Wiltshire based Knorr-Bremse Rail Systems (UK) Limited has become the South West Regional Winners of the Engineering Employers Federation (EEF) Innovative Operating Practices Award.
The Award was presented at the prestigious EEF Regional Awards Ceremony which took place at the At Bristol venue, which is located in the heart of the city, on 3 November.
The EEF Awards are designed to recognise innovation and excellence in UK manufacturing and technology.
Knorr-Bremse was recognised for their complete re-evaluation of the production cell and process for the manufacture of the company’s innovative EP2002 Distributed Brake Control (DBC) product.
Due to the world wide demand for the EP2002 DBC system (most metro trains in China, for example, use the UK manufactured EP2002 product) Knorr-Bremse needed to increase capacity and output.
The approach taken by Knorr-Bremse was to not only increase output but to also drive out waste and potential error in the manufacturing process and at the same time raise the quality of the product even further.
To deliver the goal a cross-departmental team of Knorr-Bremse employees worked together and succeeded in creating a more productive manufacturing cell which is also delivering a better quality product.
The new cell also provides a better working environment and is also “future proofed” in that it has further potential for increasing output capacity in line with the expected increased world wide demand for EP2002.
The EEF judges praised the Knorr-Bremse winning entry as “admirable” and recognised that “the internally designed operating practice allowed an impressive growth in capacity and in turn, revenue.”
Summing up the judges said: “This is an excellent example of a business identifying a need to improve working its practices in order to reach its potential and despite the challenges Knorr-Bremse has absolutely reaped the benefits.”
KBRS Managing Director, Paul Goodhand commented:
“We are very proud of this Award from the EEF. Manufacturing efficiency is what we are about, delivering innovative products of outstanding quality that our global customers want, when they want them.
“The Award is great recognition for the team here at Knorr-Bremse who have succeeded in putting together and making operational a truly world class manufacturing facility for the delivery of a truly world class product, EP2002.”
