Roman, shower designer and manufacturer, has invested over £250,000 in its production facility over the last 12 months. Roman claims it constantly developing and quality enhancing its manufacturing processes and its new investment has added improvements to ensure its efficiency and speed is accurate for the increased volumes of products that are being produced in its factory, which is based in the North East.
The British manufacturer has invested in new products including; an additional manufacturing line with camera, a weigh bridge for quality control, an automated conveyor belt to help speed up the process, a monitoring system to make everyone aware of the set targets and if they have been achieved, a 3D printer to create transit blocks for packaging and bespoke packaging to fit with each individual product.
An extra line has been added to Roman’s factory, which will help cater for the increased volume of products Roman has in production. Already included in Roman’s manufacturing process and which was added to the new line is a camera which takes a picture of each product in its box before the lid goes on, along with screw packs and instruction manuals.
The new line incorporates an automatic conveyor so the product moves down the line automatically, a picture is taken of the contents of the box, and the box is scanned on the weigh bridge and then moved into the bays. Then the products are distributed into automated location points in the warehouse, and organised into distribution routes.
Roman has most recently invested in a new horizontal weigh bridge, which they have introduced to their factory line to provide ongoing quality enhancement in its manufacturing process. The new weigh bridge scans the label on the packaging to make sure the weight relates to the correct product in the box. It can also pick up on weight differences as little as 100g (equivalent to half a medium sized apple) to help ensure there are no missing items before the product is dispatched. If the label does not correspond to the weight of the product in the box, or if there are missing items then a red light will flash, a buzzer will sound and a barrier will automatically come up, preventing the product from carrying on along the production line. The product will automatically slide to one side where the issue can be dealt with and the next product can come through to be scanned.
Roman have created a product library of the weight of each of their products, which has been linked to the weigh bridge so when the machine weighs a product it will have a record of how much that product should weigh. The weigh bridge will ensure that Roman continue to rule out any chance of error and provide certainty all the way through the manufacturing process.
Each line in the Roman factory is now set up with new software for real time production statistics. The monitoring screens are on every line in the factory and display statistics for production targets and whether or not they have been achieved. For example, if the target is 50 bi-fold doors in a certain time frame but only 48 have been processed then a red light will show on the screen. This monitoring system means people working on the line can see if they are reaching their targets or not. The team leaders can see what’s happening and if there’s something wrong they will be informed and can find out what is holding the process up. This ensures that if any problems occur they will be noticed and resolved immediately.
A 3D printer was introduced to Roman’s design team, which is used to develop internal packaging mouldings and components to help keep the glass in place when the products are in transit. These transit blocks are placed in the packaging around the glass to support it and reduce the movement of the product in the packaging, which in turn reduces the risk of the product being damaged, while being delivered.
As Roman products are becoming heavier with the glass thickness increasing and increased height of shower enclosures, the company has ensured protection and safe delivery of the products by bringing in new packaging. Roman has invested in a packaging machine, which makes bespoke boxes to tightly fit around the specific product and delivers them to the line.
Roman, have designed brand new packaging for all their products, which displays the company’s logo, Made in Britain logo, the CE Mark and also important Health and Safety logos. As well as the packaging displaying a new look with these printed logos, a new thicker material is also being used to ensure durability of the packaging and protection of the product.
David Osborne, managing director of Roman, said: “We are constantly improving our product quality checks and manufacturing processes and our investment of £250,000 has ensured our quality levels have been further enhanced to deal with our increased volumes. Our substantial investment has and will continue to improve our service, efficiency and quality.”