Unipart Rail has improved efficiency at its manufacturing facility in Crewe with a specialist tool control system designed and delivered by Heamar.
Unipart Rail, a supply partner to some of the world’s best-known names in the Rail Industry has worked with specialist tooling supplier Heamar to implement a new system featuring secure cabinets and tool control foam to house specialist mil-spec tooling.
The Need for Tool Control
All manufacturing work carried out by Unipart Rail must be to a high specification so mil-spec tools are used to provide the best quality of goods for their customers.
On the manufacturing shop floor where Unipart builds, overhauls and repairs wire harnesses a shadow board was previously used to house the tooling. This enabled workers to easily see the correct tool but lacked security. Tools could easily go missing and it would take valuable time to locate them or incur extra cost to replace the expensive tools.
“Heamar already supplied us with mil-spec tools from DMC and Ideal Industries so it was a logical step for them to help us look at ways to improve the control of these tools,” said Roy Evans, Production Manager, Unipart Rail.
The Solution
The new Unipart tool control system with tool control foam.
Heamar designed a system where specialist tools along with other general tooling are housed in lockable cabinets kitted out with tool control foam so operatives could easily see where to replace the tools. It was also important to stay within budget so cabinets from Draper Tools were supplied by Heamar along with a bespoke foaming service.
Now when a repair is carried out the foam tray containing the tools has handles so it can easily be removed from the cabinet and given to the worker. The foam tray is then checked in at the end of the day to ensure all the tools are back in place and replaced in the lockable cabinet. If a tool is missing it cannot be signed off until all the tools are present.
