Lothian-based steel fabrication specialist
Hadley Group Fabrication (HadFab) has identified opportunities to unlock more than 400 productive hours per month after implementing
FourJaw production monitoring across 13 CNC machines.
HadFab supplies fabricated steel solutions across the power transmission and distribution, energy, rail, civils and infrastructure, commercial and industrial sectors. Operating across four sites covering more than 55,000m², the business delivers over 120,000 production hours annually.
With growing workloads and increasing operational complexity, HadFab wanted greater visibility of machine performance to understand where capacity was being lost and provide stronger evidence for continuous improvement and investment decisions.
Within the first few months, FourJaw established overall machine utilisation at 30.8% and productive activity at 36.7%. The data highlighted insufficient operator coverage, time lost to material handling and inspections, and a significant bottleneck within plate processing.
Using FourJaw's Productivity Accelerator continuous improvement tool, HadFab modelled an approximately 20% utilisation improvement by introducing dedicated support roles to free skilled machine operators from tasks such as inspection, loading and unloading, and managing crane movements.
HadFab has already recruited its first additional support operative to validate the approach, with the potential to create a further ten roles as the model is proven.
FourJaw has also helped the manufacturer build a data-backed CapEx case around its plate-processing operation. Analysis showed that one production route required additional drilling and punching, tying up multiple machines and operators without increasing overall throughput.
The findings have supported a case for investment in new machinery that could simplify the production process, reduce labour requirements, improve quality and help bring more currently outsourced work back in-house.
Mark MacDonald, manufacturing manager at HadFab, said: “The biggest shift for us has been moving from guesswork to evidence. We’ve been able to identify a major bottleneck, build a clear CapEx case to remove it, and prove a path to a 20% utilisation improvement. That’s a huge opportunity for the business.”
Early continuous improvement modelling has identified the potential to unlock more than 400 productive hours per month through targeted staffing improvements, with further capacity gains identified through improved shift coverage and equipment investment.
The programme is also addressing day-to-day frustrations for operators, reducing time spent moving material, waiting for cranes and carrying out inspections, and allowing skilled employees to spend more time focused on value-added production.
HadFab now plans to use this data-led approach as part of its longer-term ambition to create a leaner, Toyota-style production system focused on improving flow, eliminating non-value-added activity and embedding continuous improvement across its operations.
Mr MacDonald added: “FourJaw has given us the foundation to think differently about how we run the business. We’re now making decisions based on real performance data, which is a big step towards the kind of lean, Toyota-style operation we want to build at HadFab.”
Founded in 2020 as a spinout from the University of Sheffield’s Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre, FourJaw is a UK-based SaaS company helping manufacturers enhance productivity, reduce energy usage and grow profitably.
Its plug-and-play production monitoring platform integrates with machines of any age or brand. It is trusted by manufacturers globally in subsectors such as aerospace, automotive, energy and food production.