Diversifying through Covid-19
Denny Bros Engineering is a family owned business, part of the Denny Bros Group and has been manufacturing Fix-a-Form® leaflet label machinery since 1982. We have an international reputation for our bespoke machines made here at our headquarters in Bury St Edmunds, which are shipped all around the globe.
Due to the nature of our industry and the fact that our engineers have to travel abroad to install the machinery, coronavirus halted our plans for 2020. We had planned exhibiting at a leading trade show in the label world in Chicago, which was out of the question. All plans of engineers travelling to make amendments or servicing to machines had to be cancelled. Where possible, staff worked from home. I was lucky to be able to do this, which has seen its own challenges but has generally worked very well.
Ever the optimist amidst a global pandemic, I started to think of other industry sectors we could help out whilst we were technically all ‘grounded’. I saw on the local news that local firm Meditech, in Halstead, who manufacture medical equipment, were switching their production lines to help make ventilators. I contacted Meditech to see if there was anything we could do to help with the demand. They placed an order for ‘Entonox demand valves’ so we stopped the manufacturing of our parts and switched production. The parts were produced and delivered all within a few days. Our work tends to be one off parts or low quantity runs, and our engineers are accustomed to working to very fine tolerances. Meditech were pleased with the work and gave special thanks to our engineers who produced them. We have completed subsequent orders for Meditech since and have now produced over 1200 demand valves for them.
Looking at the global pandemic from the labels perspective also, I created a white paper on the effects Covid-19 has had on the label printing industry. You can download the white paper for free via this link – https://fix-a-form.com/covid-19/
Luckily, we are in a position to be able to switch production and prioritise new work at short notice at the moment, meaning parts can generally be ordered and produced within days rather than weeks. Our team at Denny Bros Engineering have worked throughout the pandemic and it is pleasing that in these difficult times we are able to use our machining capability to help sectors with an increased demand.
If you require any parts manufactured, or would like any further information on the services we offer, get in touch.