The manufacture of multi-level warehouses for storing and retrieving bar, tube, sheet and other material automatically is a specialism of the German firm Kasto — along with the production of an extensive range of sawing machines for cutting material accurately.
The company’s UK subsidiary in Milton Keynes (
www.kasto.uk.com), which has been supplying these products to the manufacturing and stockholding sectors for more than a decade, reports buoyant sales on both sides of its business in the last nine months.
Managing director Ernst Wagner has analysed its sales and makes some interesting comments on British industry’s choices regarding where goods are manufactured. “I have seen a marked change in mood since 2003, when I joined Kasto.
“Back then, offshoring of production was in vogue to save costs and improve margins. In some cases, this was successful and has been sustained, particularly for less-complex work.
“Gradually, however, reshoring of manufacturing has taken place, as wages in the Far East and Eastern Europe have risen and eroded the cost benefit. Difficulties with communication, logistics and quality are accelerating the return of work to the UK; so also is the disparity between the need to place large orders for bulk delivery when sourcing from overseas suppliers and the fact that customers are looking for ever smaller batch sizes and JIT delivery to reduce inventory costs and space.
“These factors leave British manufacturing in a better place than it has been for some time. More production is coming back to these shores to join the work that never left — notably, manufacture involving difficult materials as well as safety- and security-critical components. The aerospace, defence, traditional- and renewable-energy sectors, motor-sport and the high-quality end of steel and alloy stockholding have all tended to keep their supply chains local.”
UK trends
Mr Wagner says that as Kasto’s sales in the UK have developed, they have mirrored the trends he has noticed across industry generally. He has seen a significant increase in sales of the company’s rigid vibration-managed KastoTec bandsawing machines designed for use with carbide tooling; these can raise productivity and competitiveness by a factor of three or four using tungsten carbide-tipped rather than bi-metal blades.
Recent machine deliveries have taken the total of these top-end saws installed in the UK more than 90.
With regard to the warehousing of material, Kasto’s maxims are 3-D and CNC. Three-dimensional high-density storage of bar, tube and other long stock — as well as sheet, boxes and pallets — takes material off the floor and out of conventional racking; this saves space, minimises the risk to personnel and reduces the chance of damaging the material. Moreover, such towers can be interfaced directly with machine tools.
Meanwhile, computer control of the storage means that material can be called up more quickly and reliably, maximising productivity. Inventory control is also more efficient, using built-in functionality in the Kasto controller and easy connectivity with MRP systems.
In the area of automated storage, Kasto has seen a positive upward trend over the past decade towards the adoption of this technology in the UK, albeit from a low base.
Importantly, the uptake is accelerating. There have been several large installations in the last three years, and new business is looking healthy.
Automatic choice
In November last year, Wolseley UK — a leading distributor of heating and plumbing products — placed an order for a 3,300-location Unicompact computer-controlled automated warehouse.
Then a special-steels stockholder in the Midlands ordered an automated warehousing system. These will be two of the largest storage installations that Kasto has ever supplied in the UK and will increase turnover substantially.
Another customer has already invested in four separate Unicompact systems, each with 2,000 storage locations.
“The UK’s industrial sector is way behind Europe and the rest of the developed world in the number of operational computer-controlled storage system, says Mr Wagner. “Of the 1,450 that our group has installed, just six are in the UK, although there are around another 20 smaller Kasto storage systems.
“However, UK industry is starting to realise that its manufacturing sector can compete on the world stage if it invests in the right infrastructure and plant. Management teams need the vision, courage and commitment to embrace high technology and move their businesses forward to operate competitively in the global market-place. There is every reason to think that they can — and not only in the very-high-technology areas in which this country is already successful.
“We are clearly moving fully out of recession now, even if it is still unbalanced and patchy, so now is a good time to review investment strategies and start expanding the UK’s manufacturing base.”