Transformer Solutions

Case Study 1 Alfatronix: A logistical nightmare solved with flexibility of supply Linda Kitching is Finance Director at Alfatronix and after years of steady transformer supply, her source ceased trading. Wanting to maintain continuity of supply, the Dorest-based company decided to deal with the manufacturer direct but consequently encountered a number of barriers. The primary difficulty was that the offshore supplier was demanding six months visibility on stock levels with payment at point of order. “This made it rather difficult from a production perspective, and logistically it was becoming impossible,” explains Linda. “It’s not very accurate or desirable setting your volumes six months in advance and while we were happy with the product, who wants to cash-flow another company for six months?” Already using Components Bureau for quality capacitor supply she outlined the problem to Andrew Ferrier who was able to provide drawings within a week, samples within three weeks and volume production within eight weeks of the initial conversation. “The fact that Components Bureau controls every aspect of production and delivery is a real time-saver,” continues Linda. “I can order on a weekly basis because Andrew holds stock- this is a huge advantage as it means we move in sync with production demands. There is also improved cash-flow for us as we are not tying up six months worth of purchasing. It really has been a trouble-free solution and has eased a lot of problems for us.” Case Study 2 Delivery ahead of tight schedule for LED ballast A lighting ballast manufacturer working on the new generation LED ballast. Due to a supply problem with its regular supplier, the time-scales were extremely short, with prototypes needing to be put into the field within two weeks. This meant the normal process of approval had to be short-circuited so initial samples for approval were not requested. The customer requested a factory specification only as verification of the design and took the risk for the pre-production quantity to meet the time-scales. The schedule was as follows: Customer provides specification to Components Bureau Factory produces manufacturing specification Customer approves 100 pcs pre-production build carried out Deliver by express courier to the customer Total process time 10 days including freight Case Study 3 UK company finds substantial high-volume production savings Our customer was a UK specialist transformer manufacturer, excelling in design and manufacturing high spec/low volume products. The highly specialised workforce means that overhead costs are high so when projects reached larger production volumes it is not able to provide a competitive product, thus losing out on regular repeat business. Working with the UK manufacturer we provide a low cost manufacturing base for high volume requirements so that its efforts in design and development can reap further rewards when mass production starts. This also provides continuity for the end customer as the UK supplier is the incumbent supplier and single point of contact. Case Study 4 Market knowledge leads to cost and time savings A UK power supply design and manufacturing company was producing its own common transformers in-house, a process that was both labour intensive and a poor utilisation of resource. Using Components Bureau to source its transformer supply, it can now concentrate on its core activity while our engineers have been able to suggest alternative local materials to the product which they had specified, which have been approved. The result has been a reduction in both cost and lead time, typically 4 weeks ex-factory and an increased portfolio of product.

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