'World Class Toolmaker' awarded

Edited by the Manufacturingtalk editorial team Jun 3, 2005

Newcastle Tool and Gauge - designer and maker of press tools, jigs, fixtures - has just been accredited with the prestigious GTMA World Class Toolmaker award.

Gateshead, UK-based Newcastle Tool and Gauge has just been accredited with the prestigious GTMA World Class Toolmaker award.

The family owned firm, which was founded in 1979, designs and manufactures press tools, jigs, fixtures and associated high precision components and currently employs 26 staff at its state-of-the-art premises.

Brian Bates, Works Director, commented: "We had already achieved ISO9000 and 140001 accreditation, but felt that the World Class Toolmaker award would be a great additional feather in our cap as it directly measures how professionally a company is run and is therefore something that new customers take into account." Bates, together with MD, John Phillips, first considered the World Class programme five years ago and had studied its requirements in some detail, but it was not until they undertook the creation of an updated Business Plan, in association with Lloyds TSB, that they realised how close the company already was to achieving the required standards.

With this new information to hand they then undertook two internal audits, using the World Class profile, to see which areas of the business needed fine tuning before submitting the company to the final assessment.

The World Class Toolmaker is one of a number of profiles created by GTMA, in association with DTI, designed to increase the competitiveness of UK manufacturing companies.

The continuous improvement processes encompassed within the Profiles help participants to improve a wide range of processes and can be used by companies at all stages of the journey to World Class, and, as Bates says, "Many companies do not appreciate how good they actually are".

"Using a process like this is really helpful in understanding your strengths and eliminating your weaknesses." The actual assessment, which was undertaken by Andrew Gibbons of MRM Solutions took less than a day to complete and Gibbons was extremely impressed with Newcastle Tool and Gauge, mentioning particularly: "The 'hands-on' approach of the management, which was totally connected with the business, reviewing progress all the time and in close touch with all the staff.".