When leading heating controller manufacturer Overmarcon Energy decided to re-engineer
its range of fuel saving controllers for industrial, commercial and retail customers, the company looked closely at
its options for the project.
Overmarcon acts as energy consultants for a broad range of customers throughout
the UK and the company's expertise lies in identifying measures that such customers can take to reduce their fuel bills.
Solutions may include the installation of new energy saving equipment such as condensing
boilers and other fuel efficient systems.
Production facilities and their attendant overheads are generally not required
by Overmarcon and the decision was made to outsource the hardware and software design for the controller along with the manufacturing
requirements.
Having looked at a number of possible companies, Overmarcon selected customAssembly
as its preferred supplier.
Engineers at customAssembly worked closely with Overmarcon and took the product
from concept, through prototyping and into production.
A suitable enclosure was identified and a polycarbonate
fascia designed.
The Overmarcon specification was translated into a hardware design using embedded
control and the circuit boards were designed.
Overmarcon's controller is designed so that a variety of different products can
be configured from a common base unit.
These share a single PCB design with different software used to
deliver a range of personalities suited to controlling a variety of
different equipment.
This includes indirect fired warm air, boiler, radiant tube, warm air curtain and
air conditioning systems.
All aspects of production have been taken on at customAssembly, from sourcing of components,
PCB assembly, test and calibration right through to finishing and final assembly.
Delivery direct to the installation engineers can be arranged where required so
that Overmarcon does not always need to be involved in the distribution of its own product.
There are a number of clear benefits for Overmarcon in outsourcing its production
to customAssembly. One of the principal gains is due to the fact that Overmarcon targets key accounts who place large orders
with the result that demand for production can fluctuate unevenly.
Because Overmarcon carries no manufacturing overheads, the company has total flexibility
in production quantities. In addition, Overmarcon can devote all its energies to its core activities of design, sales and
marketing.
With the flexibility of customAssembly, clients like Overmarcon can look forward
to a prosperous future without having the burdensome overheads associated with maintaining an in-house manufacturing facility.
Based
in Oxfordshire, customAssembly is a new electronic and mechanical assembly service, established to complement the activities
of Bafbox (custom enclosures) and customKeypads membrane keypads). customAssembly offers a cost-effective and flexible service to companies like Overmarcon looking to outsource manufacturing.
Set
up to respond quickly to customer requests and comfortable with volumes from prototype quantities to full production runs
into the thousands, customAssembly offers the same levels of customer service and quality for which Bafbox and customKeypads
are renowned.
With many OEMs finding product life-cycles shortening, along with ever increasing demands for more
flexibility from customers, the benefits of out-sourcing production such as reduced operating costs, freeing up of capital
and greater flexibility become clearer.
It also enables OEMs to concentrate on their core activities of design, sales and
marketing.
"Like Overmarcon, more and more of our customers are approaching us with requests
to handle their production needs,"
commented David Thompson of Bafbox, "and the time is right to use our experience
in the custom electronics industry to offer these services to existing and new customers alike."
He continued, "The combination of our 14 years of expertise in fabricating custom
plastic enclosures for low to medium volume production runs with our recently launched custom membrane keypads operation has
naturally led us to taking on full custom assembly and manufacturing operations.
There is clear evidence that, for companies like Overmarcon who require perhaps
a few thousand units per year, the benefits of outsourcing their manufacturing operations far outweigh any possible advantages
that an in-house facility might bring."
"Flexibility is the key element of the customAssembly strategy. Being able to turnaround
a customer's manufacturing requirements quickly and cost-effectively has always been the highest priority for Bafbox and will
continue to be so in all our operations." he concluded.
The range of services offered by customAssembly encompasses prototyping, inspection,
assembly, test, calibration, PCB and cables and harnesses. Customers requiring more information can visit the company's keypad website.
For more information, please contact: Ian Watson, customDesignTechnologies Limited,
Greatworth Park, Greatworth, Banbury, Oxfordshire OX17 2HB. Tel: 01295 762100,
Fax: 01295 768888.
Press enquiries to: Tim Jennings, Marshall Jennings PR Limited, Wyvols Court, Swallowfield,
Reading, Berkshire, RG7 1WY. Tel: 0118 988 0288, Fax: 0118 988 0388.
