In this edition of Industry Update, we are pleased to announce Harford Control as our Information Solutions Company of the Month.
Originally established as Weighdata in 1975 by Roy Green, Harford Control is still owned and run by Roy and his family, and is based in Trowbridge, Wiltshire. Initially the company dealt with average quantity law weighing systems, but this became too specialised, and thus began Harford Control, looking at full factory floor management to begin with.
Nowadays Harford Control design, develop and manufacture manufacturing execution and information systems, and it helps companies to improve every aspect of their systems from goods in to goods out. The company firstly looks to help businesses to minimise raw materials wastage, whether that is energy costs, spillage (or conversely over-filling), or having systems set up wrongly.
Secondly Harford help businesses to reduce conversion costs, as reducing raw materials into finished products takes manpower. Roy commented, “we help our customers to utilise these aspects of their business to the optimum level, while taking out all of the unnecessary wastage of labour. We have found that supporting businesses even in a small way can help them to save hundreds of thousands of pounds a year.”
Harford Control also supports businesses to ensure that Allergens in their products are fully known and labelled. This is done by ensuring that all procedures are followed to the letter, including setting up of date codes and bar codes, and setting up all machines for these processes, thus removing the possibility of operator error, in addition to reducing changeover times, which all businesses look for. This Coding and Labelling Compliance is a crucial part of the work of so many companies, and is used to prevent non-conformances and reduce the cost of manufacturing at the same time.
While competitors offer some of what Harford Control can provide, they cannot offer the same full range of services. Roy continued, “we provide weight control as part of the quantity law control as a small amount of overfill can make a massive difference to a high-volume producer. We also provide Overall Equipment Effectiveness (OEE), Live reporting, vision inspecting, and our Hardware is standardised and expandable, so that it can be used for simple standalone systems or for complex, integrated solutions.”
Another aspect of the work of Harford is Short Interval Control, which is splitting longer work shifts into shorter time sections. This enables companies to check that they are meeting targets more regularly, and these quick and focused reviews of performance data during the shift, enable mid-course corrections and immediate small-scale fixes that collectively result in significant improvements in performance.
Paperless Quality Management is an important service offered by Harford Control as it helps businesses to get rid of paper either manually, or by linking up to other peripherals like Refractometers, torque meters or titrators among many others. All information is transferred directly, without any need to use paper and together with in-line data capture from scanners, date coders, or sensors, the system offers the capability to remove all factory floor paperwork and removes the need for reviewing and validating paper-based control documents.
As Harford Control looks to the future, it is employing new technicians around the world, and also will be moving premises. These plus it’s expertise across the industry will enable the company to remain at the forefront of this industry.
T +44 (0)1225 764461
info@harfordcontrol.com
www.harfordcontrol.com