About Westley Plastics
Westley Plastics is the UK’s leading manufacturer of cast nylon and plastic components, with over 50 years of experience in delivering engineering plastics for heavy industrial applications in the construction, defence, automotive, rail and steel sectors.
The family-run, Midlands-based manufacturer can trace its roots back more than 200 years. Today, the company specialises in engineering plastic products from concept and design to final manufacture, utilising its on-site design, casting, and CNC machining facilities since 1964.
Westley Plastics has deployed FourJaw’s machine monitoring platform across 14 machines, ranging from cutting-edge HAAS CNCs to manual lathes and large-scale injection moulders.
The Challenges
- Lack of visibility in 24/7 operations
- Inconsistent recording of shop floor data
- Manual data capture resulted in a lack of accurate information
- Inability to make decisions based on fact
When Tom Westley, Operations Director and the latest generation of the Westley family joined and reviewed the business, it became clear that the inconsistent recording of manual shop floor data resulted in a lack of accurate information on which to make business decisions.
The company operates 24 hours a day, but it wasn’t evident whether machine utilisation and productivity were consistent throughout any 24-hour period. It was agreed that greater visibility of the shop floor through machine monitoring would enable them to identify capacity and cycle times and help to focus the workforce on the processes that required and benefited most from their skills.
A MORE EFFICIENT, PRODUCTIVE AND INFORMED FACTORY
Westley Plastics now has a clear and informed picture of the factory floor, including accurate cycle times and shift utilisation.
The factory is more efficient and productive with its resources, which is evidenced by the increased utilisation of machines running 24 hours during the week. This has improved so much that fewer shifts need to run over the weekend, saving the business money on staffing, energy, and other operating costs.
Looking ahead, the business is committed to driving efficiency and productivity across all aspects of its manufacturing operations. In the short term, the next priority is to improve how they communicate efficiency and productivity data across the shop floor. The plan is to use newly installed screens located throughout the factory to display FourJaw’s Livestream view, keeping the machine data at the forefront of mind to help drive best practices.
Furthermore, Westley Plastics’ smart factory strategy will include installing FourJaw machine monitoring to every machine that it adds to its manufacturing operations as it grows.
Tom Westley set out to find a solution. Initially, he came across a CNC machine monitoring software but soon discovered it only worked with machines less than two years old and those of a certain brand, in addition, the installation costs were high. Tom explained that he was looking for a solution that worked across any machine, without huge upfront costs and ongoing expenses.
Tom turned to Google for help! After a bit of research, he discovered FourJaw’s machine monitoring software solution. Tom explained he liked that it works with machinery of any age and brand, and the fact the solution didn’t require any large upfront costs, so this ticked his box for finding a cost-effective solution.
Cultural adoption is key to success
The challenge wasn't just about finding the right software but also ensuring its successful implementation within the organisation. As Tom points out:
“When it came to deploying FourJaw, we were aware that to get strong cultural adoption good communication and training would be required to ensure people understood why we were doing it and what the benefits to them and the business would be.”
With the support of FourJaw’s customer success team, Tom was able to achieve this. “FourJaw's guidance was instrumental in ensuring our team fully understood the data insights. This knowledge spurred enlightening conversations, fostering a collaborative environment where best practices were shared, behaviours evolved, and machine utilisation and productivity significantly improved.”
The Results
- Introduction of new production processes
- Changed some of the factory layout to improve the efficiency of the machines
- Improved cycle times by creating new jigs, reducing on-job operations of big jobs by 50%
- Process changes have enabled them to ‘De-skill’ some of the operator requirements, which allows them to focus their skilled people on the right jobs
- Cell utilisation is much more productive and makes the operators more efficient when on jobs
- Identified H&S improvements relating to machine maintenance
