Managing Director, Ian Whitworth, told Felicity Merrin how he helps put the spring back into his customer’s flexibility

When we lie down to sleep on our comfortable beds, or relax into a seat on the train, we spare little thought for the science behind the spring construction that supports us, and even keeps us safe. It’s surprising to discover the extent of precision with which springs, for a multitude of purposes, are now produced. Having developed its own computer controlled spring making machinery, Springform Technology has opened up the spring manufacturing market, previously lacking in innovation.

Springform’s original sister companies Wade Spring and Elson & Robbins were direct competitors. Then, in 1992 the Wade Furniture Group acquired Elson & Robbins, and Wade’s own spring operations were merged into the Elson & Robbins factory. The decision was made to keep the company trading under the two separate names for its two distinct product groups. Elson & Robbins for bedding springs and Wade Spring for furniture springs. One year prior to this merger Ian Whitworth joined the board of Elson & Robbins. He came to the company with 14 years experience in the electrical cable industry, where lean manufacturing techniques were already quite well established. Whitworth was concerned by the long changeover times, lack of flexibility, and the high labour content of the plant and its processes. Subsequently, the company set out on various initiatives for maximum improvement in all areas. An example of one of these initiatives was a set-up time reduction programme. However, Whitworth said that in the beginning, “we repeatedly found ourselves unable to reach our targets owing to the inherent inflexibility of the spring making machines that were available at the time. There were very few substantive machinery suppliers and they had appeared to have no interest in making their machines more versatile.”

Whitworth convinced his colleagues at Elson & Robbins that he could make a flexible machine which would be capable of producing high quality springs, of numerous designs, to suit a worldwide market of primarily bespoke orders. In 1997 his team began developing a new computer controlled pocket spring coiler. Although CNC coiling was already being used in engineering spring making, this kind of technology wasn’t available in the furniture spring industry. Over the next three years the company committed itself to continuous hard work and further investment. Several patents later Springform Technology was formed and Whitworth was appointed its Managing Director. Springform has continued the developments and now offers its machinery to a worldwide market. Its latest manufacturing cell uses cnc coiling, ultrasonic welding and hot melt adhesive technologies to produce king size mattress interiors in two minutes on a one shot lean manufacturing basis.

“While a mattress interior might previously have taken several days to construct, it now takes a matter of minutes from the original input of data and materials, to the product being complete and ready for the customer,” said Whitworth. These methods are significantly less labour intensive, resulting in reduced costs and improved efficiency. Large orders can be manufactured efficiently, as well as small batches of two or three bespoke products due to the flexibility of the Springform Technology plant. Working on a one-shot basis also means any problems that occur can be traced back through the chain of production, resulting in direct solutions.

In 2006 Wade closed its bed spring division in the UK, but by that time Springform had established itself as a significant supplier to the spring making and bed making industries.

Now completely independently, Springform sells its machines throughout the UK, Europe and the rest of the World.

Wade has set up a joint venture with Hickory Springs in North Carolina. Its facility in Holland, Michigan has been producing mattress interiors using Springform equipment for several years, and is well placed as the only independent player in the market.

Another Wade joint venture is in Johannesburg, here again Springform machinery gives them an edge on the competition. 

Springform Technology is still based in Long Eaton near Nottingham and is relatively small, employing 15 skilled engineers. However, Springform machines have had a global impact on the development of spring making technology. The market for springs was an area previously neglected, but has now been boosted through innovative thinking and design.

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