Ritchie galvanised into robots, lean production and MRP and CRM
Agricultural, industrial gas and offshore handling expert Ritchie have opened its new plant extension in Suttieside The new plant extension provides greater manufacturing capacity, reduced operating costs and five new jobs for the company, which has been trading in Forfar for over 130 years.
MD Tony Walker stressed the emphasis that Ritchie placed on developing its manufacturing processes by incorporating new techniques and investing in production equipment such as robotics.
He went on to preview plans that the company has to expand its product range by introducing a renewable energy offering. “On this site we employ almost 150 people including our joint venture galvanising plant, which is the widest in Scotland, bringing more than £12m into Angus last year,” he said.
“But what have we been doing to prepare for the future? At the same time as moving our operation onto one site we have embraced lean production techniques showing how we can make ourselves more effective by improving our working environment and removing waste from our processes and plant layouts.
"We have also installed and exploited our new computer system giving us more current and detailed information with shop floor data collection and integrated time and attendance recording. Next come MRP (Manufacturing Resource Planning), forecasting and CRM (Customer Relationship Management).”