Our customer was having problems with the supply of a material to produce bolts as part of an assembly supplied directly to the end user. The main problem was the grade of [709M40T (EN19T)] and the relatively sporadic availability of this particular material in condition T. The parts were required to be worked to a bespoke drawing and then heat treated by BodyCote to Condition ‘Y’ then coated in Sheraplex to meet the customers’ requirements.

When speaking to the engineer who assembled the tool we found out that much of his time was spent removing the thick deposits of sherardizing to enable the nut to run freely down the thread and that a further chasing was required for a locking thread grub screw was used to secure the nut. We offered them a complete kit where the bolts were already pre-assembled as part of our [kitting service] and in the exact quantities required for each build in 1 custom protective box.

By utilising our kitting and outsourcing services they increased the efficiency of procurement, guaranteed the supply of the goods and ensuring that their KPI’s and OTD’s were not affected. At the same time, we managed to increase the productivity of the build time by offering a service that included the preassembled bolts ensuring that the engineer wasn’t spending time on the less profitable task of clearing the threads.