We look forward to welcoming you to our new premises when we are back to the new “normal”, but in the meantime we remain open for busniess and  please don’t hesitate to contact us to discuss your machining requirements.

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The post Open for Business appeared first on Presto Engineering.

So what led us to this conclusion?

To put our idea into context it’s useful to look at some background information starting with data comparing global manufacturing output in 2014 in the top 10 countries.

• Chinese manufacturing output was the highest in the world for the first time at $1.9 trillion.
• The USA were literally ’pipped at the post’ by China at $1.8 trillion having held the number 1 spot from 1970 to 2013.
• Japan took the number 3 spot with $1 trillion and the UK came in 9^th with $247 billion, beaten by the other major European economies of Germany in 4^th, France in 7^th and Italy in 8^th. To complete the top ten South Korea was 5^th, India 6^th and Taiwan 10^th1.

With escalating labour costs in China and increased automation, China is no longer the low cost manufacturing option it was.

But how did it become such a powerhouse of productivity for the last 20 years?

A combination of clever policy, hard work, luck and timing all played their part.  For example, in the 1980’s Margaret Thatcher and Ronald Reagan believed that western economies would move away from manufacturing towards service economies and also gave preferential treatment to the financial industry on Wall Street and in the City of London².   This coincided with China opening up and ‘plugging in’ to the global economy and the rest is history!

Although some particularly labour intensive functions or businesses are chasing lower wages in locations such as Vietnam, Bangladesh, Myanmar and the Philippines an increasing number of businesses see this as the right time to reshore.

Here are some of the reasons why:-

• Declining wage gaps – Chinese wage increases average 12% per annum since 2001
• Technology, for example 3D printing and Robotics³
• Quality
• Security of Supply Chains
• Increasing transport costs
• The ability to rapidly respond to changing market requirements
• Cost of managing overseas operations
• Geopolitical Unrest⁴

As a UK manufacturer producing high quality visible machined parts at a fair price we know we can’t compete if a potential customer is comparing our price to that of a Chinese supplier.  However, it is rather like comparing apples and pears.  Here at Presto, as with other UK manufacturers, we only use European raw material, test everything we receive and have minimal, if any, scrap.  In contrast we are aware that Chinese suppliers are likely to use low quality and untested raw material.  These factors together with lower quality standards contribute to the high scrap rates many customers experience when sourcing components from China.

So let’s be positive as manufacturers and consider the lower value of Sterling an opportunity to lure manufacturing back to the UK.

As always we would love to hear your thoughts on the subject:-

Do you think we can use the current business climate to encourage businesses to reshore?

Have you any experience of reshoring?

Do give us a call on 01865 883508 or e mail us at sales@prestoeng.co.uk.

For more information about Presto Engineering please visit our website here and if you would like to discuss a project with us please call us on 01865 883508 or e mail Julian at sales@prestoeng.co.uk.

References

¹Chris Rhodes, 2016, International Comparisons of Manufacturing. [pdf] available at  http://researchbriefings.parliament.uk/ResearchBriefing/Summary/SN05809#fullreport  [Accessed 6 October 2016]

²Paul Denlinger, 2016, How did China become the manufacturing hub of the world? [online] available at https://www.quora.com/How-did-China-become-the-manufacturing-hub-of-the-world-What-are-some-of-the-things-that-other-developing-countries-can-learn-from-China-to-improve-manufacturing  [Accessed 6 October 2016]

³Sarah O’Connor, 2016, Robots may cut off the path to prosperity in the developing world, FT.com [online] available at https://www.ft.com/content/5d0b1206-36f2-11e6-a780-b48ed7b6126f [Accessed 6 October 2016]

⁴PWC, 2014, Reshoring – a new direction for the UK economy? [pdf] Available at http://www.pwc.co.uk/services/economics-policy/insights/uk-economic-outlook/reshoring-a-new-direction-for-the-uk-economy-ukeo-march14.html [Accessed 6 October 2016]

Useful Websites

ReshoringUK – http://www.reshoringuk.co.uk/

Reshoring Initiative – USA – http://www.reshorenow.org/

The post Reshoring manufacturing to the UK first appeared on Presto Engineering.

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“Here at presto, we have taken control of another step in the process by investing in new bead blasting and graining equipment to cater for your needs.”

The graining operations undertaken at Presto are applied under pressure by a linishing belt, providing a straight grain across a flat surface. Appearance of the grain can be varied based upon the coarseness of the belt used for the operation. See below an example of a part manufactured by presto using this technique on the top surface:

Alternatively, bead blasting can be used in a variety of scenarios, such as a flat, 3D or curved components with a consistent finish. It works by firing small beads at a component under high pressure, to give a consistent surface finish without damaging a part. Surface finish can be altered to suit your particular requirements, with both coarser/finer and brighter/duller appearances possible. An example of a beaded component can be seen below:

Carrying out these operations in house enables us to produce a consistently high standard of finish, whist also cutting lead times. Both of these attributes are in line with our philosophy of providing the highest standards of finish.

Feel free to contact Presto today with any queries you may have regarding the subject.

The post Bead blasting and Graining Aluminium first appeared on Presto Engineering.

The post Bead blasting and Graining Aluminium appeared first on Presto Engineering.

We understand that your reputation relies upon both exceptional standards of workmanship and service from your suppliers, we also know that you need quality parts on time every time from one source that takes total responsibility. With this in mind we only use the best partners for services such as anodising, painting and printing, knowing that they also share our values when it comes to serving the customer and exceeding their expectations.

It’s all very well having a high quality product that performs its function  but without a professional finish all of the initial work is rendered useless, as it does not look aesthetically pleasing. At Presto Engineering we take responsibility for all secondary operations such as anodising, bead blasting, graining, painting, screen printing and polycarbonate overlays.

Amongst others Presto Engineering manufacturers components for the following industries:

• Recording equipment for Professional use.Hi-Fi / Audio equipment for domestic use.
  lighting desks and associated equipment.
• Film production equipment.
• Telecommunications test equipment.
• Additionally we are based here in the UK in Oxfordshire, keeping things local whilst still at the highest standard.

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