you need a wealth of experience to understand how to manufacture.” The reduction in manpower has been achieved through natural wastage but, as well as investment in equipment, the company is very committed to its long-term skills base, too.

“We’ve always had an apprenticeship scheme. Most of our managers are long-serving employees, who started as apprentices We currently have two at college and another four working on-site,” said Tennison. How does Smith’s make sure it retains the people it invests in? “We used to have a historical problem, that we trained people and they went to work for someone else – but they usually came back. Now, there aren’t the same opportunities. We have had wastage rates as high as two-thirds but we’ve been able to cut that right down by taking people on at the end of their first year.”

“We use 5S but we don’t put a label on it. We’ve been through a major clean-up campaign. We follow lean principles on reducing costs and taking waste out,” said Tennison. “There aren’t many people like us left but we’re intending to stay around. That means we have to reduce costs, year-on-year. Our expertise is our advantage: we intend to keep it that way.”