Automotive Case Study

With more than 50 manufacturing sites, spanning several continents, Bion’s client is a global leader in the supply of high quality interior products, electronics and exhaust systems to the automotive market.

For many years Bion supplied a multitude of components, varying material types and thicknesses on a JIT basis, building an unrivalled reputation for the quality and reliability of both the perforated products and the customer service provided.

In 2003 the decision was made, reluctantly, that our client would manufacture the products in house. In the period since, Bion have maintained contact and supported the client with their on-going tooling requirements.

The challenge

Early 2013 saw a breakdown at our customer’s site. As the breakdown could not be rectified quickly there was the potential of a line stop at the end user and very costly downtime and disruption. They immediately contacted Bion, asking if we could support them, and more importantly get product to them very quickly. As the client said “getting product to us yesterday would be too late!”

Typically Bion responded and rose to the challenge. Tooling was found and prepared (this had not been used for nearly ten years), the new drawings where received and thanks to Bion retaining historic documentation the best process route was quickly agreed.

The Solution

The material arrived on a Thursday afternoon and thanks to the flexible manufacturing facility at Bion, coupled with the expertise and desire of the Bion employees, several thousand components perforated in stainless steel had been manufactured and collected by lunchtime the following day. For the following month we continued to support our client, offering very short lead times when required, and supplying in excess of 65,000 components, in ten different variations.

Bion’s historic performance gave our client peace of mind during a very challenging time for them. They had complete confidence in the quality of our product. As the client supplied the material, Bion’s stable process and knowledge ensured a very high yield from their material providing a cost benefit.

The Benefit

However, due to the ability of Bion to be extremely responsive, the major benefit to our client was the avoidance of very high downtime costs that a line stoppage would have generated. They also maintained a happy customer.

Bion provided a low risk, responsive and reliable option for our client.

To find out more about how Bion can support your manufacturing by working in partnership with you please telephone 01189 592700 or e mail websales@bion.co.uk