Equipment investment boosts Amazon Filters’ manufacturing capacity
Camberley-based process filter manufacturer Amazon Filters has installed two semi-automated CNC mills as parts of its ongoing investment programme, which will boost its housing component manufacturing capacity.
A CNC mill uses a rotating cylindrical cutter, moving along multiple axes, to create slots, holes and details in a material, turning it into a vehicular or mechanical part.
The new machinery is part of an ongoing £1 million investment programme at the firm, which supplies industries which rely on process filtration worldwide. It supports the company’s policy of ‘vertical integration’, which sees it bringing an increasing amount of its manufacturing in-house, reducing its reliance on third parties and sub-contractors.
This, in turn, allows Amazon Filters to fulfil its customers’ orders quicker and more accurately, regardless of project complexity, size or location.
Alongside the new equipment, Amazon Filters has doubled its housing component manufacturing staff numbers over the past three years from six to 12, with a further appointment expected next year.
The manufacturing process sees workers processing raw materials in the form of metal bars, sheets and tubes into parts ahead of welding and final housing assembly. The team operate five distinct cells: sheet metal; de-burring and degreasing (the removal of very fine coats of oil); press; fabrication; and machining, the most recent cell.
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Adrian Price, Lead Fabricator for Housing Component Manufacturing, said: “It’s big-scale work and we represent the start of the process for making housings.
“In line with the company’s expansion, we moved to our separate and bigger hub from under a mezzanine floor in the main production centre in 2019.
“The extra space and capacity have enabled us to do far more in-house rather than rely on subcontractors or third-party suppliers.
“We have more control over what we do, and how, why and when we do it.
“We have done a great deal of in-house training with everyone upgrading to be able to do all the jobs within the department including the use of the new CNC mills.
“Working in conjunction with colleagues in the sales and operations departments, we have made massive in-roads on productivity through dynamic scheduling and greater control over workflows and delivery times.
“From the production point of view, we have more flexibility and can ship a job more easily.
“Say we have a water company requiring urgent filtration equipment to cope with a cryptosporidium outbreak, we have cut lead times, created more scope to customise and improved our ability to turn round the order quickly.
“As the worldwide market expands, the ability to do things in-house becomes more important so we have taken the opportunity to grasp the nettle and improve our processes.
“Our work is very diverse and we relish the challenge of the one-off, for example if you have an oil and gas customer saying they need specific equipment to go that bit deeper in the oceans, it’s great to be able to say we can do it.”
As reported last month, Amazon Filters has also relocated its storage facilities and opened a new production hall as part of its capital investment programme.
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Featured image: Amazon Filters colleagues Troy Procter, right, Housings Production Support Technician, and Josh Booth, Housing Component Manufacturing Operator, in the firm's dedicated production hub.
