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a bit of an innovation

Denney Equestrian Ltd (run by Bronze medal winning pony driver Sue Denney and her partner Simon Willis) approached Dean Group International to look at putting their new innovative Dual Action Bit into production.

Simon Willis, owner of Denney Equestrian says "We knew we had a good product from our own results and through 2 years of trials in all equestrian disciplines - our problem was: How can we produce it in large volumes at a competitive price?"

"After looking at numerous fabrication methods we decided that investment casting was the only option to ensure our products where commercially viable. This was a completely new field for us having no contacts in the highly specialized area of stainless steel casting. A search on the internet came up with Dean Group International, formerly Manchester Investment castings. A few emails and sketches later a meeting was arranged at their foundry in Irlam. Being a family run business like ours made the visit relaxed and friendly. After looking at our products and discussing the procedure and production methods involved, we went home confident that we were asking the right people to undertake the difficult task. Our range is available in 7 different types and a large number of sizes within those types. There will be around 30 different variants when the whole range is completed this year.

The sketches and notes, when supplied for reference, are then put into the hands of the design team and very quickly turned into excellent 3d drawings. These are so good we asked for them to be supplied at different angles and we now use these for our promotional leaflets. Whilst undergoing design, each casting was put through a simulation process to predict any faults that are likely, the design team then discussed ways to correct these faults. This stage of the design process was invaluable due to our own strict safety polices; we deal with an unforgiving public where a failure of a component can cause problems in the confidence of our products. Obviously there are also the financial benefits of getting the design right first time."

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"Once designs had been approved the next step was the all important question of, How much will each one cost?"

"Compared to a fabrication the savings are massive. In our case, if we had to fabricate then we wouldn't be able to produce our products, its as simple as that. The option for having your castings produced abroad is also catered for should you need to get your costs down, however I would agree with Dean group international's recommendation to at least have the design and prototyping dealt with in the UK. No matter how right you think you have your design, inevitably it will need tweaking. It is much easier to do a modification with a few phone calls than deal with a company thousands of miles away on different time zones."

"An example of this was when our first samples arrived. On assembly a small problem occurred with a component binding, a bit of tinkering on the milling machine showed the way to go. After a brief discussion with Bernard (cad designer) a tooling modification was made that completely eliminated the problem. The standard of parts is excellent; mirror finished all over, holes taped, drilled or reamed and ready for assembly, which itself had no problems. All the parts are extremely accurate and required very little preparation before assembly which saves us time and money. The rest of our range is in the final stages of production, including the complicated jointed bits that will only work if the parts are manufactured to exacting standards. We are also undergoing discussions to enable Dean Group International to undertake the entire production process from casting to final assembly."

"I have no hesitation in recommending Dean Group International. If your products need high quality investment castings at an affordable price - you have found the right company here."

Posted: Wednesday 11th April 2007