Attention to detail is what sets WH Kemp apart from other Cable Assembly manufacturers. In our series of production case studies, we examine how we work with our customers to simplify their production and solve problems before they arise.

WH Kemp’s customer specific Production Cells means that each customer has a team of specialists trained to understand and meet that customer’s requirements. WH Kemp reviews production each morning in a series of stand-up meetings with each Cell Leader prior to the daily management meeting. These meetings provide an ideal opportunity to throw up ideas that can enhance a customer’s cable assembly, improving reliability of the final product.

The Customer

This customer produces electronics for a number of applications including aerospace and military vehicles. They have been working with WH Kemp for several years and are supplied with a range of cable assemblies and panels for their production site.

The Challenge

In one of the daily production meetings, it was noted the specified insulated wire was showing a larger than acceptable number of failures whist being manufactured at WH Kemp. The cause of this needed to be identified and rectified.

The Solution

Once the problem had been identified, it fell to the Quality Management team to decide on a solution via a Product Improvement Report. WH Kemp’s process improvement process, pulls together the drawings, specifications and production experience, enabling a solution to be agreed upon. In this instance it involved rerouting the problematic wire to alleviate the potential for the insulation to fail. The solution is documented, photos taken and included with the documentation that then becomes part of the production process for that component.

When the issue was first identified on the shop floor the possible quality issue using the specified component was flagged up to the customer. As the end product was for use in a certified environment changing the wire specifications was not possible, making WH Kemp’s manufacturing expertise critical in ensuring that the assembly was built in such a way that it remained reliable for the working life of the final product.

This article is originally from Production Case Study 3: Component Quality, created by John Wyatt.

Attention to detail is what sets WH Kemp apart from other Cable Assembly manufacturers. In our series of production case studies, we examine how we work with our customers to simplify their production and solve potential problems before they arise.

We always welcome the opportunity to visit our customers production facilities to observe how our cable harnesses are used within our customers’ production process. The customer can occasionally find that it there is an aspect of their production process that can be improved with an alteration to the wiring loom, this to enable more efficient assembly of the final product. Sometimes it can be a very minor change in the wiring harness that can make a difference to our customers production efficiency.

The Customer

The client is a sub-contractor manufacturing printed circuit boards for a major control systems company. Both companies are long standing customers for whom WH Kemp produce multiple assemblies and panels.

The Challenge

A two-part cable assembly was being supplied with stripped wire ends which were fraying in transport. A cable tie joining the components which was part of the approved specification for the cable was also being removed at final assembly to facilitate easier installation of the wiring into the PCB.

The Solution

When WH Kemp’s production office became aware of the problem on a routine customer service visit, they agreed a solution with the customer’s operations team whereby the cable ends would be supplied unstripped and, that the cable tie would be removed from the assembly. The two cables (one red, one black) would also be supplied bagged as separate components. This helped assembly time by reducing the number of jobs from two to one and reducing cost by removing the cable tie.

This was at first sight a very simple problem, but solving it made production on the client’s shop floor easier as well as removing the cost of a surplus item. John Wyatt, WH Kemp Managing Director said, “it is this attention to detail by our team that has kept our customers coming back to us regularly over the last 50 years.”

This article is originally from Production – Case Study 2: Attention to detail counts, created by John Wyatt.

Attention to detail is what sets WH Kemp apart from other Cable Assembly manufacturers. In our series of production case studies, we examine how we worked with our customers to simplify their production and solve potential problems before they arise.

When a customer brings an initial cable harness design to WH Kemp for manufacture, our unrivalled experience in the production of cable assemblies can highlight potential issues in the functionality of the finished product.

The Customer

The client in this instance was a leading multinational manufacturer of electronic monitoring equipment, with whom WH Kemp have been working for many years supplying a range of assemblies for their products.

The Challenge

At an early stage of production trials for a cable assembly, one cable was bent at a sharper angle than the others making it prone to pulling out of the connector.  Trials at the customer also noted a difficulty  within the assembly on their production line due to restricted space inside the cabinet.

The Solution

Working with designers, buyers, and production staff at the client’s manufacturing facility, WH Kemp’s Quality Manager Claire Borovac oversaw a solution where one cable was slightly lengthened and screw in connectors were substituted for the original push fit type. This reduced strain on the cables, made the connections more secure and overcame the problem of attaching push fit connectors in a confined area.

The solution was relatively straightforward, and reduced product assembly time, it enabled a rather complex manual process to be replaced by using an alternative type of connector. The alterations implemented in this cable assembly also improved equipment reliability by making connections more secure and removing cable strain.

