Hone-All fine tunes to deliver its promises

Hone-All Precision and its customers are seeing quantifiable benefits to the Leighton Buzzardbased sub-contract manufacturers’ policy of continuous improvement. In growing its customer base across sectors such as aerospace, oil & gas, hydraulics, automotive and motorsport, Hone-All has faced up to the challenges this places on its internal systems and processes. Already well-versed in high quality management procedures due to the approvals and accreditations it has gained over the years, including the BS EN ISO 9001:2008/BS EN 9100:2009 aerospace quality standard and SC21 at Bronze level, Hone-All is also an advocate of continuous development of not only its processes, but also its people. This attitude of constantly looking forward has seen the business change from being seen purely as a specialist in deep hole boring and honing, to developing a reputation as a one-stop-shop with a reputation for producing high quality machined components. “Continually improving skills and processes is a major challenge, but it is one that we recognise has to be met in order to remain competitive and of interest to customers who have a selection of suppliers to choose from,” says Hone-All Precision Director, Andrea Rodney. “It is definitely viewed as an investment by everyone at Hone-All and the satisfaction comes from the improvements that are happening daily, suggested by every level of the team and are there for all to see.” From a customer’s point of view this comes down to improving ontime delivery and quality. Hone-All has recognised the demands of its customers changing, with orders being placed later in the process and increased pressure on maintaining the original delivery dates. It has addressed this evolving situation through improvements to its internal systems that ensure that orders can be managed and delivered on time. These changes include the procedures to maintain material stock levels, so that the right material is available when the order is ready to be processed. Given the wide range of sometimes ‘exotic’ materials that Hone-All is asked to work with this involves developing closer relationships with material suppliers, many of which are also customers. Recent improvements and investments and the implementation of a night shift has increased capacity tremendously. This expanded capacity is of little use though if it is not available when it is needed, so new efficiency management systems have also been introduced to monitor capacity and work flow to enable the maximum equipment efficiency. This gives the sales team at Hone-All the confidence to quote specific delivery dates in the knowledge that they will be maintained. “This process is an ongoing one and we are constantly looking for those incremental changes that add up to savings in time and cost for our customers and increase employee satisfaction by improving the environment, the equipment and how we simply get things done. By empowering and adding to our employees skillssets we are encouraging every member of the team to be a part of this process of change at Hone-All. They are encouraged and incentivised to put forward ideas and their direct experience and process knowledge, combined with the management’s team of looking at the bigger picture, is delivering the change and momentum that we need to remain competitive and at the forefront of our customers minds when selecting where to place orders,” says Andrea Rodney.

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