Viewports manufactured at Torr Scientific
Here at Torr Scientific, we are regularly tasked with manufacturing orders of large quantities, not only with orders for our vacuum viewports, which can reach many 100’s of pieces, but also for our non‑standard products such as tubulations or x-ray anodes.
Mass manufacturing presents many challenges across the board from procurement to packing and everything in between. So how do we figure it out?
Speaking to our Assistant Production Manager, Lucy and Operations Manager, John, they shared their experiences with the importance of planning and organisation in mass production.
One phrase they repeated was Lean Manufacturing. This production methodology is all about maximising efficiency and minimising the waste required to flow from one task to another. This can include wasted time, with Lucy highlighting one key idea of improving efficiency – organising your physical space. This can be organising something “as simple as your desk” to something as complicated as our inspection clean room. The key is that if you know where everything is, you can move efficiently around your workspace.
Glass domes manufactured at Torr Scientific
One example of volume manufacturing is these Conflat®‑flanged glass domes we recently supplied to a customer. These products are utilised when optical access is required within a closed chamber, with the rounded shape meaning there are no edges to impact the visibility.
Every dome needs to spend time in several different department, starting off in the glass-blowing department, then into welding, then into leak testing, cleaning and inspection, before being packed and labelled ready for despatch.
Organising their time, as well as the workflow between each stage is essential for optimising factory space. John spoke to me about how our customers can help with mass manufacturing, describing two suggestions: call‑offs and advance warning.
Call‑offs are a “blanket order” for a set period. Often, we have customers in advance letting us know they want, for example, 1200 fused silica CF38 viewports for the year, but they tell us that they will call‑off (AKA request) 100 pieces every few weeks. This means we can prepare in advance to have the stock available and we don’t need to panic about getting large quantities of materials to our factory in limited timeframes.
Alternatively, some of our customers prefer to forecast their requirements ahead of sending a purchase order. This means we can actively prepare for when we do receive the order, knowing we need a set quantity of materials at a set time to complete that specific enquiry.
Straight glass connectors manufactured at Torr Scientific
Another example of mass manufacturing another glass-to-metal seals product is our straight connectors. These are used when electrical isolation between two chambers is required. The challenge for mass producing these items comes mainly from the glass shop, needing to perfect the glass-to-metal seal each time. It is a challenge of repeatability!
A lot of the time we don’t have the luxury of preparing in advance for large orders, instead receiving requests out of the blue that need to be fulfilled as quickly as possible. When these challenges arise, John told me how we approach this effectively with lean manufacturing, sharing the important message – if you don’t plan “you’ll have cost, you’ll have waste”.
The first point is safety stock. A lot of the materials we have ready in stock are for a wide range of products. Having this reduces the time waiting for suppliers to deliver parts and means we can start work manufacturing more quickly.
The next point he made was regarding our ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) software. In March 2024, we switched to a new ERP, which greatly improved our communication between departments. Being able to follow the process from the order being raised to the shipping information means we can have greater control and understanding of the team
Additionally, we have improved our techniques for efficiency as we have grown as a company, learning how to use our time more wisely and investing in better equipment with more specialised features to speed up processes.
If you have a large-scale project you are working on, please contact our sales team at: sales@torrscientific.co.uk and help us prepare, because as John says – it’s better to “work with us”.
