Lander Tubular Products

Lander commission new production cell for major EV project award

Lander Tubular Products — 12/05/2023

Development is well underway for a new lean production cell at our Birmingham facility.

We are investing in the cell which will commence the manufatcuring of a range of Cooling System pipes for a new EV vehicle in the coming months.

The project is part of Lander's commitment to developing our offering in the green energy market, and it is the first of a number of new and exciting projects that we are undertaking in the alternative fuels market.

The significant project will see Lander Birmingham's manufacturing output grow by almost half a million tubular assemblies per year when at peak, with our Engineering and Programme teams working hard to ensure that the customer's key milestone dates are met on time.

In-Comm Training interview for National Apprentice Week with Lander Commercial Director and ex-apprentice, John Mason

Lander Tubular Products — 09/02/2023

In-Comm Training recently came in to interview our Commercial Director, John Mason, about his career journey to rise from being a young apprentice to eventually become the Group Commercial Director for a multi-national company.

John highlights the importance of apprenticeships to Lander and the value that apprentices bring to a business.

He also discusses how he had to walk the hard yards compared to some of his contemporaries but that the end result was well worth it.

Click on the link below to watch the video in full:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=otGbFn7l270

Lander swoops for stricken manufacturer’s plants

Lander Tubular Products — 08/04/2022

Birmingham-based Lander Automotive has bought the UK plants of Tricorn Group with the support of Shawbrook Bank asset based lending facility.

Established in 1951, Lander Automotive is a leading supplier of assembled products primarily in the automotive Sector, specialising in fluid and air transfer systems, welded structures, interior trim products, and plastic tubular assemblies. The business was acquired by GIL Investments in March 2020, also with the support of Shawbrook Bank.

Lander has bought the UK plants of Tricorn Group, a niche manufacturer of pipe and tubing assemblies supplying worldwide markets. The business makes similar products to Lander Automotive but supplies predominantly to the

Len Palmer, managing director at Lander Automotive, said:

“With similar product portfolios, there is a strong alignment with Landers’ capabilities in tubular fluid and air carrying products, and is the first phase in building a broader strategic customer base whilst combining Lander’s Operational Excellence to these existing and highly respected manufacturing businesses.”

Mark Parsons, managing director of corporate lending – Midlands, North and Scotland at Shawbrook Bank, said: “We are deeply aware of the numerous challenges currently being navigated by businesses across the automotive industry, including the chip shortage and the ongoing impacts from the pandemic. Having already developed a strong relationship with Lander Automotive and their sponsor, we knew the resilience and strong foundations of the well-established business so were able to quickly recognise the opportunities that the new acquisition could bring. We are proud to continue to work with Lander Automotive as the business continues to evolve and as members of The Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders we are here to support the wider automotive industry.”

Fantastic community support by the team at West Bromwich

Lander Tubular Products — 06/03/2023

Last week our West Bromwich factory team donated generously to support a local food bank.

The Breaking Bread foodbank in Wednesbury was started in 2012 by the churches of Wednesbury and aims to help individuals and families who, through circumstances, find themselves in crisis. They provide the families with enough food to last three days and support many people within the community, but due to a drop in donations, it looked like they would have to reduce the support they could offer.

West Bromwich Plant Operations Manager Thomas Smylie said, "The volunteers said that they were pleased with the number of goods that were donated as they were going to have to reduce the number of people receiving food over the weekend due to running low on supplies, however, because of the donations that our team have made means that Breaking Bread will now be able to help more families than usual over the coming week.

The food bank relies entirely on donations, and our team is now looking to do a collection for it every month.

Lander scoops Business of the Year award

Lander Tubular Products — 13/02/2023

Lander Tubular Products were honoured to be awarded the Business of the Year at the regional Nachural Signature Awards 2023 at Resorts World, Birmingham on Friday 10th February.

Group HR Manager, Anita Davenport-Brooks said after winning the award, "we were shocked and delighted to receive the Business of the Year award, it really is great recognition for the business and all the hard work our team members put in."

From everyone at Lander, thank you to all at Nachural Events and the adjudicating panel for voting for us.

