News

A unique PennWhite product is helping the Italian car industry stay on the road. Modern car manufacturers expect their suppliers to deliver components just a few minutes before the workers on the assembly line need them, so if a supplier fails to deliver “just in time” the implications can be immense.

Magneti Marelli, a key Italian supplier to FIAT, and car manufacturers across the globe, uses industrial silicone sealant as insulation on many of its automotive products. Unfortunately the silicone can clog up the machines that apply it, causing production delays.

To keep their production equipment working we supplied Silstrip, a product developed by PennWhite that effectively eats silicone and can be safely washed off with water. By regularly applying Silstrip to its machines, Magneti Marelli is able to remove access silicone quickly and easily ensuring that production runs to schedule and FIAT doesn’t have to wait for its components.

Following a recent visit to the Far East by PennWhite managing director John Whitehead, a new Chinese customer has placed an order for PennWhite’s specialist foam control agents.

The Chinese company supplies fount solutions to the printing industry but had experienced excessive foaming during their manufacture. Fount solutions are used in commercial presses to deliver high quality high gloss print with good contrast between solid and halftone areas. Additionally the solution cleans the machine, delivering improved efficiency and economy to the printer.

After analysing their manufacturing process PennWhite supplied Foamdoctor F695 to the Chinese production team. The agent eliminated the foaming problem, enabling our customer to optimise its manufacturing process. The successful Foamdoctor product is now being used at our customer’s facilities in China and Poland. One of PennWhite’s founding partners, John Whitehead sees this new contract has ” an important step in bringing the benefits of our product range to China’s emerging new industries.”

On September 11th Intertek Certification Ltd (formerly Moody International), visited PennWhite to carry out their annual assessment of PennWhite’s ISO 9001 Management System.

After an intensive day spent reviewing PennWhite’s processes and procedures, checking the traceability of raw materials and finished goods as well as interrogating staff about their day to day working practices, Intertek were able to confirm that the policies and procedures in place at PennWhite are in compliance with the requirements of ISO 9001:2008. As a result the ISO 9001 Management System at PennWhite has been independently certified for a 14th consecutive year.

Managing Director John Whitehead stressed the importance of ISO 9001 to his business, “Whilst independent certification gives our customers peace of mind, the main benefit of operating a formalised management system is that it forces us to constantly question how we do things. It gives us a structure for reviewing our performance and for implementing any changes necessary to improve our efficiency and service.”

Although just sixteen years old, Bradley Hughes from Halesowen is already a veteran of the British motorcycle racing circuit; at age 10 he won his first national championship and by 13 had another two titles to his name. In 2012 Brad raced in the 125GP Championship series with support from PennWhite.

PennWhite’s involvement was championed by directors Stephen and John Whitehead Jr. who are keen motorcyclists themselves, arriving at PennWhite during the summer on an Aprilia and Ducati respectively. Stephen explains “As a business we always try to help young British talent, it’s a way for us to give something back to the wider community.” His brother John adds that “We [PennWhite] are constantly pushing ourselves to improve, to do better, so there’s a natural fit with Brad’s racing ambition.”

That ambition could see Brad move into the Superstock 600 Championship next year if he can raise additional financial support. During the 2013 season PennWhite have again supported Bradley in 125GP, while he has also competed in regional events on his Suzuki GSXR 600 against older riders on more powerful machines. His impressive results on the bigger bike have made him even more determined to compete in the 600cc class next year.

The Edinburgh Fringe Festival may not be the first place you expect to find the UKs leading supplier of foam control agents and silicone emulsions, but over the next few weeks PennWhite will be playing a role in the world famous event by supporting the renowned Durham University Light Opera Group, DULOG to its friends, in their production of Gilbert & Sullivan’s comic opera “The Pirates of Penzance”.

Most famous for “I am the very model of a modern Major General”, the opera has proven to be popular throughout the world since its first performance in New York on New Years Eve 1879. It tells the story of a young man, his first true love and pirates, what could possibly go wrong…..

DULOG are performing Pirates at The Merchants Hall, 22 Hanover Street (venue 278) daily at 3.55pm from 11th – 26th of August, Tickets are avialble at £8.50, visit www.spotlites.co.uk or call 0131 220 591 to book them.