Trolex Lean Manufacturing

PRESS INFORMATION
LEAN MANUFACTURING AT TROLEX
MEANS FASTER PRODUCTION AND DELIVERIES
Leading sensor and systems company Trolex, which
was SME winner of the Manufacturer of the Year
Awards last year, has just spent the last six months
introducing a Lean Manufacturing programme at its
factory in Stockport, Manchester. The company’s
products are used in the mining and tunnelling industry.
Masterminded by Operations Director, Colin Arlott who
joined the company in January, the new programme
streamlines the manufacturing process, hugely
improving efficiencies and providing opportunities for
staff.
The principle has been to create production cells for
each of the Trolex product families where a team is
now responsible for every aspect of that product’s
production. Five production cells cover different Trolex
product groups: the Sentro gas detector range; fixed
sensors for flow, temperature, pressure and gas;
control and display equipment; power supplies and
general instrumentation.
Colin Arlott, who has worked on several Lean Manufacturing programmes before coming to Trolex,
explained, “ In general, before the programme started, the factory was functioning well but was
complicated and departmentalised and we also realised that a lot of time was being wasted with
products moving around departments in the assembly process.” He continued, “ The Lean
Manufacturing programme not only means better efficiency in production cells but more ownership by
the production team. The benefit is improved delivery times, where in some cases we can deliver
products to customers in just a few days instead of a few weeks.”
The five manufacturing cells now support nearly 500 products on a fast response, assemble to order
basis. The Lean Manufacturing programme represents a £100,000 investment by Trolex, most of this
being spent on laser etching machines and on fixtures to reduce change-over time on the surface
mount line. All training has been conducted in-house and individual production specialists have also
been involved in the cross-training of others in the team.
Colin Arlott comments again “ We make a lot of intrinsically safe ATEX approved products and the
auditor for this equipment has been very complimentary about the new manufacturing process that
we have introduced. In all, this has been a very rewarding programme as we have achieved in six
months at Trolex what normally takes some organisations one to two years.”
In parallel with the Lean Manufacturing programme, the company has also introduced automated
optical inspection. Indeed, Trolex is the first intrinsically safe product company in the world to have
introduced this system for printed circuit board (PCB) inspection for improved quality and efficiency.
For certification all intrinsically safe products must be 100% inspected. Before, it was necessary for
the Trolex team to individually check safety-critical components on the PCB, which could take up to
half an hour. Now, with the automated optical inspection, every component on the PCB is inspected
automatically by scanning the board, a process which takes between 25 and 30 seconds. This
clearly speeds up production and improves accuracy significantly.
Trolex systems and products are relied on the world over to detect gases, monitor other key
environmental conditions and optimise machinery performance in the mining and tunnelling
industries. They’re intrinsically safe, carry independent accreditation and are at the forefront of safety
and condition monitoring technology.
Further information is available from Trolex Ltd on +44 (0)161 483 1435, email sales@trolex.com or
by visiting the company’s website at www.trolex.com
Ends
Trolex66
5 September 2013
NOTE TO EDITORS:
ABOUT TROLEX
Success at Trolex has come from working closely with its customers and understanding their needs.
Consequently employment at the company has risen by nearly 40% to 72 people at its wholly owned
3,000 sq.m. premises in Stockport, Manchester. These incorporate the company’s full manufacturing
facilities, R & D, and electronics laboratories, testing and inspection, bonded stores as well as sales
and administration offices. Greater market share in the UK and growth internationally has seen
company turnover rise to some £12 million per annum and Trolex has overseas distributors and
agents operating in South Africa, China, India, Australia, Croatia, Iran, Italy, Norway, Russia, Spain,
Turkey, the US and Serbia. Mining and tunnelling clients include Lovat, Bucyrus, Joy Mining,
Herrenknecht, Balfour Beatty, Morgan Sindall and UK Coal. Delegations regularly visit Trolex from
approval bodies and coal mining groups. Global certifications and approvals are an important part of
the sensor market and Trolex has a certification & approvals team for this process.
For further editorial information contact Laura Stockton of Trolex on 0161 483 1435, email:
laura.stockton@trolex.com or Nick Brooks of Vantage PR on 01600 715251 or email: pr@vantage.uk.com.
For colour separation requests please email Brenda Christopher at brenda@vantage.uk.com or fax
01600 715254.
Issued on behalf of Trolex Ltd, Newby Road, Hazel Grove, Stockport, Cheshire SK7 5DY, www.trolex.com
by Vantage Public Relations, 14 White Swan Court, Monmouth, Monmouthshire, NP25 3NY, web:
www.vantage.uk.com