In this section we will add all TR Fastenings news, press releases and product focus initiatives. 

The latest article is below. To browse through other articles in this section, choose from the headings under the TR Bulletin title on the left.

August 2010 - A nice problem to have…   

TR Fastenings’ scalable service helps Youngman introduce new range in record time

Two years after their Ecolite mobile lighting  towers won a Business Award for Innovation, designers and manufacturers Taylor Construction Plant (TCP) reached a stage where  in order to manage the volume of orders a fundamental change to the structure of their business was required. TCP’s core business is specialist equipment hire and  stepping up the production side of the business would have called for a massive investment, right in the middle of a credit crunch.    

The answer to their problem lay just down the road from TCP’s Maldon, head office in Essex with the Youngman Group, a leader in access platforms and equipment. The two firms’ managing directors were  already friends through their involvement in the local business community, and quickly agreed terms for a joint venture that is enabling the Ecolites, now produced at Youngman’s factory, to reach a global market through the Youngman distribution network.     

Youngman wanted to manage the introduction of a brand new production line in its factory to cater for modest early volumes, but also have the scalability to step up production as the real potential of the Ecolites is realised. For this they needed supply partners that would invest time and effort in the set up, could be trusted to take away the time-consuming hassle of small parts acquisition and would have the flexibility to support the predicted growth. An obvious choice was TR Fastenings, which has already been managing the fastener parts inventory for  Youngman’s other production lines successfully for several years.   

As soon as the joint venture was agreed, TR Fastenings quickly took stock of the parts requirements for the Ecolites. For any parts not available ex-stock, the TR team sourced third party suppliers that could cater for the expected increase in volumes over time, negotiated competitive prices on behalf of Youngman and undertook to manage inventory at the factory, installing racks and bins to support the new line.    

Youngman’s commercial director Chris Owen commented “We are able to keep stock levels lean, yet we have confidence that a supplier of TR’s size and global reach can be relied on to ramp them up at short notice. For us, it’s win-win.”