The philosophy of BMM Weston is “better by design” and, with a strong marketing and engineering management team, the company can bring new products to the market rapidly.
Mr John Cleaver, managing director, says the company is led by its focus on marketing an#d engineering, and it concentrates on a closed loop of activity incorporating design, product development, manufacturing and marketing. Regular meetings are held which embrace new machine concepts, progress with development of designs and the up-dating of existing equipment.
Products are designed using the latest computer-aided systems, and a new machine is due to be launched at the Clean UK exhibition to be held at Wembley in June.
The move from drawing boards to computer-aided design occurred a decade ago, and now the company has computer-aided manufacturing as well—the computerised design department can communicate with the manufacturing plant via a fibre optic link.
Recently, the BMM Weston ironer range has been further enhanced. The changes have imp#roved the styling and now there is a new blue and grey colour scheme. The machines, which conform to the latest European standards, have shorter nose sections with removable pods which allow for easy adjustment of the feed band roller. The feed section can be removed completely to allow for direct feeding into the ironer chest from an automatic feeder.
BMM Weston’s ironer chests and rolls are made “in-house” with a precision which enables the company to use only one size of springing—most manufacturers have to purchase more than one size of springing to match roll and chest measurements.
The products of BMM Weston are competitively priced and, though not always the cheapest, offer excellent value for money—especially when “whole life costing” is considered,## not just the purchase price. This is reflected in BMM Weston’s export achievements—consistently, over 50% of production is exported.
BMM Weston’s laundry equipment is one of the company’s four product groups—the others being sterilisers, rotary dyeing machines and foundry equipment. An interchange of best practice policies and ideas is on-going and to the benefit of all product groups.
Mr Cleaver says: “Our designers and manufacturing engineers must be at the cutting edge of technology, and, in pursuit of this strategy, major investments have been made in the purchase of laser cutting presses, robotic orbital welding and a new powder coating painting facility.
BMM Weston finds its Faversham, Kent, base to be an ideal location because of its proximity to# mainland Europe.
The company has a 170-strong workforce and is a medium to heavy engineering business, virtually vertical in its operation unlike many “screwdriver” assembly plants of today. This enables manufacturing of products to consistently high quality standards.
Mr Cleaver underlines the stability that BMM Weston has in its workforce: “Many staff live in the local rural community. The company is important to the local community, and the local community is important to us.” Structured training programmes are organised, and, where appropriate, lines of succession are put in place.
“I believe we have an excellent team spirit,” Mr Cleaver says. “There is a determiniation by people throughout our company that we continue to succeed. Our team is serious, hard-working and has a great deal of knowledge and ability.
“We are looking forward to the new millennium when we are sure t#he products we provide for our customers will meet the challenges which will be waiting for them in the new century.”
