Muller celebrates new standard success with £300,000 contracts boost

It comes as Muller Holdings, which employs 90 people at its headquarters in Cleobury Mortimer, has become one of the first manufacturers in the UK to secure a prestigious new automotive quality accreditation.

The firm has achieved the International Automotive Task Force (IATF) 16949 standard, a standard that is now being used by the main car manufacturers and tier 1s when awarding new contracts.

This replaces the TS approval and is vital to the company's desire to build on over £7 million of orders it currently holds supplying CNC machined and high volume parts for use in heavy duty braking systems, engines, electronics and door brackets.

The process took just 12 months, from initial planning to mobilising the quality team and ensuring that everyone knew what was expected of them to ensure the 21 changes in specification were successfully met.

"IATF replaces TS in September and is a lot more risk based, covering risk evaluation and analysis within all aspects of the business," said Stephen Lock, managing director of Muller South Wales.

"We recognised the need to achieve certification within a fairly narrow timeframe and set out plans to achieve this by carrying out a gap analysis and introducing new procedures and process controls that bridged the 'gaps'.

"Comprehensive training plans were also rolled-out to get buy-in across all of our four sites in the Black Country, Shropshire, South Wales and Worcestershire. The end result has been worth it, with the IATF certification achieved before many of our major customers."

Muller Holdings, which has increased its workforce to 130 people over the last 12 months, specialises in CNC milling, turning, multi-spindle and CNC/Conventional escomatic manufacturing services.

The IATF standard, which is held by all of its four UK sites and the factory in Manesar in India, puts the firm in a perfect position to not only retain existing automotive work, but also explore additional contracts to produce parts for new model platforms in the UK and overseas.

This approach is already paying off, with £300,000 of new orders recently secured with Wabco and THK Germany.

Stephen added: "The quality standard proves that we operate to the highest possible global standards and have measures in place that ensure production continues in case of any risk scenarios.

"It's a great start to an exciting 2018, a year where we are looking to increase sales past £14 million and where we are investing more than £500,000 into new technology."

In addition to its automotive work, Muller Holdings also supplies components ending up in dental products and appliances that keep homes and factories warm.

The firm is part of the Manufacturing Assembly Network, an eight-strong group of sub-contract manufacturers and an engineering design agency who work together to win orders and share best practice and resource.