Business Opportunity Rolls-In for Hone-All Precision

20 November 2014

Continuing its rapid growth and investment strategy, Hone-All Precision has now acquired the roller manufacturing division of A.T Roberts Ltd. With three divisions within the Watford business, Hone-All will be taking on two divisions that encompass the production of rollers, cylinders, shafts and precision roller tube as well as shaft straightening and balancing for the print and packaging industry.

As part of the business purchase, Hone-All Precision has taken delivery of two specialised machines from A.T Roberts, a dynamic balancing machine and a straightening press.

Furthermore, the Leighton Buzzard deep hole boring and turning specialist has employed the expertise of A.T Roberts Managing Director Mr Nick Orford on a 12 month contract. This will ensure a smooth transition, a transfer of customer knowledge, product expertise and a continuing commitment to excellence in the manufacturing of precision rollers and components for the existing customer base.

Commenting upon the business acquisition and the transition period, Mr Orford says: "The business sale has come around because I, and a number of my key staff are at retirement age. With a decision made, the next step was to find a suitable company to purchase the business. We have been trading for over 100 years and have built excellent relationships and a reputation in the print and packaging industry and we didn't want to desert these valued customers. To this end, we have been using Hone-All as a trusted and highly reputable supplier for over 20 years, so we approached Hone-All and worked on a deal as their capabilities, capacity, expertise, quality and locality are aligned with our customers and would guarantee the continuation of our services."

For OEM print and packaging machinery manufacturers that are unfamiliar with Hone-All, it is a specialist provider of Deep Hole Boring, Deep Hole Drilling, Gundrilling, CNC Turning and CNC Honing services up to a maximum of 4 metres in length. The company also specialises in precision and thin wall tube manufacture, which is a key area for the print sector. This extensive expertise ensures that existing A.T Roberts customers will benefit from enhanced customer service levels and manufacturing excellence that Hone-All is renowned for throughout high-tech industries such as the aerospace, automotive, oil & gas, F1 and medical sectors.

Historically, A.T Roberts has been a benchmark in the roller, cylinder and tube market with product lines including bespoke steel and aluminium rollers manufactured to the exact demands of the end user. For specific applications these products can be coated with hard chrome plating, PTFE, rubber and even hard anodised to suit the application. With the rapid evolution of material technology, A.T Roberts has in recent years developed its own line of carbon fibre rollers to deliver exceptional strength in load-bearing applications where the print/packaging machine demands lightweight and efficient rollers. It is this area that is a particularly attractive growth proposition for Hone-All.

The material technology involved in roller production is a key element for print & packaging OEMs. With different rollers serving multiple purposes and rotating at speeds up to 1000 metres per minute, material selection and surface finish is a key consideration. To efficiently run at such high-speeds, Hone-All has invested in the A.T Roberts balancing machine and straightening press that can guarantee the run-out and precision of rollers is maintained.

From a capacity perspective, just like A.T Roberts, Hone-All will have the capability to produce rollers, cylinders and tube products up to 300mm diameter with lengths from 50mm to over 4m. This is available in quantities from one-offs to specified production batches.

Commenting upon the acquisition, Hone-All Director, Andrea Rodney comments: "We are delighted with this exciting business opportunity. The British Print Organisation (BPIF) estimates that the print industry is the UK's fifth largest manufacturing sector with a value of £14.1bn turnover a year."

"It employs over 130,000 staff in 10,000 companies. Based on these remarkable figures, we are delighted to have the opportunity to develop and grow an innovative product line that is essential to the print industry as it moves forward."

From a manufacturing perspective, each roller is either deep hole bored, honed and turned or in the case of tubing, it is precision machined and despatched. Hone-All has spent the last 20 years producing the highest quality tubular type components for all industries in all materials, working to tenths of microns on challenging parts that often include thin walled parts. So, we are looking forward to the challenge this acquisition will present. Furthermore, we will be looking to grow this side of the business in the coming year to compliment our current services and to allow us to diversify into a new and extremely sizeable industry," concludes Andrea Rodney.