Gemba Walks with Terry Murphy - Petford Group

​I feel privileged to have spent two decades working with business leaders from all corners of the manufacturing sector's supply chain; discussing plans, strategies, customers, technology, and industry challenges. I’ve seen so much over the years, I’ve probably forgotten more than I can remember. From the upper end of the supply chain where prestigious cars are handcrafted, aircraft components being precision machined and assembled, through to hazardous chemicals and pharmaceutical ingredients, foods, sustainable packaging, renewable energy technologies, and more.

According to our marketing team, I should share some of these experiences with our network, so I thought I would share a recent gemba walk with Adrian Lloyd, Managing Director of Petford Group, over at one of their new injection moulding facilities in the West Midlands, UK.

Drop me a connection on Linked-In to stay in touch - Terry Murphy

Petford was established in 1971 and fast became one of the Black Country’s most enterprising manufacturers. Since then, they have developed to become one of the country’s leading mould toolmakers and plastic injection moulders. Today, they supply manufacturers such as Jaguar LandRover, Bentley and is one of JCB Group’s top 10 suppliers.

Adrian and I met earlier in his career, he has a wealth of experience in manufacturing parts and assemblies for the automotive industry. Since joining Petford his team have been working to leverage the group’s proven in-house capability to deliver a one-stop injection mould service, and expand their activity in sectors such as aerospace, medical device, building products, off-highway, housewares and more.

Adrian commented; “We have been well received by manufacturers in all sectors. Our ability to turn projects around in a short space of time, combined with the competitive edge that our in-house tooling business gives us, is producing exciting new relationships with organisations such as Mayborn, VentAxia and many more. However, diversifying hasn’t been easy. It has required a lot of time and investment in people, processes, plant, facilities, and business systems supported by our Chairman David Parr.

We have an end-to-end MRP/ERP system linked to all business processes, a new moulding facility with significant capacity and MES system that gives us a real-time display of plant performance, and we have taken the time to understand the vastly different expectations of customers in each of these new markets.”

As you would expect in this supply chain, they are accredited to ISO 9001, IATF16949:2016, plus a range of other customer-specific approvals. Their moulding facility is well equipped, bright and spacious with lots of capacity. Their latest mould machines have a range from 160 tons to 1700 tons. Materials are delivered to the machines by a self-contained material handling system ensuring the polymer reaches the machine, dried, coloured (if required ) and fit for use. All machines are robotised with conveyor take off and have software capable of statistical control over the entire plastic injection moulding process. The injection moulding operation is enhanced with other processes including gas assist moulding, low-pressure moulding onto carpet, cloth and TPO.

There are additional value-added downstream activities providing, ultrasonic welding, assembly, insertion and insert over moulding. Complimenting base component production is the addition of chrome plating (satin and bright) and painting, both application techniques are to automotive interior and exterior standards.

​Here is an excellent video clip created for Petford by Aspect Media International Ltd.

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Terry Murphy | Managing Director

Morgan Ryder Executive

terry@morganryder.co.uk

+44(0)7780467443​