WH Kemp’s processes bring together expertise from across the production, design, and quality management teams who meet daily in stand-up meetings to ensure that the products and components provided to the customers’ production line integrate into their finished units efficiently, this whilst offering the maximum reliability. Regarding this project Claire reported that there had been no issues since the modifications were made.

This article is originally from Production Case Study 1: Using our expertise to support customer processes, created by John Wyatt.

This article is originally from Quality Assurance vs Quality Control, created by John Wyatt.

The Manufacturing Technology Centre (MTC) in Coventry work with industry and academic institutions to understand the challenges facing both. A consultant team from the MTC visited WH Kemp earlier in the year to advise on our processes and learn more about our business.

Any visit like this brings an opportunity to learn and we were grateful for the suggestions they made for minor improvements, and we were very pleased with the complimentary tone of the report they sent. It endorsed what we have learnt from customer audits, but we know that we can never become complacent and should always be open to learning more about how we support our customers.

One of the aspects of our operation that I am most proud of is our production facility and the team who work there. MTC said that “the shop floor has ‘showroom’ effect. Customers should be encouraged to walk the shop floor and speak to your people”. WH Kemp have many people who have been with the business, 10, 20 or even 30 years. A customer pointed out to me recently that the words he heard most often on the shop floor were ‘loyalty,’ ‘longevity,’ ‘duty,’ and ‘friendly.’ His opinion was that this atmosphere was reflected in the quality of work being presented to his company, so it was good to hear this endorsed by the MTC. Their report talked about our organisation and team spirit commenting that “people take pride in what they do this is a great assist with continuous improvement and problem solving”.

Commenting on our delivery performance and RTF (right first time) figure MTC were impressed with the quality, which they described as “high for sub-contract sector.” In the second quarter of 2023 we achieved 98.5% On Time in Full and 99.96% Right First Time, which is an excellent achievement in any manufacturing environment.

MTC were equally positive about our approach to customer interactions. They were impressed by our “management of supply chain” and that our customers were offered “cost transparency” in addition to the “high quality and delivery performance”. They met our New Projects engineering team and were impressed with design process support. In reviewing our new project introduction process, they were impressed to see our “blue-chip customer credentials” and the fact that we offer customers so much more than cable harnesses with our “provision of sub-assemblies such as electromechanical builds “

Most of the MTC consultants time was spent walking through our business processes. They commented positively on our “Daily stand ups … with issues escalated and improvement opportunities captured and tracked”. They appreciated our “active management of issues escalated by production cells which capture and track improvement ideas”. Our continuous improvement programme caught the eye of the MTC consultants, who noted our “system for issue escalation improvement ideas has shown to be sustainable and effective”. They also noted how we represent a “good example of effective visual management system”.

After 50 years producing cable assemblies at WH Kemp we continue to learn and improve our products and processes applying those lessons daily in maintaining our sector-leading quality stats. To learn more about how we operate, and how we have implemented these tips visit our website or get in touch.

This article is originally from Everyday is a school day in manufacturing., created by John Wyatt.

Almost every day there is something new from WH Kemp on our Linkedin page. Photos of our latest projects, videos guiding you through our facilities and capabilities and stories about the people that contribute to WH Kemp’s continuing success.

Follow us by clicking on the image below, and connect with my colleagues and me to discover a new world of quality cable assemblies for your products.

This article is originally from Have you found us on Linkedin?, created by John Wyatt.

My colleagues and I recently hosted a factory visit from a new customer. While demonstrating our core Cable Assembly, Panel Build and Potting Encapsulation operations and procedures, not surprisingly the customer met and talked with many of the WH Kemp yeam.

Even if I say so myself, WH Kemp has an enviable track record when it comes to ‘delivering on time’ and ‘getting it right first time.’  Which is why I was confident our sector-leading performance stats, coupled with our modern, purpose-built, 3-acre factory site would pass muster. I’m pleased to say that indeed was the case.

Following the customer’s visit, and as part of my own assessment on how it went, it struck me, above all other observations, how genuinely astonished the customer had appeared on hearing that a significantly high percentage of the team had worked at WH Kemp for at least 10 years. In fact, for many it’s been more than 20 years. There is even a handful who have been here for 30+ years, and as such have remained loyal to the Company despite a couple of factory relocations during our 55 year history.

