Kewder Engineering

At Kewder Engineering in the northern Melbourne suburb of Heidelberg, improvement in product quality has been a key part of the business's strategic competitive advantage, according to owner, founder and inspirational leader Gerry Warrington.

After starting the business in 1989, only nine years after arriving from Scotland as a toolmaker, Gerry Warrington through hard work, dedication, and a focus on excellence in customer service was able to develop an iconic engineering business that now employs over 50 staff.

The CNC machine shop founded by Gerry employs the latest technology available to ensure their customers achieve the product outcomes that they require - on-time, on-budget and right first time / every time.

By investing millions of dollars into the latest 5-axis CNC machines and understanding the needs of the local market Kewder has not only be able to compete against low-cost imports but excel - by offering short-runs, large size machined components, to customers specifications, at a value for money price.

ISO 9002 quality systems accreditation has always been a key objective for the business and the achievement of the accreditation in 1998 was a major milestone, but new market opportunities demanded not only strong quality systems, but also the equipment necessary to assure product quality.   This meant moving into the adoption of automatic coordinate measuring machine (CMM) technology.

Kewder had previously adopted CMM technology with the acquisition of a FARO Gage in October 2007 from Hi-Tech Metrology, but a new quality challenge from a new prospective client called for accurate measurement of runs of complex components, and again Kewder turned to Hi-Tech for advice.

On this occasion a Brown & Sharpe Global 7.10.7 CMM was selected and after installation and initial training by Hi-Tech Metrology, the fully automatic CMM has now started producing quantifiable improvements in product quality and conformance.   Contracts were awarded from the new client, and the client has the necessary confidence and the certainty that components machined and delivered by Kewder Engineering will meet their stringent world-class requirements.

Owner Gerry Warrington says of Hi-Tech Metrology .."Their service is first-class, with no problem too small to handle, and the team is always approachable and ready with the answers when we need them.   Hi-Tech's knowledge of the PC-DMIS software is fantastic, and with this knowledge we can produce the quality reports and documentary evidence to satisfy our most fastidious clients."

Kewder Engineering sees a bright future for the business with their metrology equipment acquisitions forming a key part in their continuous improvement processes.   According to Gerry Warrington, we see our business moving into new markets with new niche products and equipment such as the Brown & Sharpe CMM and the FARO Gage will help us succeed with these strategies - helping us deliver quality outcomes for all of our customers.