Thursday October 18th, 2012
Great customer service and reliable products lead to long term customer loyalty
AmegA Sciences has just invested in a complete new Masterfil filling and capping line from Adelphi, fifteen years after purchasing its first Masterfil liquid filling machine. Mick Skinner is the Works Manager at AmegA Sciences and here he explains a little about his employer, the decision to place repeat business with Adelphi, and the end result of the latest installment in their long running relationship.
Mick, so what does AmegA Sciences do?
AmegA started life in 1984 and our products provide effective solutions to complex problems in the amenity, agricultural, horticultural and forestry markets. Basically we develop and manufacture a range of agrochemical products that are available as both branded and own label products and can be found all over the World.
What initially drew you to Masterfil?
We bought our first liquid filling line from Masterfil over fifteen years ago having looked in great detail at a long list of alternatives. The Masterfil offering just seemed to strike the right balance between cost and quality, and it was an added comfort to know that they were just a few hours down the road should we ever have needed them, not that we ever have. The line has by no means had an easy life, and the fact that it is still running reliably today is a testament to the engineering, and build quality that we picked up on all those years ago.
Why have you always gone back to Masterfil for further lines?
The accuracy and reliability of our first line made the decision to buy our second line much easier. We knew from experience the improvements in efficiency we could expect, and so the ROI calculations were relatively simple to calculate, and were very accurate. AmegA had also grown to value the high quality of spares and service backup, and we rightly felt that the savings we gained from this more than offset the higher purchase cost.
Since line two was installed, no other supplier has really come close to taking our business. All departments at AmegA are very happy with the relationship that we have with Adelphi, and the three lines we have bought from them have caused us no significant problems at all.
OK so tell us a little more about this latest purchase.
Thanks to an unexpected jump in orders we required quite a sizeable increase in capacity, and needed it extremely quickly. With orders backing up it was imperative that we got production up and running by a deadline that was fast approaching. Adelphi have proved themselves reliable at meeting their quoted delivery dates in the past, and for this project, timings were key.
The line was duly delivered as promised and the installation by Adelphi’s engineers went smoothly. All our container sizes (from 1 litre to 10 litres) were being filled and capped within tolerance, and so we found ourselves running at full production speeds within about half an hour of the line being signed off. Since then we have actually found that the line will run at a higher speed to that which we requested. In our industry we often have to get product out of the door with as little as 24 hours notice, so every extra bit of production capacity is gratefully received!
And finally, what does the future hold for AmegA?
Well who knows? All we can do is use history to give us a clue, and it suggests continued steady growth. However we have learned that even with the best sales forecasting it is still possible to be caught by surprise, and so we have already placed the order for our next line from Adelphi.
However, in this case Adelphi have agreed to hold stock of all long lead-time components specifically for our order. Doing so will enable them to shave about six weeks off their delivery time when we need to ‘push the button’ on the order. This is one of the many benefits we have realised by aiming to develop long term relationships with our suppliers, and perhaps paying that little bit extra to work with companies like Adelphi that you can rely on to keep your best interests at heart.