The truth is, I lost count of the number of times I heard the customer expressing words such as, ‘loyalty,’ ‘longevity,’ ‘duty,’ and ‘friendly,’ while chatting with our employees. As we said our goodbyes, the customer was kind enough to suggest the high standard of WH Kemp’s manufacturing processes had much to do with the longevity, camaraderie, and experience of its employees.

A couple of weeks later l found myself, and much to my delight, presenting a gold watch to a long serving and highly valued member of the WH Kemp team. Debbie Meakin is a diligent and popular employee, and 2022 marks her 25^th anniversary. During the presentation, I found myself drawing upon those same words – loyalty, longevity, duty – as conveyed by the customer when touring our premises. This prompted me to ask Debbie whether she would mind telling me what it is that has kept her at WH Kemp for a quarter of a century.

Debbie told me she likes the type of work she does, including knowing that our humble cable harnesses, wiring looms and panel builds can make a massive contribution to engineering health and safety. Above all, I was struck by hearing how much she valued her fellow colleagues, enjoying what has become enduring friendships, because they too have worked at the Company for many years. So much so, Debbie stated she wishes to continue and develop her career at WH Kemp.

It’s often said, ‘a business’s most valuable asset is its employees.’ I couldn’t agree more and continue to be proud of the splendid workforce here at WH Kemp. I appreciate their dedication and reliability; their diligence and duty; and of course, their loyalty and longevity of service. As the country enters deeper into what inevitably will be a difficult period, I can feel confident of my team’s support.

This article is originally from Loyalty, Longevity and Gold Watches, created by John Wyatt.

Almost 10 years have elapsed since I acquired WH Kemp. Whilst it goes without saying I should leave it to others to judge my tenure of the Company thus far, I would like to think my particular style of business ownership has been, and indeed will continue to be, synonymous with fairness, transparency and honesty.

Talking of honesty, it is purported George Orwell once said, “In a time of universal deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act.”  Whether the great novelist and essayist really did say this is a matter of conjecture. Nonetheless – and at the risk of sounding as self-righteous as a modern-day politician – it’s a phrase that strikes a chord with me. Perhaps never more so than in today’s troubling world.

Orwell died in 1950. If indeed it was him who felt sufficiently provoked – incensed even – by the behaviour of early 20^th century society, to brand it with the somewhat damning epithet of ‘universal deceit’, what would he have made of today’s societal ecosystem of – and let’s be honest – contrivance, political spin, fake news, slick public relations, online disinformation and what clearly is a growing inability on the part of many to apologise for even the smallest of misdemeanours?

Which brings me to the point of this posting: I want to hold up my hands. Confess. Plead guilty. Make an honest declaration. Emulate an Orwellian ‘revolutionary act’ even!

Those of you fully cognizant with WH Kemp, including customers and suppliers, and/or regular visitors to our website, will already be aware of our sector-leading manufacturing quality and delivery performance stats. Our reputation for achieving consistently high (98%+) RFT and (99.9%+) OTIF scores has long been the envy of the Cable Assembly, Control Panel & Box Build and Potting industries. And in turn, probably a key factor why WH Kemp has achieved its 100% customer retention record, as well as counting amongst its customer base, global engineering giants and some of the UK’s leading Advanced Manufacturers.

However, as I say I do need to come clean: During the recent ‘dark age’ – as defined by Covid-19 with the tumult of national lockdowns it triggered – WH Kemp’s performance achievements dropped occasionally below our usual high 98%+ OTIF norms. Now, you’ll just have to take my word for it when I say I am not attempting to spin this admission, but, and despite the world chaos of a two-year pandemic, at least our OTIF levels did not dip below 91% in any month.

How was this possible? After all it was a period universally recognised to have been the most challenging and alarming for decades? Answer: Our People. Our Processes. Our Procedures. Our Investment.

I’m proud to say WH Kemp did not miss a single day of production during the pandemic ‘dark age.’ By implementing strict Covid-19 safety procedures, including a reconfiguration of workstations and production machinery – one of the advantages of having a modern, adaptable 25,000 sq. ft. factory space – our brilliant team felt sufficiently safe to continue working on site. I cannot thank WH Kemp’s people enough for the loyalty, dedication, indeed bravery, that they showed, in order not to let down our customers.

Investment also played its part. At the outset of the Covid crisis, the temptation could have been to cut costs, hunker down, decide to ride out the storm. Instead, and anticipating future supply chain shortages, my colleagues and I elected to purchase additional machinery and build-up – double in fact – our stocks of raw materials – a reflection of WH Kemp’s financial stability. Our ever-vigilant attention to financial planning processes enabled us to future-proof difficult trading conditions. By absorbing costs internally and continuing to invest, we were able to support and facilitate our customers’ manufacturing schedules and targets, and ensure they enjoyed price consistency.

