Engineering expert Teddington is reporting a strong start to 2017 – with new investment promising even greater efficiency.
The company, which specialises in electronics, critical systems, control panel technology, appliance controls and valve fabrication for sectors such as defence, aerospace, energy and transport, recently took delivery of three new pieces of equipment at its manufacturing centre in Cornwall.
Among them was a £35,000 Pillarhouse Pilot 29 selective soldering machine – the first of its kind to be used in the UK.
James Henderson, managing director of Teddington Group, said the state of the art machinery would lead to even greater efficiency in the manufacturing process, helping to keep prices low despite rising import costs.
“The threat of Brexit has definitely made it a challenging start to the year and margins are certainly a lot tighter, but interestingly we are still incredibly busy,” he said.
“Critical to our business in the coming months – and to others in the manufacturing sector – will be the ability to find smarter ways to design, develop and deliver solutions for our clients.
“New products will be key. The thirst for innovation has not diminished. We have seen the largest growth in energy saving products, while monitoring and information gathering systems and control devices are also in demand.
“But in order to remain competitive businesses also need to develop smarter ways to do things and that’s why this latest investment is crucial. The equipment can be used across our entire assembly line.
“As a result, the whole procedure becomes much more cost effective; assembly processes are standardised, product development takes less time, and quality and reliability improve.”
The Pillarhouse Pilot 29, which runs on nitrogen to produce a better solder joint, is already paying dividends.
Henderson said: “Our old machine worked well for high volumes but was slow. The new equipment is much more accurate, board fabrication is cleaner and much more reliable, while it’s also much quicker. Previously, it would take 20 minutes for one board and now it takes 10 minutes for two. The quality of the soldering is also improved.”
Teddington has also invested in a new £25,000 Nordson Yestech BX12 optical inspection unit that uses multiple cameras and state of art image recognition to check the quality of a circuit board to ensure all components have been positioned and soldered correctly.
Meanwhile, a further investment has been made on an Ultrawave IND5800D ultra-sonic chemical cleaning bath to ensure circuit boards are in perfect condition prior to assembly and further improve reliability.
