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April 17, 2020 02:10 PM

Pushing ahead: AutoRIM drives KM’s UK growth

Simon Robinson
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    As one door closes, another opens, as the saying goes, and that certainly seems to be the case at AutoRIM. For a long time, it was Hennecke’s representative in the UK. Now, after switching principal, it plans to help KraussMaffei expand into the stand-alone machine market in the UK and Ireland. Simon Robinson takes a look.

    Changing principals needs a change of gears. And fortunately, the time that it took for AutoRIM to separate itself from Hennecke in 2019 gave the small UK company time to think about how it should approach the future.

    ‘We asked ourselves, what do customers want?’ said Philip Hindson, AutoRIM’s CEO. ‘If we looked at the business with new eyes, would we buy all our components from one source? No, we would buy products from specialists in their field, and put a product portfolio together.’

    Hindson chose to take the portfolio approach for his continuing business. As a result, the new-look AutoRIM> has agreements that enable it to design, build and supply new equipment, and also to repair existing installations.

     

    Grow the portfolio

    KraussMaffei is the most high profile plank of the new business. ‘It appealed as a high-pressure machinery maker, and I have known KM’s staff in the UK for many years as courteous competitors,’ he said.

    Hindson

     

    KM does not make low-pressure machinery, however, which is a key business segment for AutoRIM.

    ‘They have good market penetration in the UK, but they are not very active in the start-up or panel insulation markets, which are key markets for us,’ he said. ‘They are very big in automotive and composites. The vision was that we could become a 'KraussMaffei lite' offering a more personal service from a big multinational.’

    Michael Bate, KraussMaffei Group’s UK managing director, explained how the companies will work together in the future. ‘AutoRim will handle our white goods and insulation business sectors, while we are responsible for automotive and composites business group,’ he said.

    He added that KraussMaffei is known for large, complicated machines. ‘People don’t always recognise that we can produce competitive stand-alone machines through to fully integrated plants,’ he added. ‘We want to be involved in the smaller and medium sized part of the market. We have a wealth of experience, so we will be able to support customers better.’

     

    Direct line

    Hindson added that AutoRIM is now a distributor for Krauss Maffei GmbH Germany. ‘If you are a distributor, then the on-going maintenance is your prerogative,’ he said. ‘You buy the machine; you are the transfer owner of the machine. You support the equipment.’

    Bate

    He explained that his company is now a distributor for stand-alone high-pressure machines and plant for the insulation and refrigeration industries, as well as the stand-alone machine market. ‘We refer larger enquiries and automotive and composite enquiries to KM,’ he said. ‘We look after the middle end of the market, and they look after the bigger end of the market.’

    Stephen Lambert, KM’s RPM business manager in the UK, explained that his company is principally perceived as being automotive-biased. ‘We get enquiries from other market sectors, and look after them equally as well as the multi-nationals,’ he claimed. ‘AutoRIM has greater exposure in other sectors; they can develop that market. The agreement will benefit them and us with machine sales and after service sales. It is not just about machines: it’s pumps and mix head repairs for potential customers.’

     

    Open doorway

    KM’s Bate believes that there is a good fit between Hindson’s business and KM’s strategy in the UK. ‘He was in a market area and we were not,’ he said. ‘Rather than trying to break into the market, we found an entrance. He is a partner with KM Germany for machinery, and we will work to support him. He has a direct link into Munich.’

    Lambert

    Hindson said the added value for AutoRIM comes from integrating the different parts of the system together. ‘KM has good purchasing power. We can source about 70% of the components for our low-pressure Rim-Mix machines locally. The parts we can’t get locally we have asked KM to source. We place orders for pumps, pressure gauges and Siemens controllers, for example. KM is buying these in considerable bulk, and we get some of their savings when the parts are sold on to us. It is a win-win.’

    Pumps, for example, are an unglamorous yet vital part of the polyurethane machinery ecosystem. ‘The PU industry has, historically, relied on the RexrothA2VK high pressure piston pump,’ Hindson said. ‘The manufacturer changed the design and stopped production of the original. This was a big problem for the industry because, although there was a work-around, it was not straightforward. KM has bought the rights to make the original design of pump and improved on it, and introduced the option of an integrated magnetic coupling. The new HPP pumps are supplied by AutoRIM, and can be retrofitted directly onto any make of machine.’

     

    Train for success

    Maintaining and replacing parts like pumps will be a key part of AutoRIM’s relationship with KM, Hindson added. ‘The combined technical support services of KM and AutoRIM< are several times bigger than other people in the UK,’ he said. ‘We have six fully trained engineers at AutoRIM. It can take up to five years to train a technical service engineer. Both Polytec EMC [see box] and KM saw that we were a business with good support engineers who had been through the ranks and know their stuff.’

    Technical service engineers are one route that AutoRIM hopes will lead to a growing business for itself, KM and Polytec. ‘You can’t grow without the people to build the machines and install them,’ he said.

    The order book is looking good, which he believes shows the approach is working. ‘In a relatively short period of time we went from having one partner to having several, enabling ourselves to keep our British identity,’ he said. ‘That’s very important.’

    While all the relationships are important to AutoRIM, the tie up with Krauss Maffei could prove pivotal in bringing state-of-the-art mixing technology to a wider audience.

    KM’s Bate added that Stephen Lambert is responsible for sales and project management, and there is also an after-sales team in the UK, plus support from Munich. ‘Stephen has his team and AutoRIM,’ he said. ‘Each can tap into their respective teams for help. We, effectively, have a joint support team of about 15 people in the UK. It is all about trying to support the customers.’

     

    Technically correct

    KM wants to diversify into the broader PU market. AutoRIM’s access to the UK market through its technical staff could be helpful. ‘Our vision for the future has changed,’ Hindson said. ‘In our previous life, it was focused on new machine sales, but customers are increasingly asking for support with their existing machines until they are ready to change. Maintenance is so important. For me it is the way to go.’

    Customers ask for machines to be modified or upgraded for new projects, he added. ‘Service and retrofits to old machines, or a new mix head or pumps can be a very cost effective and rapid solution to a problem,’ he said. ‘A well-staffed technical department could be a big competitive advantage in the UK and Ireland. We plan to increase our headcount and train more engineers.’

    Hindson added that KM have asked them to take a serious look at assembling their machines in the UK. ‘We will buy parts and assemble under license in the UK in Whaley Bridge, probably from the fourth quarter,’ he said. ‘We already have machines here and in KM Warrington to show people. There’s room for us to be a lot bigger than we are.’

     

    Other parts of the picture

    AutoRIM also works in partnership with Padova, Italy-based CAMI. Hindson describes it as a ‘beautiful’ Italian engineering company. ‘With their help, there is nothing, regardless of brand, we can’t repair,’ he said.

    The next partnering was with Polytec EMC, a machinery company specialising in multi-component and high temperature elastomer processing. Hindson says that, like KM, this company is keen to grow in the UK.

    Hindson also signed an agreement with H&S Anlagentechnik to offer chemical bulk storage systems. Euroklimat industrial water chillers round out the portfolio.

    Hindson explained that within his company’s portfolio, AutoPress manufacture panel production equipment in Birmingham, UK. Design, meanwhile, is done in Whaley Bridge, and they can integrate mixing and sandwich panel technology to supply integrated discontinuous panel production lines.

    ‘If you are a bigger consumer or want to reduce waste, you would consider a chemical storage system together with a high- or low-pressure mixing machine and a panel press to go with it,’ he said. ‘We try to put together the right package of equipment so that customers can come to one source. We look at people’s requirements in an integrated way.’

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