Nearly five years since injection moulder Thornbury Manufacturing (TML) gained its ISO 13485 qualification, TML founder and director Dick Walsh says that attaining the standard has been one of the most valuable achievements of the business to date.
“A good percentage of TML’s manufacturing output is located in the growing medical and dental markets. There is no doubt that gaining ISO 13485 has helped focus and project our general excellence in technical moulding to the right kind of medical and dental purchasers and specifiers.”
Helped by success in medical and dental areas TML says it has outpaced the revival in the UK’s SME manufacturing performance over the past three to four years with double digit growth posted for the business over that time. Investment in new Battenfeld injection moulding machinery and other equipment has also helped TML to raise its production volumes in recent months.
“We value our partnership with Wittmann Battenfeld UK,” notes Walsh. “Our customers and clients expect continuous and fault free engineering and production from TML – and these are the qualities that we find mirrored in our growing fleet of Battenfeld injection moulding machines.”
To achieve ISO 13485, TML built upon the existing design and manufacture capabilities already encapsulated in its ISO 9001 standard, the business having been certified in this manner since January 1997. Walsh notes that the ISO 9001 standard was ‘a helpful pre-requisite for ISO 13485; since the disciplines for a clean, quality assured mould shop had been long established before we went further and took the plunge into ISO 13485; adding further processes to guarantee safe and capable product management.’
TML is located in the UK’s South West in the Plymouth area and was founded nearly twenty years ago in order to match ongoing growth in technical trade moulding. The business has grown from strength to strength since and now employs some 30 people operating on a site footprint of nearly 20,000 sq feet.
Medical device manufacturing will continue to be a key part of the TML business. All TML’s measuring equipment is calibrated and recorded and SPC and AQL checks are also carried out as requested by TML’s customers.
Energy saving measures and green initiatives are also a key part of TML’s successful modus operandi. The company has worked successfully with the Carbon Trust in commissioning equipment to reduce energy cost and a recent LED lighting programme has also reduced energy outgoings in that area by some 400%.