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Good as gold
Page 30
Page 31
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HL Smith celebrates 50 years in business
nd Andy Salter talks to MD Russell Smith
3bout the firm's expanding range of services.
Surely some mistake? Tipton, maybe. Bolton, perhaps; even Bradford — but not the leafy village of Albrighton. Staffordshire. fhe plan was simply to go and interview the )eoplc at the UK's biggest remanufacturer of ;earboxes. We'd expected a heavy industrial die in the industrial heartlands, but the rolling ;ountryside seemed an unlikely setting for a :ompany pulling apart gearboxes and axles and -ebuilding them. But hey, nothing ventured...
Anyone who maintains HG Vs will know HL imith which has been rebuilding transmissions .o as-new condition for 50 years. It was founded )y Harold Smith in 1955 and has carved out a lecent niche reconditioning every conceivable :ype of CV gearbox.
Now run by Harold's sons Russell and Alec, t has ridden out the storm of electronic driveinc integration and taken the shift to truck manufacturer controlled maintenance in its ;hide. It has also added clutches to the portfolio .hrough a tie-up with Eaton.
Managing director Russell Smith says: 'Despite the very tough trading conditions :omm on to all in the sector, we're continuing to grid growth. We're adding clutches to the prod uct line this year and we're continually looking for new business and products to offer and grow our operation. We're committed to offering a premier service to the market and I think we're valued for that.
"Take the shift to contract maintenance. Many would have seen it as a threat —we saw it as an opportunityWhen a vehicle comes out of warranty the contracted maintenance provider has to look for a source of cost-effective parts.That's where our expertise lies."
The HL Smith operation is extremely impressive. Its 4,5-acre base is close to the M54 and theMidlands motorway network with a huge purpose-built plant and more than 100 skilled workers. The company is committed to delivering a nationwide next-day service with a fleet of 12, mostly Mercedes Sprinter, vans.
"If you can't go to the big fleets and offer a nationwide next-day delivery service you'll soon find yourself squeezed out of the business," says Smith." In addition to the delivery service we'll also carry out on-site fitting of automatic transmissions and diagnostics. We also run a technical helpdesk from the site."
It's a simple philosophy based on delivering guaranteed service. "Likewise with regard to the truck dealerships. We work closely with them and end up supporting each other."
With remanufactured clutches HL Smith now caters for the entire driveline from the back of the engine to the axle. It makes a lot of sense:"We recognised that approximately 80% of people will also swap a clutch at the same time as a transmission," says Smith. "Once you've gone to the hassle and expense of taking the vehicle off the road to drop the transmission, many will also replace the clutch, too, while the gearbox is on the floor. Previously they'd go to a third party to source that component:now they can get the clutch from us.
-We've noticed, particularly when dealing with the bigger nationwide fleets who have a number of workshops, that head office is the purchase centre and they want to deal with one company to place the order, at one price for al their parts.We now fit that bill."
Clutches covering all makes arrive in boxec kits from Eaton's clutch remanu facturing plant in Hoeverlaken the Netherlands. The' come with a 12-montl unlimited-distance war ranty. "Our priority is to offer the right prod uct at the right price," says Smith.
"Many in the business don't realise tha there's a massive range of different clutches foi a whole host of different applications_There ar a lot of companies offering remanufacturer clutches, but we'd venture that no-one matchef the range available from Eaton."
A tour of the 7,500m2 plant gives us a snapshot of the company's activity. Smith says 70% of customers will take a service exchange transmission; the rest want HL Smith to reconditior their own transmissions. Both solutions come with a standard 12-month guarantee.
Some of HL Smith's units come from service exchange, but most of the core transmissions and axles are bought in by the company from breakers' yards, core agents and other sources We were surprised to discover roughly 25% oi the core that comes in has to be scrapped because it's effectively beyond repair.
-The core is our bank stock,"says Smith."It's brought into the workshops, stripped and assessed. The new parts required will he picked from our stores and fed into the workshop. A standard transmission will be in and out of the workshop in a day.
The level of workmanship speaks for itself Companies we've spoken to about HL Smith since our visit rate it highly the addition of clutches to the line-up can only strengthen the service it offers to the road transport sector.