Lander ranked number 29 in 2023 Top 50 SME Apprenticeships Employers in the UK

Lander Tubular Products — 04/07/2023

We are excited to announce that we have been voted number 29 in the 2023 Top 50 SME Apprenticeships Employers rankings.

The rankings recognise the nation’s top apprenticeship employers and are produced annually by the Department for Education.

A Department for Education spokesperson told Lander, “This year competition was fierce, with a record number of entries; therefore, your achievement of making the rankings is a testament to your commitment to delivering a high-quality apprenticeship programme.”

Lander Group HR Manager Anita Davenport-Brooks added, “It is great to be recognised again. Even though last year we changed providers and struggled to recruit apprentices, we still believe as an organisation that apprentices are the future talent of this business.

This recognition confirms we are still doing the right things to encourage individuals into manufacturing and engineering.”

We launched our highly successful Apprenticeships Programme in 2016 and have welcomed over 350 apprentices into our business since then.

Several of our apprentices have been able to progress from roles in production manufacturing into other roles in areas including, Team Leadership, Quality, IT, Human Resources, Purchasing, Software Engineering, Maintenance, Tool Room Engineering, and Logistics.

Our programme offers a Level 2 Diploma in Manufacturing Qualification when successfully completed. Apprentices complete a 6 week classroom based learning programme before moving into different areas of the manufacturing arena to further develop their knowledge and skills.

Our apprenticeship programme has won numerous nationally recognised awards since its inception and we see it as a cornerstone to the successful future of our business.

Lander to collect number 1 UK Top 50 SME Apprentice Employer award at House of Lords reception

Lander Tubular Products — 07/09/2022

We are excited to announce that Jade Pickles, who is an Apprentice Improver at Lander, will be speaking at a reception at the House of Lords for employers featured in the Top 50 SME Apprentice Employers for 2022 on Wednesday 14th September.

Jade came through our Manufacturing Apprenticeship program and is now working on a Level 4 qualification and training to become a Quality Engineer at our Birmingham facility.

Jade has been asked to speak at the start of the event about her experience as an apprentice at Lander and how she is hoping to use it in the future.

She will also collect Lander's award certificate for being voted the number 1 SME Apprentice Employer in 2022.

Lander were rated as the UK's Number 1 SME Apprentice Employer for 2022 back in June.

BLOG POST - Joint strength is vital for product integrity

Lander Tubular Products — 18/01/2024

When joining metal components together it is critical that the joint is strong and will withstand the rigours of its working environment throughout a vehicle’s life.

Whether the joint is for a tube to a bracket or end fitting, or a tube to another tube, will determine what kind of jointing method will be required.

Welding is typically used for strength on components including brackets, and for larger fabricated tubular assemblies.

Welding is a very consistent and repeatable process which can be carried out either manually or by robot. However, there is a higher risk of potential leak paths, particularly if joining two tubes together.

In this instance we would use a tack weld to locate the two components and then these would be brazed together using a filler material.

Brazed joints provide great integrity and reduce the risk of leaking parts.

Lander has in-house mild steel brazing furnaces at both our Birmingham and Franklin (NC, USA). This means that we can provide our customers with lower cost brazing solutions to deliver high quality joints.

For joining aluminium components, we have a team of highly skilled brazing technicians who are experienced in producing consistently strong brazed joints with a good aesthetic appearance. We also use in-line rotary flame brazing machines for the brazing of aluminium connector blocks to the ends of tubes.

In addition to this, we also have a full fabrication line at our Malvern facility, that has the capability to produce complex assemblies including fabricated tubes up to 12 inches in diameter. These products are used in Industrial power generation so need to be robust in order to work continuously.

Join Lander for a one of a kind show!!

Lander Tubular Products — 15/06/2022

Next week, Lander Tubular Products will be exhibiting their product range at Hillhead Show for the first time.

Hillhead is celebrating its 40th anniversary this year and is the world's largest of its kind show for the construction, quarrying, mining and recycling markets.

