RIVAL moves even faster when required

RIVAL moves even faster, when the customer requires it. This was recently the case with Grundfos, when an acute need arose to repair a tool in their die-casting.

Maintenance technician Jens Erik Lysdahl has collaborated with production technician Benny Sørensen and RIVAL for many years. “For us, RIVAL’s not just a subcontractor,” says Jens Erik Lysdahl. “They’re competent partners, and we want to continue to develop our collaboration with them. They know what’s required, for example when a tool in production breaks, and it costs many thousands of kroner in time, when a machine stands idle. The work needs to be done quickly, and there has to be close dialogue between us and RIVAL. The
people at RIVAL are good at doing both.”

Focus on the value chain
Pump manufacturer Grundfos is one of Denmark’s biggest companies, employing over 18,000 people around the world. At Grundfos, there is constant focus on optimizing the entire value chain, to make the company more and more attractive for customers. “This means that, among other things, we in the maintenance department get shorter and shorter delivery times for our services, since the production set-up may not stand idle for longer periods of time,” says Jens Erik Lysdahl. “To achieve the best solutions, both we and our partners have to be sharp every day.”

Large components
Grundfos’ collaboration with RIVAL usually relates to the machining of large components. “One of the big advantages with collaborating with RIVAL, is that they have production equipment that can machine tool components that are up to three metres, without us having to take the tool apart,” says Jens Erik Lysdahl. “It saves us a lot of time before and after the machining.” Most recently, when Grundfos had an acute need for the repair of a tool for their die-casting, it was a terrific advantage that RIVAL could receive and machine the component in one piece. “RIVAL were finished with their part of the work within 24 hours, which meant we in the maintenance department could comply with our agreement with production at Grundfos despite the unforeseen problems,” says Jens Erik Lysdahl.

Fast response
As always, Benny Sørensen of RIVAL acted quickly after Jens Erik Lysdahl had called him on the phone. “I immediately contacted our production manager Heino Pedersen, to get confirmation that we could take in the component from Grundfos as soon as it reached RIVAL. The answer was the usual one – we could of course deal with it,” says Benny Sørensen. “It’s very reassuring to know that my colleagues in production are ready to step in, and that our internal planning is so good that we can immediately see how we can make space for the customer’s urgent tasks.

In recent years, machined component developer and manufacturer RIVAL has collaborated closely with the engineering company R&D on the technical production optimisation of several new components.

For engineering company R&D, involving RIVAL as a partner on development projects has been the obvious choice on several occasions. “We have had several opportunities to use RIVAL’s competencies, and to exchange and sound out ideas with them in technical production areas during the development of design and construction of new components,” says R&D Key Account Manager, Daniel Schou Jensen. “Because RIVAL already collaborates with several of our customers, it means that from the very beginning, they very often have a really good understanding of the customer’s requirements and expectations.”

Exchanging and sounding out ideas together
Employees from RIVAL, R&D and the customers that they are collaborating with, meet up on an ongoing basis, and exchange and sound out ideas when they collaborate on projects. Afterwards, they work further on the design, construction and optimisation of the components. During the process, RIVAL will often offer R&D valuable criticism, which on an ongoing basis, helps to optimise the products that are being developed, especially in the technical production area.

RIVAL’s key competencies
Likewise, Daniel Schou Jensen sees the benefits of collaboration with RIVAL. “At R&D we have a lot of competency in design and construction, and we also have extensive insight into technical production,” says Daniel Schou Jensen. “But at RIVAL, technical production is a key competency, which means their ability to exchange and sound out ideas is very valuable to us, because we want the strongest team in relation to the customer.

“Since RIVAL at the same time, can work with the production of component’s for 0-series production and prototypes for new products, they will often acquire valuable knowledge, which both we and the end customer can beneficially utilise in the further optimisation process.”

RIVAL’s DNA
RIVAL Sales Manager Christian Aarup has closely followed the collaboration with R&D and customers for several years. He confirms that it is precisely these tasks where ideas are exchanged and sounded out, where RIVAL has great strength, primarily because of RIVAL’s competence and culture. “My colleagues can, and have the ambition and the desire to present optimisation proposals and improvements,” says Christian. “We see many benefits in both collaborating with an engineering company like R&D and the end customer, and through that, help to develop a solution for the customer, which is optimised in all areas.”

Better to be included earlier
Looking forward, Daniel Schou Jensen can see several advantages in including RIVAL earlier on in the development process. “It will give us better opportunities to take into consideration any technical production challenges that we encounter.” He continues: “I’m sure that we will also in the future utilise RIVAL as a partner and thus together, we will help customers get the best possible exchanging and sounding out of ideas, and solutions.”

Se flere nyheder