Winyard Engineering Ltd

Who are Winyard Engineering?

In 1973 Gordon Winyard identified a gap in the market for a food machine repairs service, so he set up Winyard Engineering within the old Workman's Institute building in Spalding.

The business moved to larger premises in Pinchbeck during the early 1990s, allowing them to diversify their servicing and repair business into the design and production of their own food processing machinery.

Winyard's best-selling creation is the Spiralising Machine which cuts vegetables, such as courgettes and squashes, into long spaghetti-like strands.

With celebrity chefs such as Mary Berry and Jamie Oliver promoting spiralized vegetables as an alternative to pasta the demand for the product has soared to the point where the business is now running at full capacity.

Winyard Engineering trades internationally, selling its bespoke machinery across Europe,Australia and the USA and now employs 20 highly skilled members of staff, including two apprentices, one of which recently won Boston College's Apprentice of the Year award.

The challenge

With demand forcing the business to run at full capacity, Gordon's focus has been on ensuring manufacturing excellence and increased productivity. Upgrading certain pieces of manufacturing equipment to drive down costs and production times has been a key priority which has led Winyard Engineering to look at investing in a much higher specification lathe.

After researching options, Gordon found that investing in a new lathe could increase production speeds by 25% whilst cutting scrap ratios from 5% to 2%, a cost saving of around £11,000 a year.

The solution

Gordon found out about Grants4Growth from his accountants and having compared the different grant initiatives in the market he contacted the team.

Within days, Winyard Engineering's Finance Team were visited by a business adviser who guided them through the application process. Two weeks later, Winyard Engineering were awarded a financial contribution of £6,600 towards the cost of a new lathe.

Since its installation the business has seen production times halved and quality tolerance improved, due to the built-in computer which drives the new lathe.

"The application process was very straightforward and we were able to get three comparative quotes for the new lathe quite easily to aid our application."

What's next?

Gordon is extremely positive about the future and is constantly looking for new and emerging technologies that can improve Winyard Engineering's productivity.

Recently, the company also purchased a commercial 3D printer, believing that 3D printing will play a key role in manufacturing the components needed for their own production lines.

With retirement approaching, Gordon is keen to pass on the skills he has learnt to the  younger generations and therefore plans to continue hiring apprentices within the business.

"Although we are now primarily a manufacturing business it is our people that will continue to give us the edge and as I move towards my own retirement it important that we continue to develop the engineers and leaders of the future."

 "I'm delighted that we've managed to purchase the new lathe as it's allowed us to not only future-proof our business but also give the apprentices something new to hone their skills with"

"With one of our apprentices winning apprentice of the year award we hope to keep updating our machinery so that we upkeep a high standard of hands-on experience."