Although the award-winning Ecoegg laundry ‘egg’ was conceived and designed in the UK, China was selected as the source for the plastic injection moulding tools required — and as the product’s manufacturing location. However, the project was affected by a series of complications, which put pressure on the delivery of the finished product.

Ecoegg managing director Dawn White recalls: “Our tools were designed in UK but manufactured in China, which was the biggest mistake I have ever made. The supplier cut every corner with the tools during the manufacturing process, and when it came to the production run, changes were made to the material specification. The initial samples were fine, but the 40,000 production run was carried out using a much cheaper locally sourced material, which caused a number of problems.”

With the help of the GTMA — the trade association that represents companies involved in tool making, rapid prototyping, precision machinery, metrology and tooling — Ms White brought the tooling and production back to the UK, and with it the opportunity to get the project back under control. After looking through its membership for the best company to tackle the project on a somewhat shortened time-scale, the association recommended BEC Group; it subsequently acted as a conduit between the two companies, to ensure that the project would succeed.

Based in New Milton, Hampshire, BEC Group was established over 30 years ago by three engineers — Messrs Blake, Elvy and Cox (BEC). The company’s full range of in-house plastic injection manufacturing services includes design for manufacture, prototyping, injection tool making and injection moulding. More than a third of the staff are experts in their respective fields of design, tool making and production; and with CNC machining and EDM machines located next door to the production area, BEC can react quickly to customers’ requirements.

Company director Mark Elvy says: “The GTMA knew that we could successfully undertake the Ecoegg project because of the skills, experience and capabilities we have under the one roof. This customer was up against it, and we empathised with the issues they faced — we see these issues all the time with the ‘on-shoring’ of tooling. The GTMA asked us to do our best to help, and we pulled out all the stops.”

Damaged tooling

The Chinese-made tooling had suffered some damage during product trials, which meant that the product was not conforming to the design intent. There were also issues around the timing of the Ecoegg’s manufacture, so the lead time for the tooling needed to be shortened if the promised delivery date was to be met. Mr Elvy says: “At this point, we had not seen the suite of three tools, so we gave an estimate based on photographs we had of the tools and the design of the finished product.”

The first step was to correct the damage that had occurred to the tools. For this, BEC used a combination of laser welding and spark erosion; and because there are four sliding cores on two of the tools, this was an intense job that could not be rushed.

“In just three days, we had repaired the tools to a production standard; and within five days — which included working the weekend — we had installed the tooling on our moulding machines and had samples back to Ecoegg for approval. From there, we started a small-batch production run to ensure that the company had product for sale on time.”

Having seen the tools running, BEC made several recommendations for modifications that should really have been done from the start to ensure that the tools would last their full production life-cycle. “A full review of the tooling highlighted its poor quality. Indeed, we were surprised to learn that the tools were new; we thought they had been in production for at least five years,” says Mr Elvy. “The tool drawing did not match the actual tooling, and the sliding cores were not to tolerance and were badly fitted, which was causing damage to the tool core.

“None of this was a surprise; it was typical of the tooling that we see coming back to the UK from overseas. The tools were designed to be fully automatic, but various faults did not allow automatic operation without the modifications we had to undertake. The faults included ejection blades that were too short and unable to push the moulding out of the tool.”

The bottom line

GTMA chief executive Julia Moore says: “Globalisation is still a popular pursuit for many businesses looking at the bottom line and locating where the labour pool is cheap. However, these locations often lack the technical expertise and experience to provide engineering solutions. Furthermore, the allure of cheap tooling is being constantly eroded by currency fluctuations and steep increases in labour costs in the developing countries.

“We have great product designers and innovators in the UK, but our tool makers are not necessarily known to them, which is why many mould tools end up being sourced overseas. These designers simply don’t realise that there are many companies — such as BEC — in the UK. We are here to let them know what our members can do. Projects like the Ecoegg prove that the GTMA can provide the focal point for those up and down the supply chain — from the designers to the plastics suppliers, and on to the manufacturers and even the end customer.”

In conclusion, Mr Elvy says: “Off-shoring has been used to reduce large capital expenditure, but now the benefits are disappearing. Rising costs relating to labour, shipping and currency are putting UK engineering firmly back in the driving seat by offering quality, service and loyalty. Don’t take a risk on headline savings with a supplier you don’t know; it could cost you dearly for the life-time of the product.”

Ecoegg comes clean

The Ecoegg laundry ‘egg’ is a new way to wash clothes. It replaces washing powders and liquids and is claimed to be just as effective, thereby saving money. It lasts for up to 720 washes; this means that for the average family doing four to five washes a week, an Ecoegg will last for three years.

The Ecoegg is placed on top of the laundry in the drum of the washing machine, which is then used as normal — albeit without powders or liquids. The Ecoegg is packed with specially formulated hypo-allergenic cleaning pellets that are said to naturally activate in the water to gently lift away dirt and grime without the use of harsh chemicals.