A nose for a good idea
IN A FIRST for face mask production, UK engineering specialist Brandauer is aiming to help secure global PPE supplies with a machine that ramps up production of a key component.
Nose clips, the flexible wires and strips inserted into masks to ensure the shape holds and they fit securely, already form part of the metals pressing and stamping expert’s output.
Now the Birmingham company’s new Quick Clip Tool is set to boost manufacturing from 24 million to 100 million annually, thanks to a changeover capability.
This means clips can be developed in materials such as aluminium and steel and produced in various widths, thicknesses and lengths for the masks, many of which will be reuseable.
The project, due for completion this autumn, will transform supplies to existing customers and open up capacity to other clients.
From Friday people will be obliged to wear masks in shops and supermarkets, as covering up becomes a day-to-day essential and demand rockets.
The shareholder-owned firm has been able to pursue its groundbreaking development thanks to a £50,000 grant, one of the first awarded by the Government through its
Innovate UK competition, which called on businesses to devise solutions to counter Covid-19 disruption. “Demand is up four fold since April. We knew what was required, but needed the extra capability,” chief executive Rowan Crozier, below, says. “Getting the grant money quickly and up front has been invaluable in supporting prototyping, testing and manufacture.”
The company, founded in 1862, first made its mark in British manufacturing producing pen nibs. Renowned as the invisible tour-de-force behind the small things that make bigger ones work, Brandauer ingenuity helps power 90 per cent of the world’s kettles, and 50 per cent of modern day cars feature its connectors that dim glare into rear view mirrors. A steady £1m annual investment into new equipment has paid off for the business that is part of Midlands collective the Manufacturing Assembly Network (MAN) and an £11 million turnover is forecast for 2025.
Last year it scooped the Queen’s Award for international trade and its diversity from sales to 22 countries and in 11 different sectors, from automotive and plumbing to electronics and healthcare, has proved a valuable buffer during the latest turmoil.
With a team of around 49 focused on a creative and strategic response to the pandemic, Brandauer has taken paths it might never otherwise have explored, explains Crozier, citing the move into direct retail with an eBay shop selling nose clips for people running up their own masks and notouch keys for using cash machines or pushing open doors.
“There will be bumpy times ahead, not least with the added demands of Brexit,” he says. “But it is time that British engineering took more of the limelight.”