Rowan's Review of 2024

As many of you will appreciate, when you’re flat out running a manufacturing SME, it can sometimes be difficult to take a step back and reflect on what the people in your business have achieved.

Too often, we get caught up in day-to-day deadlines, solving production bottlenecks or whether the timely installation of a new piece of kit will go to plan.?

A couple of years ago, I made a personal pledge to take a little bit more time to appreciate what Brandauer, and, more importantly, our fantastic team members are successfully doing.

And 2024, despite far-reaching political uncertainty and continuing supply chain disruption, has been a big one for us, possibly our best-ever.

As we approach the Christmas holiday, I’m delighted to say that we are on track to hit ￡9.5m in sales, exporting precision components and complex tooling solutions to more than 26 different countries around the world.

We took on EU, US and Chinese competition (some very talented businesses) and came out on top, thanks to our innovation (more on this in a bit), homegrown UK engineering skills and ability to add value.

That’s just the headline figures, but there are lots of things that have happened to get us to this point, including:

King’s Award

Earlier this year, we officially became one of the few UK companies to hold two current Royal Awards, adding the King’s Award for Innovation title to our export accolade, won in 2019.

Our micron precision tooling offer has been a real labour of love. However, we now have embedded processes in place that optimise and de-risk the modular tooling route for customers, giving them the capability to produce their tools to the finest of margins and at a cost price (25% less than anywhere else in the world) that is justifiable.

Factory re-layout launch

We have successfully completed a re-organisation of our 50,000 sq foot production facility in Birmingham.

This is one of the most transformational projects we’ve ever embarked on, with over 45 pieces of equipment moved to create a fit-for-purpose, world class precision stamping hub that will support our growth for the next three to five years.

Initial data suggests a 15% efficiency gain, with certain lines running at up to 250% quicker outputs.

New advisory contracts in engineering knowledge sharing

As part of a recent strategy review, we identified our 163-years’ worth of precision stamping and toolmaking knowledge as one of our most precious commodities. We took this and have successfully created an advisory team where clients and partners can tap into this technical pool to support them make their businesses better.

Successful projects to date have included bespoke tooling standard development, unique Bruderer setting masterclasses and industry engagement projects.

Investments

As a business, we have always been keen to remain at the forefront of new technology and 2024 saw us hit the ￡5m inward-investment milestone, quite a feat for an SME to achieve in just 3 years.

Investments have included new high-speed Bruderer UK and Yamada presses, an additional, new, 1-micron capable wire EDM machine, a state-of the-art laser micro-cutter and a new rapid prototyping area.

All this kit coupled, with an apprentice count of 11, ensures we give our engineers of the future the best technology to work around and develop on. We like to think of it as a big ‘engineering sweetie shop’.

Elopin in China and India

Having spent the last 7 years developing a solderless connector capability in the UK, we have seen success a little further afield! We are now sending over ￡1m precision Elopin products to India and China per annum.

A feat only made possible by the way the team have innovated their way through one of the most challenging products we manufacture. The key to success in the production of these pins at volume is the unique capability to reduce the residual stress in the metal strip prior to it being stamped, allowing for better quality reeled pins for our customers.

New Skills

The average age of or the Brandauer workforce has gone from 58 to just 42-years-old in just under a decade. We’re continuing to invest in the next generation and have taken on six apprentices this year – our biggest intake yet.

We also continue to support In-Comm Training with the IP and real-world facilities to make the UK’s first Precision Tooling Academy an ongoing success.

Ramp up to 100m Razors in Israel and Egypt

Our year has ended on significant commitments from our two newest healthcare customers.

After 12 months of repeated development cycles, we have been requested to proceed with production of 100 million plus frames over the next 18 months. The technical team have been working tirelessly to improve controls and tweak angles of key tooling components and, having successfully achieved it in the Summer, we will now be supplying world class razor frames for use in male grooming products used all over the globe.

And last, but certainly not least, on a personal front I was astounded and deeply honoured to be presented with an MBE in the 2024 New Year’s honours list for services to manufacturing and enterprise. Something I would not have without the team, network and supply chain I have around me.

If a young lad from London, who had no more than a knack for being resilient, can achieve this, then anyone can. Hopefully it will inspire the young engineers I work with and support to go on and follow their dreams.

So Merry Christmas and huge thanks to colleagues, suppliers, partners and customers…let’s make 2025 another transformational year for UK manufacturing!