Starting a business can be a daunting prospect at any point, but doing it in the middle of the pandemic is a risk that has paid dividends for Caffyn Engineering Ltd. Founded in October 2020, the Oxfordshire company immediately invested in machine tools from Hurco and production control software from PSL Datatrack.
Since its inception last year, the subcontract company has rapidly won several customers in the aerospace, automotive, medical and scientific industry sectors. Commenting upon starting the business during a challenging economic climate, Charlie Caffyn says: “I decided to take the leap with my business partner just as the pandemic happened, so it was too late to back out – but we are really happy that we did it. We officially started in October, and we had the machines and the software in place for the control of our production. We’ve only been in business seven months, and we have bought an additional machine, a CMM, a bandsaw and employed more staff.”
The company now has a Hurco VM10i and a VM20i machining centre as well as a Hurco TM8 turning centre along with the PSL Datatrack production control software. Referring to what was essential when the company started, Charlie continues: “The most essential things to the business when we first started was the production software and the machines we chose. I had worked with PSL Datatrack in previous jobs, and it was a no-brainer – PSL Datatrack was an absolute had to be.”
Explaining this, Charlie continues: “It’s all about ease-of-use. I can easily do quotations and raise an invoice in a matter of seconds. It’s fast, efficient and fully traceable and it follows the job from start to finish. This includes materials, the hours and much more. It’s really versatile and we do plan on getting accreditations in the future and the system will help us with this, as it has already put the process flow systems in place ready for us. Having the software from day one has enabled us to be competitive and be as efficient as we can be, from the start.”
The company predominantly machines prototypes, one-offs and small batch subcontract components and with PSL Datatrack, the company can load new parts onto its system as quickly as it would flag up a repeat job. “PSL Datatrack has allowed us to be in complete control of our admin. There will come a point in the future where we will need an admin person, but that will be when I have exhausted myself and my resources because we are so busy. When we employ somebody, the ease of use and the support from PSL Datatrack will simplify the process. The support team are always there for you and if you do need help, they can log into your system and support you with any issues. We have a good reputation on our promise to deliver to tight deadlines, PSL tracks everything in our business and this allows me to see what capacity we have available and where we can fit jobs into our schedule – this means that we can keep to our promises of high-quality components to tight deadlines.”
