How investment and innovation are shaping a new era for Cofast

Back in February, The Manufacturer visited Cofast, also known as NDB Engineering, at its new facility in Willenhall, to discuss current operations and what it means to now be part of Clarity Group.

Key takeaways

Cofast supplies specialised fasteners, precision turned parts and VMI solutions across highly regulated industries.
Customer expectations now extend beyond product quality to certification, traceability and ESG requirements.
ERP automation, stock monitoring and future cobot deployment are helping improve productivity and service levels.
Cofast is supporting net zero goals through certifications, community partnerships and employee volunteering initiatives.
The acquisition has secured jobs, unlocked new capabilities and created opportunities across new sectors and markets.

FAQs

What does Cofast manufacture?
Which industries does Cofast serve?
How is Cofast approaching digital transformation?
What does the Clarity Group acquisition mean for Cofast?

Cofast is currently headquartered at its 22,000 sq ft manufacturing facility in Willenhall, near Wolverhampton, supported by a 6,500 sq ft logistics hub strategically located in Plymouth. With a dedicated team of 64 employees, the company generates around £7m in annual revenue.

Its extensive portfolio includes a 20,000-item engineered consumables list alongside specialised fasteners and turned parts.

“We are a manufacturer of special fasteners as well as precision turned parts. We also import standard fasteners, which we keep for distribution and onward sale,” said Rebecca James, the company’s Managing Director. “We also specialise in stocking solutions, such as VMI (vendor managed inventory) for our customers, offering anything that takes the pain out of purchasing fasteners.”

As managing director, Rebecca predominantly spends her time focusing on the commercial side of the business, working with key customers and supporting the finance functions.

“I have a team of great people working on the operations and technical side of the business for support.”

Rebecca James, Managing Director, Cofast

Processes, products and market trends

Cofast’s main process is turn and mill for manufacturing fasteners.

Serving highly regulated industries

“We use exotic alloys, like Monel, Hastelloy and Inconel, but also more standard stainless and carbon steel.”

The end use of Cofast products is largely within the defence sector, as well as nuclear, oil and gas. “This means we have the support structure that enables us to handle additional certification and testing requirements, and subcontract processes as well. This includes things like grinding, destructive and non-destructive testing,” explained Rebecca.

Rising compliance requirements

One trend that Cofast is seeing is the increased expectation from customers around compliance. “We’re finding that the expectations of many of our customers in this area has increased, and there is now a lot more paperwork involved to support the fastener, rather than merely the quality of the fastener itself,” said Rebecca.

She explained that while much of this compliance focus is around process, there has also been a push from customers for net zero and a greater need to ensure environmental, health and safety compliance.

As well as continued support to its customers, the business also has a solid supply chain in place which it has built up over the years, building trust and support when times have been more challenging.

“Our partners have also been very supportive of the different directions we have taken,” added Rebecca.

Digital transformation and automation

Every company, enterprise or SME within the sector is working on some kind of digital transformation, and Cofast is no different.

Using ERP systems to improve efficiency

“We’ve been working on our ERP system to help automate a lot of the business analysis and monitoring tools that are sat within it. This involves areas like automatic monitoring of stock levels,” said Rebecca.

This means Cofast is alerted when purchases are required, rather than the other way round. The business is also implementing the same system within its VMI solutions, meaning the vendor, in this case Cofast, takes full responsibility that its customer never runs out of stock. “This means the customer gets a greater level of service overall,” she said.

Exploring cobots on the shop floor

The business is also looking into the use of cobots on the shop floor, where appropriate, given the batch sizes that it is running, helping to increase productivity and efficiency.

Sustainability and net zero for SMEs

As an SME, Rebecca finds it challenging to make a difference when it comes to net zero.

Taking a practical approach to ESG

“We’re currently members of JOSCAR and EcoVadis which provide us with great pointers as to how we are moving forward, where we are strong and where we could improve,” said Rebecca.

Supporting the local community

For Cofast, many of its actions are rooted in the local community and how it can offer support. “We currently donate our scrap wood and broken pallets to Wood Saints, which is a local charity that provides disadvantaged members of the community with the tools to build items like furniture which they can sell on,” she explained.

The business is also providing staff with an additional day of annual leave which they can use to volunteer for local charities.

Building talent and targeting growth sectors

With advanced manufacturing featuring heavily in the government’s Industrial Strategy, it’s no surprise that this year, Cofast is ramping up its focus on the defence sector.

Expanding opportunities in defence

“It’s a sector which we’ve been successfully supplying for over 20 years. We know there is growth there and it’s where our focus is for now.”

Rebecca James, Managing Director, Cofast

Recruiting for the future

The focus on defence also plays into Cofast’s recruitment requirements. “In the past few years, we’ve been focused on stabilising the business following our facility move, so recruitment had taken a backseat,” said Rebecca.

As the business is now settled, it is ready to pick up the drive for new staff and looking at Make UK Defence, who support apprenticeships within manufacturing. Rebecca added: “There are lots of opportunities in new infrastructure projects and we’re already working alongside our sister businesses to explore new markets where our engineering knowledge and machine capacity can make a difference – aerospace is a prime target.”

Rebecca James, Managing Director, Cofast

How the Clarity Group acquisition is accelerating growth

In truth, it’s not all been plain sailing for Cofast and, back in February, the company announced that the business had been purchased by Clarity Group, a move that saved more than 60 jobs across NDB Engineering and sister company, Cofast.

New investment and manufacturing capability

“For us this means investment, which in turn will give us the capability for activities like grinding in-house, increasing our efficiency and capability for our customers,” explained Rebecca.

Creating opportunities across the group

The buyout has also opened doors for Cofast to collaborate with other parts of the group. An example of this is the group’s purchase of Clarity Plastics, which operate in many of the same sectors as Cofast. “I’m currently doing a lot of work with them so we can support each other in the sectors where we both operate. They have also undergone a wealth of changes since the buyout,” she said.

Clarity Group has recently passed surveillance audits for ISO 9001 and is in the process of investing £500,000 in a new machine to support a recent new contract. “We’re seeing lots of positive changes within the business and are really excited to be part of that within a bigger group,” Rebecca concluded.