The show is held at the vast Hillhead Quarry near Buxton, Derbyshire and will feature in excess of 600 exhibitors from across the off highway sector with thousands of different products on display.

From multi-national machinery manufacturers to local suppliers, Hillhead has it all.

With over 50 demonstrations of the latest equipment it stands to be a really exciting show that is one of a kind.

Show visitor times are:

Tuesday 21st June - 8.30am - 6.00pm

Wednesday 22nd June - 8.30am - 6.00pm

Thursday 23rd June - 8.30am - 4.30pm

Sign up for free and come and visit the Lander team on stand RA5 in the Registration Pavilion.

For tickets visit the Hillhead website below:

https://www.hillhead.com/

We can't wait to see you there!!

Hillhead show triumph for Lander Tubular Products

Lander Tubular Products — 29/06/2022

Lander Tubular Products celebrated a very successful debut at the Hillhead Show last week. The show, which is the UK's premier show for the construction, quarrying and recycling sectors, had over 18,500 visitors over a scorching 3 days in the dusty Hillhead Quarry setting near Buxton, Derbyshire.

The Lander stand was in a prime location within the Registration Pavilion and our team were able to meet with a high number of interested prospects over course of the show. Lander's aim for the show was to increase the awareness of the brand within the off highway market and to also reach out to new potentail customer leads.

We can confirm that we exceeded our pre-show objectives by more than double with regards to the number of potential warm leads that the show yielded. In fact, Lander has already received a number of interesting new RFQs as a result of the show and we are hoping for further opportunities to come in over the course of the next few weeks.

With over 600 exhibitors, the show was very different in style and size compared to more traditional exhibitions held in cavernous exhibition halls but it was one that will be remembered by everyone who attended for a long time to come.

Lander lands new apprenticeship training provider

Lander Tubular Products — 27/07/2022

Lander are delighted to announce that we have signed a contract with In-Comm Training to be the new provider of our Manufacturing Apprenticeship scheme.

In-Comm Training, which operates three state-of-the-art technical academies across the Black Country and Shropshire, has become the strategic training partner for the Lander Group in the UK. The new relationship will cover all recruitment and selection, advice on tapping into funding, induction process and delivery of training, with In-Comm trainers and assessors set to be permanently based at Lander Tubular Products’ internal academy at its Woodgate Business Park factory in Birmingham.

The first cohort of new apprentices to be trained by In-Comm will join in September and there will be further intakes over the coming months.

Anita Davenport-Brooks, Group HR Manager, added her support: “We’ve known about In-Comm for some time and were really impressed with the way they took the time to listen and tailor the approach to suit exactly what we need. The course will give every apprentice core manufacturing skills, as well as developing softer ones and encouraging the right behaviours to fit our culture. All the training will be completed at our Birmingham factory, which will give us great flexibility when balancing shop floor demand."

The plan is for forty Level 2 apprentices in Lean Manufacturing Operations to be recruited over the next six months in a bid to further develop our future talent pool so we can help to meet market demands.

Growing its own staff has always been a priority and this new contract marks the next phase of its workforce development, with pathways being created so that individuals can work all the way towards Technical Apprenticeships, a Degree in Engineering and Manufacturing and upskilling opportunities in continuous improvement, quality and leadership & management.

“The course will give every apprentice core manufacturing skills, as well as developing softer ones and encouraging the right behaviours to fit our culture. All the training will be completed at our factory, which will give us great flexibility when balancing shopfloor demand."

Anita continued; “I’m also keen to look at how we can work together to shape new Apprenticeship qualifications that are currently missing in industry. One example, is early discussions about creating a Level 3 Technical Operator course that could be the next step for our apprentices.”

She concluded: “Vocational learning is so important for us and, next year, the plan is to recruit up to 100 apprentices. Working with In-Comm Training will save over £200,000 on recruitment costs alone in 2022 and that does not take into account the bottom line benefits our learners will deliver to our three businesses across the Midlands.

“Several of our senior team and middle managers all started with an apprenticeship and are now critical to our future success.”

The development of the long term workforce internally will help to lead the business to a more sustainable future.