Case Study – R K & J Jones
R K & J Jones Limited is a family business near Thetford in Norfolk, UK.
They manufacture and distribute a wide range of building and decorating products under the name of Bird Brand. Their products are gaining a reputation for excellence in garden centres, hardware stores, builders and decorating merchants throughout the UK, Ireland and the EU.
Bird Brand has a wide range of DIY products such as Ecosote®; an exclusive ground-breaking water based wood preserver and creosote replacement, and a range of rustic stains and coal tar coatings for period and specialist applications.
The company has recently invested with an additional 23,000 square feet of new warehousing and with other site improvements, the company is well placed to see continued growth and improve its capabilities.
The Directors of the business are the four members of the Jones family and remain fully focused on delivering quality products and superior service for many more years to come.
Learn more about R K & J Jones by visiting their website: https://www.birdbrand.co.uk/
The Challenge:
R. K. & J. Jones Ltd. first contacted Universal in 2015 looking for a filling machine for a full range of flammable, non-flammable, and solvent based liquids.
These liquids were to be filled into 500ml to 5000ml containers.
Products to fill:
- Protective Paints & Coatings
- Solvents
- Flamable & Non-Flamable liquids
- 100ml to 25 litre fill volumes
The Solution:
Following discussions with the customer and evaluation of samples a proposal was submitted for a P5000 semi-automatic volumetric filling machine.
Also included was a wander nozzle attachment and multi dose to fill 25 litre containers. During discussions it become clear the customer also had a need to fill these larger containers.
An order was placed by the customer and the P5000 machine was delivered and installed in 2016.
Following the successful installation of this machine the customer expressed an interest in filling the same range of liquids into smaller 100ml to 1000ml bottles. Following a site visit and demonstration of our Posifill EF a second order was placed and the customer took delivery of their second Universal Filling Machine.
R.K. & J. Jones order book continued to grow and production demanded extra capacity. This resulted in the purchase of 2 more Universal P5000 semi-automatic volumetric filling machines in 2019 and 2020. The 2019 machine was also delivered with the popular Universal Hand Capper for the tightening of pre-threaded screw caps.
Moving forward to 2023 these machines continue to give excellent productivity and Universal provide ongoing customer care with spares and technical support. In 2023 the customer has expressed interest in an Acid Filling Machine and another P5000 for flammables and solvents. Universal have submitted updated quotations which the customer is considering.
“When we initially considered extra filling equipment we were quite unsure of which supplier to use. Our engineer had spoken very highly of Universal Filling Machine Machine Company and after a chat and site visit we could quickly see why.
Mark and the team where excellent and talked through our options straight away, they understood our existing challenges and offered practical solutions.
The company had a family feel about it that we were used to and when we watched the machinery demonstrations we could instantly see how the machines would massively improve our filling capacity.
When the first machine arrived we were very impressed with the quick and easy set-up, staff training was easy to carry out, product changeovers and wash-throughs are very quick to carry out due to the clever design too.
As the staff grew confident with the P5000, they began offering suggestions about how another filling machine would also help us to fill product X,Y and Z quicker!
With that in mind, we purchased the Posifil EF which made smaller capacity filling a breeze, again the build quality was second to none and improved productivity was instantly noticed.
Another key benefit of using UFMC is the incredibly quick turnaround of spares, fortunately we haven’t had many parts break but when we need to order spare seals and consumables, Mandy is able to act swiftly and minimise any downtime.
Keeping all similar machines also means that we have to keep less shelf stock of spares too as some can be interchangeable.
We have recently purchased our 5th filling machine from UFMC and cannot wait to put it to work!“