Agile Manufacturing
Farbo Mekaniska Fagersta, SwedenFarbo Mekaniska in Fagersta is a flexible manufacturing partner providing engineering and machining for its valued customers in industries such as cutting tools, mining, steel, raw materials and forestry to name a few.
Turning and milling, including multi-axis machining, are at the company’s core. Additionally they offer wire EDM and deep hole drilling, and have operations in Mid- Sweden and Norrland. Founded in 1988, Farbo Mekaniska has grown from 4 to 34 employees and increased its turnover from 4 million SEK to 60 Million SEK. Roger Berggren, CEO, was there at the beginning and took ownership in 2005 to refocus the company for growth from existing customers and new ones.
A key efficiency that the company uses is SecoPoint, with its first installation – SmartDrawer – in 2007. “With SecoPoint, we have been able to place the tooling with the machines for operator convenience and to ensure production has what it needs when it needs it”, says Berggren. Berggren, who is a machinist by trade, knew that SecoPoint would not only provide consistency for production, but would reduce time and manpower needed for the ordering process. “This has allowed me to lead the company forward by selling our services and supporting our customers needs”, Berggren continues.
Among the many benefits the company sees with SecoPoint are reduced or optimized inventory levels, automated orders that are confirmed with a simple email, reduced administration, increased focus on production and customer needs, and the system’s ability to track usage of returnable items such a gauges which require periodic recalibration. Similarly, SecoPoint tracks items that can be reground for continued use as opposed to buying new – examples include solid carbide drills and endmills, with costs about half of a new tool. Other items that Farbo Mekaniska manages with SecoPoint include supplies, gloves, glasses and other maintenance and operational items.
Farbo Mekaniska now has three SmartDrawer cabinets in its two locations, and has plans for a fourth to support the specials department. The machines are connected via the SupplyLink making it easy to locate stock items and keep redundancy to a minimum.
