The US bandsaw blade manufacturer, LENOX®, which has been supplying its products to manufacturing companies in Britain and Ireland for more than 25 years, has for the first time opened a production facility in the UK. The new centre started operations in Lichfield, Staffordshire, on 6th April 2009.
Until then, all LENOX® bandsaw blades supplied into the UK and the Republic of Ireland were cut to length and welded at the company’s European distribution centre in Helmond, Netherlands. The former lead-time of 8 to 10 days has been cut dramatically to 3 days for the standard service from Lichfield.
Said Tom Clibbery, Regional Sales Manager, LENOX® Bandsaw Division, “There is no doubt that the previous delivery times were deterring some firms from buying our bandsaw blades.
“A few specialist distributors and saw doctors have their own welding facilities and hold stocks of our blades in coil form. So they were, and still are, able to respond quickly. However, some of our distributors do not have that capability and relied on supplies from The Netherlands.
“The problem was that, particularly with the recession, customers are unwilling to hold more stock than is absolutely necessary and are demanding fast, just-in-time delivery of bandsaw blades.
“Now we are able to offer rapid delivery directly from our new facility in the Midlands.”
There is more competition in the bandsaw blade business in the UK than practically anywhere else in the world, with many imports from Germany, Italy, the US and the Far East.
Commented Lee Bairstow, LENOX®‘Regional Marketing Manager, “With fierce competition from both within and outside the UK, adding value to the product and high levels of customer service are crucial to success.
“It is therefore the policy of LENOX® to get closer to customers by establishing blade welding centres in more and more markets, of which the UK is the latest.”
Among the customer-facing initiatives that the company employs to add value to its service is the offer of a free bandsaw machine tune-up, focussing on the blade, band wheels, drive, guides, clamps and hydraulics. A total of 13 key areas of the machine’s operation are tested to ensure that the blade runs as straight, fast and smoothly as possible.
Other services that LENOX® offers, apart from the usual training and service, include SAWCALC software to optimise sawing parameters for each new job, taking into account the specifications of the machine, blade and material; and a guaranteed trial order, whereby a customer takes LENOX® blades on test and does not have to pay for them unless they outperform the user’s existing blade in terms of cost per cut.
The full LENOX®‘bandsaw blade range comprising more than 500 SKUs (stock keeping units) will be serviced from Lichfield. Around 90 per cent of blades are destined for the metal cutting market, with the remainder going into the woodworking industry.
The LENOX® welding centre at Lichfield is housed in part of an enormous warehousing and distribution facility operated by parent group, Newell Rubbermaid™, which owns such household names as Parker, Waterman and Paper Mate pens, Demo labelling systems, Calphalon cookware and Irwin tools.
All LENOX® bandsaw blades are manufactured to customer order from high quality, ISO 9001:2000 certified coil produced in the USA and shipped to Lichfield. The bi-metal and tungsten-carbide-tipped stock, both coated and uncoated, ranges from 12.7 to 80 mm in width.
Cutting a coil to length and then joining the ends to produce a blade of the right length for a particular bandsaw is a demanding process that requires significant investment in machinery and skilled staff. In the unlikely event of a blade failing in service at the point of welding, it is automatically replaced by LENOX®
