Lightening the load

27 January 2000



For many years, John Weir has been providing laundries with innovative solutions to flatwork handling problems. Bill Evett visits his factory in Chepstow, Wales.


H. J. Weir Engineering is not a typical British manufacturing company. It has survived and prospered during the past two decades. Although in one respect its focus on engineering rather than market awareness is typical of the shortcomings of the British manufacturing industries.

For more than a quarter of a century John Weir, the company’s founder and chief designer, has been providing laundries with answers to their folding and stacking problems. The Weir factory, at Chepstow, just inside the Welsh border, is a model of a modern, manufacturing facility with a worldwide reputation for producing simple solutions to complex mechanical problems. So much so that many of the company’s designs have been copied and the ‘Weir solution’ can be found in many products now manufactured around the world.

The factory produces special-purpose machines for feeding, folding, stacking and handling flatwork, built in standard form or to individual customer specifications. It is a niche market and a competitive one. John Weir is past the normal retirement age and is keen to see younger people taking over the business he has nurtured over many years.

His son Robert was recently appointed as the company’s managing director. “It is a keenly priced marketplace” he said. “We have found the Italians particularly competitive where pricing is concerned. On the other hand, Weir’s advantages are many and with approximately 55% of the UK’s flatwork machinery market we are undoubtedly the market leader.” That is 55% of a market which is currently not growing which explains why the Weir management team is seeking to refresh its overseas sales efforts. It has numerous agents and distributors in all the world’s major markets. Sales are currently divided between 50% in the United Kingdom and 50% overseas. The company has active distributors in Taiwan, Thailand, Australia, Singapore and the Peoples’ Republic of China. Over the years, it has developed a special relationship with the United States, having a reciprocal sales and distribution agreement with a manufacturing company, Chicago Dryer.

All the machines Weir sells are designed, built and tested at the Chepstow factory conveniently located close to the West coast motorways and international shipping ports.

The company is known for its engineering excellence but has not been proactive in marketing its products. John Weir, the founder is an engineer first and foremost and today can still be found in the factory developing and testing new models. As a young man, John worked in his mother’s laundry and it was there that his interest in machines that would lighten the load of the laundry worker began.

“Technology has always given this company the lead” he said. “It is a competitive business, and pricing has to be right, but we have survived through innovation. In the past we concentrated on the UK and Commonwealth markets. We are probably too small to tackle the US by ourselves. I’m trying to bring younger people in to the company which is why my son Robert is now the MD.” The younger management team will concentrate on opening up new, and wider, routes to the market. Dealerships and agents are a necessary part of the drive but after their expenses, commissions and fees, the final purchase price bears little relationship to the cost at the factory gate.

“We are like the Italian wine growers” said John Weir. “They get 20 cents for a bottle of wine that eventually sells in London or New York for 15 dollars.

“We are in an industry of low margins and it is an uphill struggle to get prices to a commercial level. You will have seen recent examples of empire building. Many people in the industry dream of being at the head of an empire. I was born into the biggest empire the world has ever known and I know what can happen to them.” The US market is targeted through an agreement signed with Chicago Dryer, a US family-owned firm. The commercial agreement is underpinned by mutual respect between the two families. They market each other’s products, Chicago Dryer selling the revolutionary Auto-prep handler and Airspeed 43 folder in the US., while the UK company sells one of Chicago Dryer’s feeders that is complementary to its own range of machines.

“In the US there is room for higher-priced, quality-engineered machines. They appreciated the higher European standards. If the market grows as quickly as I think it will, we will give them a manufacturing licence” said John Weir.

Auto-prep

The latest project to occupy John Weir’s fertile mind is the Auto-prep handler. The machine picks sheets, out of a shuttle-truck, de-tangles and drops them on to a conveyor or bin.

“It has taken us about 12 months to perfect the Auto-prep. There has already been much interest in the machine, particularly in the States. It could make detangling tumblers obsolete and considering the time, labour and space it will save, payback should be around one year.” Feeding, folding and stacking is Weirs speciality. The company does not make ironers or take on heavy engineering projects.

“I don’t like heavy structural engineering, it not our style,” explained John Weir. “I once said that if I could not lift it, I did not want it in my factory, and that is still true today.”

Automation

The industry trend is to fully-automated flatwork handling, achieved mainly though the use of programmable logic controllers (plc) which are small, compact computers that can be programmed to control the most complex operations.

“PLCs replace micro switches, relays and timers. They make vast amounts of ‘brain’ power available to solve processing problems. Today, we are solving mechanical problems electronically” explained John Weir.

Computers bring problems as well as solutions. Laundries have harsh environments and are not usually operated by highly-skilled staff. The computer-controlled machinery sometimes is not fully understood or operated in the optimum way.

“In particular, there can be problems with integrate systems. People are not aware of the problems these create” said John.

“We try to keep our machines simple, despite the availability of vast amounts of computing power.

“Flatwork machines are not mass-produced. They are built to the customer’s specification. And they all want something different. The final design depends on the space available, the machine’s position in the process and the materials it will be handling. We build the machine, or the system, that is required for that special situation.” Linen-hire companies are less problem than commercial laundries as they tend to buy standard sheets but when it comes to handling a mixed bag that contains different sizes, shapes and materials it makes the design engineers work more challenging.

“There is even a difference from country to country” said John Weir. “In Italy you will find little or no polycotton, while the UK and America make wide use of polyester reinforcement.

So we must always be aware of the customers’ needs. Whatever machine we build, we will use the latest technology but make it as simple as possible.

“We take our time testing new machines and have a saying that you ‘have to build one, to build one’. That means that once the first prototype is up and running we take that as the starting point. It will be tested, modified and put into a friendly laundry for a field test and only then, when all the little niggles have been sorted out, will it be offered to the market.” John is convinced that the ‘simplicity factor’ has eluded many modern designers.

“We humans think in complex ways and sometimes find it difficult to reduce engineering problems to simple technology.”

Speed

A prime concern in laundries is productivity. Weir’s customers want ever quicker, ever more accurate processing. First it was the hundred feet a minute barrier, now laundries are looking at 200 feet a minute, that is 600 sheets processed every hour with a target of up to 1000 sheets an hour.

“There are a lot of fishermen’s tales about what the average laundry can achieve” said John. “Probably around 800 to 900 sheets an hour is realistic. The claim of achieving the magic three-second cycle, that is one sheet every three seconds, 1200 sheets per hour, should be modified by a factor of .6 or .8.” Progress in lightening the load of the laundry worker is now incremental. There are probably not too many dramatic technical breakthroughs to be achieved in the flatwork handling business but if there are, the best chance of finding them will be in the research and development department of H J Weir Engineering of Chepstow.



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