After the takeover of Quinton Hazell by the Klarius Group in February 2010, the Group has announced that the QH water pump manufacturing plant in Colwyn Bay is responding very well to early investment made at the site. The range of new products produced at this plant is providing the group with greater coverage of the Europe car parc. Already, eight new water pump models have been added to the QH range, with a further sixteen to follow before the end of the year.
Paul Hannah, Business Development Director of the Klarius Group. ”We have already invested over £600,000 in the Colwyn Bay facility to ensure that its operations are World-class and have implemented a continuous development programme that will ensure the future of the plant as a super-lean and cost-efficient manufacturing operation. We have proved that we can compete with low-cost-economy manufacture here in Europe.”
“We are empowering our workers at Colwyn Bay; helping them to make their own decisions and training them extensively in lean manufacturing techniques, some of which are quite simple, but can make major improvements to both the quality and quantity of production from the QH plant.”
Manufacturing is just one of the fronts upon which Quinton Hazell is now moving forward, since becoming a member of the Klarius Group of companies. QH is also advancing in terms of international sales, distribution and R&D. As regards R&D, the Colwyn Bay plant is playing a major role as the group centre for design, test and manufacture of water pumps and related engine ancillary equipment for the automotive market.
Working both for volume OE manufacturers, such as Volvo, Nissan and GM; and prestige brands such as Land Rover Jaguar and Aston Martin, QH’s Colwyn Bay plant supplies volume parts for new car production as well as replacement parts for a huge range of vehicles on the road today; many of which were fitted with QH parts as original equipment.
The entire life-cycle of the product is taken care of at the Colwyn Bay facility: the process starting with an original design concept, moving to product performance development and rigorous long-term durability testing. Once a design has been signed-off either internally or by the manufacturer then it can go into full production without leaving the site.
“The production process starts with ingots of high grade aluminium and finishes with a complete, boxed and tested product - ready for distribution to anywhere in the world,” said David Lewis, Head of Site Operations at Colwyn Bay. “What is more, the Colwyn Bay plant stays in control of quality and production volumes at every step of the process, thanks to comprehensive facilities, which even include its own smelting and casting plant.”
The benefit to customers of maintaining a UK manufacturing base and keeping the entire production cycle in-house is continuity of supply and guaranteed quality. Transport and other issues that can easily disrupt product supply from Asia do not cause the same problems for UK manufacturing. The rigorous quality and testing standards that must be met for OE manufacturers are also applied to every aftermarket product produced, so quality is guaranteed throughout the product range. Local stocking combined with in house production and test also provides flexibility – allowing customer orders to be met on extremely short deadlines, passing on flexibility and cost advantages to customers.
About the QH brand
Quinton Hazell (QH) is a Klarius Group brand covering a wide range of OE and Aftermarket automotive parts. The Klarius Group is the fastest growing automotive aftermarket manufacturing and supply business in the world today. The Klarius Group operates seven high-volume Manufacturing Plants, a Research & Development Centre, four European Technical Centres, eight International Logistics & Distribution Hubs, and eighteen national and regional Stock Warehouses. Klarius Group Headquarters are located in Manchester (UK).
The two current major market brands within the Klarius Group are Klarius Emission Control Products and Quinton Hazell Automotive. Both the QH and Klarius product brands represent a range of high-quality replacement and OE automotive products. Klarius Group companies now offer over 100,000 parts, covering the majority of the European Car Parc, supplying over 80,000 parts every day, to over 5,000 delivery points in more than 136 countries.
Editor Contact
DMA Europa Ltd : Roland Renshaw
Tel: +44 (0) 1299 405454 Fax: +44 (0) 1200 403092
Web: www.dmaeuropa.com
Email: roland@dmaeuropa.com
Company Contact
Quinton Hazell Automotive : Véronique Auger
Tel: +44 (0)1455 899 200 Fax: +44 (0)1455 899 201
Web: www.qh.com
Email: Veronique.Auger@Klarius.EU