Representatives of one of Alpha’s key customers were on site this week to mark an important milestone in the partnership between themselves and Alpha Manufacturing as their 5000th server cabinet rolled off the Alpha production line.
The customer, who is a leading commercial server cabinet supplier, presented a commemorative sign that they had commissioned to mark the achievement and gave core members of their dedicated Alpha assembly team a small gift as a token of their appreciation for their hard work and dedication to quality.
The partnership began back in 2017 when the American based company approached Alpha to become the UK manufacturer of their product. Alpha were quick to support, investing in dedicated assembly and quality teams, while working closely with the customer to optimize the product design for manufacture. A complex contract to undertake in the outset, a huge amount of pre-production set up was required to manage the many different product variants and complex assemblies.
At the peak of production, prior to COVID-19, Alpha were producing 270 cabinets per month of varying size and complexity to be shipped direct to end users around Europe. As demand ramped up throughout the contract, Alpha were quick to invest in new automated storage systems for stock components and additional resource to ensure consistent supply.
Alpha Commercial Director Robin Eley has been key to developing the relationship between Alpha and the customer over the past three years:
“We recognised that it was a massive opportunity for Alpha when the customer sent out tender documents but equally that it would be a challenging contract for us to take on. At the time, the complex nature of the product range was more involved than anything we had undertaken before. We really tackled it head on to make sure that once full-scale production was underway, we had everything already in place. As a partnership, we’ve gone from strength to strength, you’ll often find their staff working from the Alpha offices. We’ve become part of the same team essentially.”
As with all industries in 2020, both Alpha and the customer experienced major disruption during the lockdown period but early signs since the return are very positive with demand rising strongly again. This 5000-cabinet milestone is testament to Alpha’s collaborative approach and the strong relationship built between the two companies over the past 3 years.
Here’s to the next 5000 cabinets.
