Home: December - January 2009 › Going from strength to strength

Going from strength to strength

Going from strength to strength

01/01/2009 | Channel: Business Improvement, Infrastructure

Weld-A-Rail, founded by managing director Kevin McKeown in 1998, specialises in the field of aluminothermic welding. The original two-man operation has grown rapidly and now comprises a fleet of 17 fully equipped welding vehicles

Weld-A-Rail was formed to provide professionally managed and comprehensive track-welding services to the rail industry. Following accreditation to BS EN ISO 9001:2000 in January 2005 the company has gone from strength to strength through:
  • Customer focus – Weld-A-Rail has a proactive, well-developed method for identifying the customers’ needs and expectations: Quality Management
  • Performance – Weld-A-Rail monitors performance of all employees engaged in the delivery of a track welding service through a specially designed database. Continous improvement is a theme that runs throughout the company
  • Maintenance – to ensure continuing process capability, a scheduled programme of servicing/maintenance is operational within the company
  • Service support – Weld-A-Rail operates provides service support for a period up to one year, with a response time of 8-24 hours with no geographical limits.
Because the company recognises that people are its most valuable asset, the management team has developed and implemented a training & competence management system – called ‘Auto Alert’ – based on:
  • Selection of the right people
  • Training of those selected
  • Assessment of those who have been trained
  • Authorisation of those who have been assessed as competent
The benefits resulting from the adoption of this approach to competency management include:
  • Enhanced organisational and individual performance
  • Improved employee and team productivity
  • Increased employee retention through personal job satisfaction

All operational staff responsible for providing aluminothermic & arc welding service have the following qualifications:
  • Personal Track Safety Certification
  • TW5 & RT3 Welding
  • Powered Plant Proficiency: disc cutter; needle gun; angle grinder; tensors (stressing kit); rail profile grinder; generators; weld shear
  • Manual handling l Fire safety
  • First Aid at Work l Alignment aids
Quality Management
'Harnessing the commitment of everybody to continually satisfy the customer's needs and expectations at the lowest internal cost'

'If you always do what you've always done then you'll always get what you've always got' is not a phrase that the company wishes to be associated with - it is the epitaph of a company going nowhere.

Weld-A-Rail found it was spending between 20 per cent and 95 percent of time on unproductive activities such as:

  • Errors that need correcting
  • Examining other people's work for correctness
  • Rectification and re-work of items found to be incorrect
As a consequence, it was decided that a company-wide Quality Management Programme would be introduced, involving everyone from the top down. Everyone has to work towards a policy of 'right first time' in order to improve the overall performance of the company. However, improvement is a continuous process and only be meeting our customers needs and expectations will we thrive and stay ahead of the competition.

Documentation
The company's operatives undertake a visual inspection of all completed welds in accordance with NR/SP/TRK/032 Joining of Rails by Auminothermic Welding; a record WQF3057 Weld Installation Sheet is maintained and completed in accordance with WQF3071  Weld Installation Sheet Instructions for all completed welds, with a copy being forwarded to the customer within five working days of the weld being cast. Records are maintained by Weld-A-Rail of all completed welds to facilitate complete traceability. Should a Customer Rejection Report be recieved, the company will undertake any corrective action in accordance with WQP102 Conteol of Corrective and Preventative Action.

Accreditation
Weld-A-Rail is BS EN ISO 9001:2000 accredited, as well as being Link-up approved.

The company is an approved supplier to
  • Grant Rail
  • Jarvis
  • Balfour Beatty
  • Storey Rail
  • Clough Smith
  • First Engineering
For further information, please contact:

Weld-A-Rail Limited
Tel: 0115 926 8797
Email: info@weldarail.co.uk
Web: www.weldarail.co.uk