Never destined to be a ‘me-too’ re-seller of pro audio and broadcast equipment, Canford chose to design and manufacture its own products at its base in the Northeast of England. Now, the company has moved its production to a new facility.
In the 1980s, the Independent Broadcasting Authority (IBA), which controlled commercial radio, asked Canford to produce the Audio Fuse Barrier Protection Panel (Pt: 20-091) with the aim of preventing possible injury to BT exchange staff in the event that wiring or studio equipment failure. One of Canford’s first plastic mould tools helped address another problem encountered by audio engineers of the time – the Splicing Tape Dispenser could be fixed to the side of a tape machine and provide a ready supply of tape for editors. Demand for Canford-manufactured product grew, as did the production team as more products were introduced and the Canford brand evolved.
‘While the Canford Splicing Tape Dispenser has been respectfully retired, the heritage of those early days, and the method of understanding our market, listening to customers and producing unique, problem solving products lives on,’ says Canford Marketing Manager, Stephen Gallagher.
Almost 41 years after founder Iain Elliott created Canford, Production, it is better known for ready-made cable assemblies, Mains Distribution Units (MDU), specialist headphone level limiter technology and Canford brands Tecpro and EMO. A recent strategic review of Canford facilities saw Canford Production relocate and incorporate its team into the main HQ building along with the Technical, Purchasing, Sales and Warehouse departments.
A new bespoke production area was designed by a consultant lead team, and installed over two floors to improve workflow of raw materials to production, test, packaging and finally back to warehouse prior to despatch. ‘Our new production facility really does make a big difference,’ says Production Manager Graeme Lyon, who has been with Canford for 32 years. ‘Previously, we were moving goods between two sites and although literally across the road from one another, it was a logistical headache, and ultimately had an effect on lead times. Production efficiency and speed at which we can deliver finished product has improved dramatically. Being incorporated with the rest of the team facilitates closer ties with other departments, and has improved morale.’
Health and Safety improves too, as the new working environment is cleaner and has the latest standards of task lighting and solder fume extraction. Workstations are clearly defined and include pneumatic hand tools to ensure a consistent, high-quality finish, which improves Canford’s ability to deliver large volume orders quickly. Benches are tooled and set out identically to enable flexibility of the multi-skilled team which can be deployed as required.
Canford has concurrently made a significant investment in warehousing at its Washington headquarters, which have been upgraded and expanded to approximately 21,000-sq-ft. Canford manufactured product now accounts for more than £4.6m revenue and the company expects further growth following the launch of its in-house fibre termination facility.
More: www.canford.co.uk
