The Manufacturer Magazine : Promoting best practice in Manufacturing

Ryalux, World at their feet

Manufacturing in Action, Source : The Manufacturer
Zone : Operations and maintenance
Published : March 2008

David Cheetham, head of manufacturing with premium carpet manufacturer Ryalux, part of Airea plc, talked to Jayne Flannery about the dramatic shift from make-to-stock to make-to-order that the company has witnessed over the last 18 months

Since the company was founded in 1970, Ryalux has consistently sought to set itself apart in the marketplace. Now, made-to order Ryalux carpets are available in widths of up to seven metres – which means no unsightly seams – and they are also dyed to the exact colour a customer wants. “We are not unique in making that offering, but we are certainly the best,” stated David Cheetham, head of manufacturing, who joined the company five years ago.

The company enjoys a long-standing marketing connection with historical institutions such as the V&A Museum and Chatsworth House. This enables Ryalux to draw on a rich vein of inspiration from the past in terms of colour, form and texture. However, the company prides itself on meeting any request, however eccentric. “Not long ago, a customer handed us a lurid lime green plastic glove and told us that this was the exact shade she wanted for her carpet. Of course we were happy to oblige,” he said.

All Ryalux carpets are at the premium end of the demand spectrum. They are made using the finest quality New Zealand and British wools, which are still spun locally. “Our carpets are wool rich and of a much higher quality than those typically offered by the European manufacturers who now supply much of the mainstream British market,” he added.

While Ryalux carpets have always enjoyed an enviable niche reputation with consumers, the manner in which they were produced became a matter of serious concern approximately two years ago.

Cheetham took up the story. “Eighteen months ago, this was a make-to-stock business. First we would make the carpet and then we would try to sell it. We were characterised by high costs and declining profits. Previously, once an order was placed, the carpet would start life at the dye house in Halifax. The coloured yarn would then be moved to Rochdale for tufting and then on to another site at Heywood for backing to be applied. Finally, it would move to Bury for cutting and dispatch after we had found a buyer for it. It was the best travelled carpet in the country and proved it in what it cost us to produce. Meanwhile, much of my time as a manager was spent in traffic jams on the M62.”

It became self-evident that something had to change. “We started the process of remodeling the business based on a recognised need for lower stock holdings, smaller batches, fewer sites and staff and the requirement to adopt leaner processes in every sense of the word,” he stated.

Now, the relentless journeying along the highways and byways of Yorkshire and Lancashire for carpets and staff alike are a thing of the past. Consolidation will soon see seven sites reduced to just three – only four still remain. Meanwhile a £3 million programme of investment has transformed the company’s operations and led to the creation of a new production site in Wakefield where almost all key processes can take place under the same roof.

“Ryalux was previously part of Sirdar plc. Sirdar had a modern, well-lit and vacant building in Wakefield that was perfect for our needs,” Cheetham explained. Existing machines were completely refurbished before being relocated and the company has invested in many new state-of-the-art machines. “On the production side, we know we now have the best machinery operated by the best people in a thoroughly modern plant that incorporates many elements of lean thinking such as 5S and kanban. It has taken some time to get it just right, but all our machines are now set out to support continuous flow and we have eliminated double handling.”

Pride of place goes to a brand new dye house, which will be fully operational by the end of February 2008. The completed dye house will have 12 dyeing vessels linked to state of the art Datacolor laboratory equipment, which is efficient, accurate and environmentally friendly. Completion of the dye house will see the site reduce the lead times on delivery and offer an improved service to the customer.

“Having one site where everything happens under the control of a single management team has already bought us significant benefits,” he continued. “It has also enabled us to get it right first time on a much more consistent basis. There is less waste and less room for error whereas the poor condition of our former production site in Rochdale inevitably lent itself to poor working conditions, problems with motivation and quality defects. The business is now so much more streamlined, less complicated to manage and more profitable.”

Ryalux will continue to conduct tufting operations at another site in Bury and here there has been investment in new beam-fed tufting machines. “This means we can produce smaller, more frequent batches and it has made an enormous contribution towards reducing our stock holdings. We also have a separate warehouse, distribution and administrative centre at Bury. When the process of consolidation is complete next spring, there will be three centres of excellence that all our staff can feel proud to be part of,” he said.

The aim of Ryalux has always been to provide a perfect service to customers, which means developing the right product, at the right quality and cost and delivered at the right time. “The transformation that we have undergone and the shift towards make-to-order means that we have moved so much nearer to being able to achieve this goal. We believe there is huge potential now to grow our make-to-order business on a profitable basis. The number of British carpetmakers has dwindled dramatically over the last decade, but we are in an excellent position to buck that trend,” he added.

Comments on this story

click here to add a comment

Related Content