Staying informed with BIAFD
17 June 2016
The British and Irish Association of Fastener Distributors once again demonstrated its commitment to fastener education by offering its members the chance to see hot forging, secondary operations, and inspection, first-hand – thanks to the generosity of its newest member Smith Bullough Ltd.
Held on 26th April, Tim Garton, managing director at Smith Bullough, welcomed around twenty representatives from UK fastener distributors, including TR Fastenings Ltd, STF, Rapierstar Ltd, and Phil Holden Fasteners Ltd, to the 20,000 square feet (6,000m²) premises in Wigan.
Before the factory tour, plant section managers including Barry Taylor, forging and tooling manager, provided personal presentations of the Smith Bullough process – from customer drawing to final quality inspection and despatch.
Starting in the commercial offices, the factory tour enabled visitors to see the entire operation at Smith Bullough, from the sales and technical staff taking the phone calls to the product being made. Visitors were also encouraged to ask questions throughout the tour, which highlighted Smith Bullough’s technical expertise across the entire company.
Finally, visitors were given demonstrations of Smith Bullough’s capability to critically evaluate raw materials, in process parts and finished products. In addition to hardness testing and microscopic inspection, the company has a tensile tester, ultrasound scanner to detect in material defects, plating and surface coating thickness tester, and shadow profile projector.
After the tour, Angela Coffey, special products analyst at Icon Fasteners, commented: “This was a very rare opportunity to see the hot forging process especially within the UK. It’s been a worthwhile trip and I fully recommend it to anyone within the industry. Seeing the forging process first-hand is invaluable.”
