Subframes UK invests in new machinery to meet growing demand
9th October 2012

When cavity closer manufacturer Subframes UK decided to invest in automation machinery, they assumed it would be a difficult task since any machining centre it bought would need to be specially adapted to meet its highly specialised requirements.

Having assessed the market, Paul Derbyshire at Subframes decided to approach Haffner GB Ltd. It became clear that Paul had made the right decision almost immediately.

Haffner has recently partnered with Murat and supplies the company’s machinery range in the UK. Paul said, “Subframes’ specialised requirements were taken seriously from day one. Nothing was too much trouble for Haffner or Murat and the quality of the designs that Murat produced was excellent.”

When Subframes’ requirements were nearly finalised, Haffner’s Dave Thomas suggested that Paul visit the Murat factory and headquarters in Istanbul to sign off the designs and see the Murat operation for himself. Paul was extremely glad he did. “The quality and expertise of the Murat set-up was unbelievable. The quote we received always looked good value for money, but seeing the operation more than confirmed it.”

The machining centre will be used to automate Subframes’ manufacturing process. The company was manufacturing 3,500 cavity closers a week, all using manual saws. It needed to introduce automation to keep up with demand in its growing business and add to the quality of the manufacturing process. As well as the investment in the machining centre, Subframes also invested in three 2-headed welding machines.

Paul concludes by saying, “We knew we needed to invest in automation if we wanted to continue to grow the business. But we were concerned that the amount of effort that would be needed to get what we wanted and the additional costs involved would be significant. Haffner and Murat proved us wrong. Their expertise and understanding of our requirements was excellent as is the quality and spec of the machinery. We also got excellent value for money and the investment we’ve made will help us to grow our business in the years to come.”

www.haffnergb.com
www.cavitycloser.com