Founded in 1947, based in Renfrew Scotland, Gas Measurement Instruments designs, manufactures and markets a wide range of portable and fixed gas detectors to meet the high demands of a diverse customer base in industries where safety is critical. With over half a century of experience in gas detection expertise GMI is known as a manufacturer of the highest quality. Engineering excellence ensures that the high expectations of customers are surpassed.
About 15 years ago the decision was taken (like many other businesses) to outsource the Surface Mount element of the business. At the time this was a sound cost and quality based decision. However, rising subcontract costs and increased quality and delivery problems led GMI to a "make versus buy" cost analysis in 2008.
Six vendors were initially selected as being capable of meeting the requirements and were subjected to a rigorous benchmarking exercise. At the end of it Blakell Europlacer were selected as being the best fit for GMI requirements. The reasons for selecting Blakell Europlacer were as follows:
Turnkey Solution -- They were the only vendor capable of supplying the turnkey solution. At the outset all vendors were given the remit of supplying and maintaining a Print machine (second hand), Pick and Place (new), an Oven (new) and an AOI. Europlacer were the only vendor who had the manufacturing capability of two of the specified pieces of kit (Printer and Pick and Place) within their group. They were also assessed as having the preferred experience required to support their distribution items (Oven and AOI)
User Friendly - All of the surface mount expertise that existed 15 years ago had subsequently left the business, with the exception of the Operations Manager (who brought some knowledge from a previous company). It was imperative that any equipment purchased would be easily understood from a "no knowledge" standpoint by the operator and that with training would be self sufficient within a short space of time. The last thing GMI wanted was to be heavily reliant on a vendor's helpline. This requirement practically ruled out three of the vendors who had proposed low cost entry level machines that would have required a lot of manual intervention. Customer visits were arranged for GMI by all of the vendors. It was Europlacer who came out top with the Flexys 10.
Cost effective long term solution - The turnkey solution was required to deliver a short payback period and also have the capability to service GMI's forecast growth plan over the next five years. The equipment from Europlacer delivered a payback period of ca. 1-year with savings in years two to five dropping straight to the bottom line. The equipment purchased in its current form was capable of increasing GMI production by 3.7 times with the potential of moving to full automation at minimum investment.
One of the most encouraging aspects of the whole project was the timescales to full production. The capital expenditure authorisation was signed off in June and by September full production was in progress. This was all the more remarkable as it had been intended to build up PCBA stocks with the incumbent subcontractor to allow a gradual integration of surface mount within GMI. However a less than amicable parting of the ways meant that surface mount had to hit the ground running in order to ensure that a heavy customer order schedule could be satisfied. Initial concerns regarding the quality of the data for the pick and place files were quickly put to bed by the Europlacer engineers and over the subsequent few weeks after commissioning there was never any requirement to log any calls with the helpline. The only real issue that developed after a couple of months was an electronic problem with the oven. However initial dialogue over the phone to work around the issue followed by an on-site visit by an engineer quickly resolved the issue.
This has developed into a real GMI success story. Underpinned by excellent after sales support by Europlacer, lean/six-sigma techniques such as the introduction of SPC and further investment in a paste measurement machine have produced a sustained first time pass rate of 99.8%. It has also given total control to all aspects of in-house manufacture over quality cost and delivery and ensures customer confidence in the reliability of the gas detection units remains high. The developing strategic partnerships between our consumable supplier, stencil supplier, Europlacer and GMI has ensured that any queries are put to bed extremely quickly and also allowed GMI keep pace with new developments in the PCBA field. It is these mutually beneficial strategic partnerships that will provide a firm foundation for the future.
One of the most encouraging aspects of the whole project was the timescales to full production. The capital expenditure authorisation was signed off in June and by September full production was in progress. This was all the more remarkable as it had been intended to build up PCBA stocks with the incumbent subcontractor to allow a gradual integration of surface mount within GMI. However a less than amicable parting of the ways meant that surface mount had to hit the ground running in order to ensure that a heavy customer order schedule could be satisfied. Initial concerns regarding the quality of the data for the pick and place files were quickly put to bed by the Europlacer engineers and over the subsequent few weeks after commissioning there was never any requirement to log any calls with the helpline. The only real issue that developed after a couple of months was an electronic problem with the oven. However initial dialogue over the phone to work around the issue followed by an on-site visit by an engineer quickly resolved the issue.