Barrett Steel, which operates 30 sites across the UK, including two key sites in Bradford and Shoreham, employs four Endeavour saw-drill lines (among other Ficep machines) and one Tipo A31 Plasma drill at Rotherham, taking the total number of installed Ficep machines to 11.

The family-owned business has been a Ficep customer for many years, but recent growth and site acquisitions generated a need for further steel processing machines with a focus on automation across three of Barrett Steel’s sites.
John Childs, operations manager, says: “We were influenced by the capabilities of Ficep’s automation and the Endeavour in particular. Line automation removes the need for our workers to touch steel between operations, which results in reducing the of risk accidents. This is a major factor in any decision making for us.”
The Endeavour enables operators to put material on at one end and remove it at the other in its completed state. Not only does this improve safety by reducing the need to handle steel, it releases workers to do other productive activities. This one change is contributing to a 40% increase in productivity, in particular at the Bradford site, and has seen machine utilisation running at around 90%.
“The Endeavour machines, at the time of purchase, were, in our opinion, the most sophisticated units on the market,” says Childs. “In the Endeavour, Ficep has a powerful machining centre with a close-coupled saw, while its speed in drilling and milling was much better than the competition. For us, the Ficep-linked automation is ahead of others on the market and it’s enabled Barrett Steel to increase capacity through improved productivity and a reduction in direct labour costs.”
For further information www.ficep.co.uk