Given the context of my comments above, my second confession herein can only be described as ironic: Soon after the Government’s relaxation of Covid restrictions earlier this year, unfortunately the WH Kemp workforce was hit by a Covid spike. Thankfully, those affected did recover quickly and are well. There were times during this past spring when we were operating with a third less staff. Inevitably production was affected, and for the first time in decades our delivery performance scores dropped below our own demanding KPIs; in fact, below our pandemic average of 95%.

I have already apologised personally to those customers affected over those three months, but in keeping with my personal style of ownership, I am placing that admission here on record. Whether George Orwell would have called this ‘a revolutionary act’ I don’t know, but it is just one example of WH Kemp’s unswerving commitment to transparency.

This article is originally from People. Processes. Procedures. Investment., created by John Wyatt.

WH Kemp has an ongoing focus on continuous improvement and frequently invites lean manufacturing experts to work alongside us to observe, explore, train and generate ideas on where we can make improvements to our business, with the objective to create greater value for our customers and ensuring we provide our people with secure and satisfying employment.

Currently WH Kemp are working with consultants from the Manufacturing Advisory Service exploring areas where we can make further improvements in our order to delivery process. The WH Kemp leadership team recognise that such projects, where we seek to explore and implement process improvements, is aided by having a great company culture. We can only meet and secure our desired improvements within a business environment where our employees can openly discuss how they feel, share their thoughts on areas to improve and feel comfortable trying out new ideas.

Our team are justifiably proud of our wiring harness and cable assembly quality, delivery and customer retention record.

Our people expect our leadership team to act on the things that they see can be improved – they come to work to do a great job and take pride in what they achieve.

Yet, our staff appreciate that our ways of working need to be constantly reviewed and refined. They recognise that the leadership team care about the business and want to do everything to keep our customers happy. In turn they have secure jobs and can share in WH Kemp’s success. We believe our people have a much more positive experience of work when they can see clearly the part they play in our business.

Indeed, we expect all our team members to contribute to WH Kemp’s success. Our employees are engaged in what they do and perform to a high standard. As a result, WH Kemp is seen as an excellent place to work. Our wiring harness team are long serving, absenteeism is low and friends, family and any temporary staff invariably ask to join our team. We are an employer of choice in our locality. When our wiring harnesses, cable assemblies and control panels reach our customers, they’re happy too – everyone wins.

In other words, WH Kemp is seen as a good employer due to our prioritisation of continuous improvement and that we engage with all our staff to make things better.

For our customers, they can be assured that they are working with a sustainable manufacturer of wiring harnesses, cable assemblies and control panels. Indeed, the longevity and sustainability of many companies in the cable harness sector is of growing concern. Issues stemming from shortages of skilled staff in addition to financial instability are becoming increasingly prevalent within the sector.

Continuous improvement is embedded within WH Kemp’s culture, alongside lean thinking, problem solving, coaching and a focus on people engagement. This culture has evolved over many years, making WH Kemp an ideal choice of supplier of cable harnesses and control panels. WH Kemp, founded in 1967, is the UKs longest serving wiring harness supplier and we have every intention to continue serving our customers for many more years to come.

This article is originally from WH Kemp: A culture of continuous improvement, created by John Wyatt.

For several years, British engineers at one of the UK’s best known and most respected companies have been working closely with our team at WH Kemp. They design, we discuss, we build. Their requirement from WH Kemp’s team is primarily for the build of electro-mechanical tools and robots that are used for testing products manufactured in various parts of the globe.

Teamwork with British Engineers

Their engineers value being able to work with our team on WH Kemp’s factory floor, trialling concepts and then working with us to find the best way to undertake. Our team are very proud to be involved with some of their cutting-edge projects. The need for social distancing has made working with their engineers more difficult this year. However, as we have adapted to using alternative communication tools, we have continued our work.

We are delighted to have received another significant order this month to supply new electro-mechanical builds.

Our Invitation to British Engineers

We actively encourage potential new customers to visit our Wiltshire base, easily accessible by road and rail. We would be delighted to take you on a tour of the site and introduce you to our friendly team who will gladly explain all aspects of our processes. Please call us on 01373 823322.

This article is originally from WH Kemp Working Alongside the Best of British Engineers!, created by John Wyatt.