Implementing a robust New Product Development and quality system to deliver competitive advantage – helps secure new contract win

During the year Precision Engineering won a new contract to supply patent protected Phoenix valves to Kongsberg Automotive, the Norwegian based company that provides world-class products to the global vehicle industry.

The Phoenix valve plays a key part in managing the engine and transmission systems of large commercial trucks, in particular their clutch control mechanisms, ensuring that the trucks run efficiently and avoid off-road time which is very costly for the truck operators.

The Phoenix valve was designed in Precision Engineering’s Fellbach facility in Germany and is manufactured in the Czech Republic at the division’s Brno plant. In the past 18 months both plants have significantly improved their operational performance and this was a key factor in the successful development and commercialisation of the Phoenix valve. In particular, a new robust product development process, that now operates across the whole of the Precision Engineering division, guarantees the quality of the product through every stage of its development ensuring that each valve (one of which will be produced every five seconds) is delivered on time, to specification and to cost. As a result quality issues, late delivery and costly overruns have been eliminated.