Grinders
AC Bacon, a specialist in steel structures and steel framed buildings recently collaborated with FEIN to strengthen and streamline their processes.
About the Company
AC Bacon are a Norfolk-based company manufacturer, specialising in steel structures and steel framed buildings in the agricultural, commercial & industrial use across East Anglia and beyond. The company have their own extensive in-house production workshop, and provide bespoke solutions as well as standard structural steelwork, whatever the nature or size of your project.
The Challenge
The company employ between 25-20 operators at their in-house production facility based in Norfolk, to produce high-quality structural steel beams, using a number of applications including cutting and grinding down welds and beams, edging beams and cutting the flanges on beams.
Operators were using a mix of different grinders from different manufacturers made of 4.5inch grinders and 9 inch grinders and were finding that the current grinders they were using were not as effective as they could be, due to a combination of durability and time, for the applications they were performing. As such, this was leading to the company not being as efficient and performing as well as they wanted, and their grinder abrasives were not lasting as long as they expected. The company’s operators were also having to work harder and for longer hours to achieve the same expected daily output.
FEIN’s solution
Our technical expert Gavin, partnered up with one Rob Yaxley, who works for one of our premium partners United Welding, and paid a joint visit to the company to gain an understanding into the daily use of the tools within the business and the applications they were performing. It was during this visit, that Gavin & Rob connected with AC Bacon’s workshop manager Steve Campbell and General Manager Matthew Howard, and after gaining a thorough understanding of the business’s needs, they recommended FEIN’s CG 15 Grinder combined with new abrasives.
The CG 15 Grinder, boasts a fully enclosed brushless FEIN Powerdrive Motor, to protect from dust. It also allows for up to 2.5x more removal compared to a universal angle grinder thanks to the higher efficiency of the EC system. The CG 15 is also a lot more operator friendly and includes a variety of safety features including such as a 0.2 second brake feature, overload protection and kickback monitoring.
Benefits
Thanks to the new package carefully recommended by both FEIN & United Welding, AC Bacon were able to considerably improve operator handling and safety and efficiency within the business. Benefits include:
- A number of the operators could remove the 9 inch grinder for certain grinding applications within the business and instead perform these applications with the 5 inch CG 15 grinder. This meant they were using a lighter grinder, for longer, and with less fatigue to the operator which allowed for better efficiency and for a better balance between productivity and safety for the operator
- Operators using the new CG 15 package did not need to push as hard with the new grinders due to the rotational speed of the CG 15
- Swapping out the 4.5 inch grinders they were using previously for the CG 15 allowed for a smooth and higher stock removal
- Less vibration and reduction in Havs meant operators could use the product for longer
- The CG 15 grinder was able to take the strain off the operator which allowed for increased operator comfort and ease to handle
- Improved service life of abrasives – the abrasive discs were lasting longer and with fewer switchover of discs drastically improving efficiency
Speaking about the partnership, our technical expert Gavin said: ‘It’s great to be taken into an end user like AC Bacon who really appreciated why we were interested in their applications and really understood what we as a company were trying to do rather than being treated like any other power tool company. AC Bacon were so receptive to why I was there and how I could help them. They were also keen to not only improve efficiency but understood that they were making an investment in their operators. It’s great to work with companies like AC Bacon who invest in their employees and their processes rather than just thinking about the bottom line’.
Rob Yaxley, of United Welding, added: ‘We have a very strong relationship with FEIN and they are our preferred metalworking power tool suppliers. Our connection with FEIN, and in particular with Gavin, meant it was an easy decision to partner up with them and visit AC Bacon, one of our long-standing customers. We could see how visiting AC Bacon would mean they would benefit from not only FEIN products, but also Gavin’s knowledge and expertise which was evident when we did a second site visit to AC Bacon and did a tool talk with the operators at AC Bacon. We are keen to continue this relationship with FEIN and do more joint visits in the future’.
ABOUT UNITED WELDING
United Welding Supplies was formed in 1985 in Hitchin Hertfordshire (UK) where the head office remains today. Expansion over the years has lead to further branches, Norwich in 1989 and Peterborough in 1996. Today, United Welding Supplies Ltd employs over 40 members of staff consisting of sales personnel, service engineers, distribution and administration staff. Through supporting business at every step of the supply chain, they have developed into one of the UK’s leading industrial suppliers.