 Reuters had developed a new dealer's desk for which they anticipated a substantial demand over a product life cycle of 3-5 years. With one exception made from perforated sheet steel, the components to be coated were of aluminium - some machined from solid, some from extrusions, and some from sheet. The "desk" was actually a telephone control unit to sit on top of a conventional desk. It was of modular construction to facilitate tailoring of the systems to their customers' needs and the speedy replacement of any module which might develop a fault in service.
The coating specification was:
1. A dark charcoal grey of SUPERB APPEARANCE WITH CONISTENT GLOSS LEVEL AND COLOUR over the anticipated product life cycle and beyond.
2. The PRECISE MASKING OF MATING SURFACES was absolutely critical for screening against electromagnetic interference.
3. Excellent adherence of the coating to the metal, to withstand being "clobbered" with a telephone handset in the event of a deal going wrong.
4. The coating was not to stain in the event of being splashed with (a) champagne, if a substantial deal went right; (b) coffee, on which dealers "survived" throughout their long trading days.
SPEED TO MARKET WAS CRITICAL, but in Reuters' supply chain the powder coater initially selected had failed to achieve in production to standard of the samples.
From an initial exploratory telephone call on Wednesday at around 11.00am, we presented aull set of 18 different components, coated in the closest match of our stock powders and masked precisely to drawing, at noon on Sunday - 4 days later.
A hurriedly convened meeting of all concerned in the supply chain (except the previous coater) followed 3 days later. We explained that in order to meet the requirements, a special powder would need to be obtained, formulated to our specification. A contract was placed with us on this basis.
Our toolmaker changed his holiday arrangements to expedite the manufacture of the intricate masking tooling required. Our Technical Director visited our major powder suppliers to arrange the formulation and supply of the special powder required.
RESULT: We were in volume production in less than 4 weeks from the original telephone enquiry, minimising for Reuters and others in the supply chain the disruption resulting from the previous powder coater's failure to maintain standards. Over this product life cycle, we achieved sales in excess of £550,000. | 