Kerf streamlines production success for M&J Europe

The Linc-Cut Fiber 1530A at M&J Europe

The demise of the coal and steel industry and the 1980s recession delivered a gloomy outlook for millions in the UK. However, for ex-coal engineer Mike Garland, a relentless work ethic and an engineer's attitude to delivering creative solutions were the foundation blocks that led to the creation of M & J Europe Ltd.

Started in 1990 by Mike, his wife Jasmin, and their son Chris, M & J Europe reclaimed rollers and conveyors from closing coal mines, refurbished and repurposed them, and then sold the equipment to power stations, steel plants, and furniture manufacturers. The business has flourished ever since, and in the past two years, M & J Europe has invested over £3 million in buildings, plant, and equipment, with the most recent acquisition being a Lincoln Electric Linc-Cut 1530A 6kW fibre laser supplied by Rochdale-based Kerf Developments.

In the 1980s, the Government offered a £40 a week allowance scheme for anyone starting a new business. Mike took advantage of the grant and began M&J Europe from home, selling solutions from the back of a Ford Escort van. The company now has a turnover above £7.5 million and employs more than 45 highly skilled engineers who design, develop, and manufacture production lines for some of Europe’s leading brands. Working with household brands such as Warburtons, Braces and Dominos Pizza in the food industry to OEMs in the medical, oil and gas, furniture, automotive, FMCG (fast-moving consumer goods), aerospace and defence sectors, M&J Europe is tasked with developing new production lines that deliver productivity, efficiency, quality and above all compliance to the most stringent of regulations.

Alleviating bottlenecks
As part of its ongoing investment strategy, the Tredegar-based mechanical engineering firm purchased a waterjet cutting machine just over three years ago to process everything from metals to plastic, perspex, glass and other materials that may require trimming. However, with the company processing an increasing level of brackets, excavators, and machine guards made of mild and stainless steel, it soon became apparent that waterjet cutting was a bottleneck in the business.

To temporarily alleviate the problem, the company transferred some of the work to its manual and high-specification CNC machining department. Serving as only a temporary solution, the M & J Europe team visited MACH 2024 to search for a suitable laser-cutting machine.

Pictured right: the M & J Europe team with Kerf and Lincoln Electric Engineers

Chris Garland, M&J Europe’s managing director, explained: “The waterjet machine was effective, but we needed something much faster. We took a team to MACH 2024 to buy a laser welder and look at three or four laser-cutting options. We found the Kerf Developments stand, met the Kerf and Lincoln Electric teams, and saw the Lincoln Electric Linc-Cut 1530A 6kW fibre laser in action.

“We have experienced sub-standard service and support from machine tool suppliers in the past, so technical support and maximum machine uptime were critical to us. Our team was familiar with the Lincoln Electric brand through our welding technology, so we wanted to explore this avenue. We did our due diligence and looked at other brands, but the conversations with Kerf regarding support sealed the deal for us.”

Following a visit to Lincoln Electric in France to investigate the machine capabilities further, an order was placed for a Lincoln Electric Linc-Cut 1530A 6kW machine that was installed and commissioned in January 2025. With a short training period and confidence in the support and service from Kerf, the machine has been running non-stop.

M&J Europe has a philosophy that it manufactures everything it requires in-house with no dependence on a sub-contract supply chain. M & J Europe founder Mike Garland said: “We offer everything from project and facilities management to on-site support as well as the production of conveyor belts, production lines and bespoke machinery. If one of our customers incurs downtime on a production line, the lost production costs can be well over £200,000 per hour — so it is imperative that we can react and resolve breakdowns at speed.

“Relying on a sub-contract supply chain is not an option. We frequently have to charter helicopters to get our engineers to customer sites around the UK, as reaction speed is critical. Upstream, the reliability of our machine tools and production speed is also paramount — that is why we put our well-placed trust in Kerf and Lincoln Electric.”

Manufacturing replacement parts
While minutes on the production floor may not be critical in developing a new project, they are of the utmost importance when manufacturing replacement parts, servicing breakdowns, or undertaking scheduled maintenance.

Chris continued: “Our waterjet machine has a cutting speed of around 800mm/min. Depending upon the material and thickness, the Lincoln Electric Linc-Cut 1530A 6kW machine can cut at speeds beyond 25m/min. The savings have been incredible in the short time we have had the machine. We made a series of brackets from a 3 x 1.5m sheet in 8hr on the waterjet machine, which has been reduced to 25min on the laser.

“Excavator buckets are another common task that would take a full week to produce 100 buckets on the waterjet running 24/7 — we can produce over 225 buckets from 15 steel sheets in a single day on the new laser. We also manufacture 200 conveyors for customers every month; a batch of these would take 8hr to cut on a guillotine, drill and hand-finish — on the laser, we can do this repeat job in just 20min.”

Pictured left: parts nested and cut on the Linc-Cut 1530A at M&J Europe

The manual processing of components highlights another saving generated by the new laser — labour costs. With new production lines and projects continually passing through the business, M&J Europe also has to balance its scheduled work with urgent repairs, scheduled maintenance, servicing and replacement of parts for end users. Across the business, this can absorb up to 120hr of manual machining, cutting and processing components in a month. Much of this labour input has been eradicated with the arrival of the new laser machine.

Chris said: “We recently had a prestigious OEM customer in Birmingham that required 100 brackets for a production line that was taken off-line overnight for scheduled maintenance. The line was planned to run by 6am to process hazardous materials. The brackets had to be manufactured from specialist stainless steel, so we sent a van to collect the material in the evening. We had a team of eight engineers working overnight to ensure the brackets were manufactured, delivered and installed to get the line running by 6am.

“If we had had the Linc-Cut 1530A in place, one team member would have turned the brackets around in just 1hr. This emphasises the scale of the labour savings we can and will make with the new machine. In the short period since installing the machine, we have also noticed a significant reduction in our consumable costs with drills, cutters, grinding and cutting disk requirements falling sharply.”

Looking to the future, Chris concluded: “The quality, consistency and finish of our sheet metal parts has improved considerably with the Linc-Cut 1530A, and we are delighted with the productivity improvements and cost savings, as well as the service we receive from Kerf. We install production lines where the quality of our engineers and our level of service is paramount. When Kerf Developments installed and commissioned the Lincoln Electric Linc-Cut 1530A, we recognised the professionalism of its team. When the requirement arises, we will certainly buy more Lincoln Electric machines from Kerf.”