Jason Bishop, Magrak Ltd.’s founder is a builder by trade, having spent many years in the industry he noticed a gap in the market for fixing storage bins to the inside of vans. The most popular option of ply lining with built in racking and storage, can be very expensive. With the rise of leased vehicles many businesses don’t want the costs incurred and don’t want to disburse heavy fines when returning damaged vehicles from fixing storage.
After conducting extensive market research Bishop launched Magrak Ltd – a cost effective, damage free solution for quickly adding storage in to a van. Magrak aims to provide storage bins that are quick and simple to install and are suitable for vehicles or industrial machines.
How does Magrak work?
The Magrak storage bins use high powered, rubber coated neodymium magnetic strips to attach themselves to the inside of vans or the side of machinery. This system means that each storage bin can be installed in less than 1 minute, can be easily moved, and leave no damage to the attaching surface. They can also be screwed to wooden surfaces for a more permanent solution, such as inside ply-lined vans or garden sheds etc.
Jason began researching manufacturing options for Magrak when he found RP Technologies’ website whilst searching on the internet. He had a conversation with Paul Roe who explained how aluminium tooling would be suitable for his project. Prototype tooling has short lead times compared steel tooling, offering reduced time to market for new products. Another advantage is pricing, soft tooling offers substantial cost savings compared to steel production tooling, it’s generally around 30-40% cheaper, enabling a cost-effective product launch. Jason commented that “RP’s knowledge of tooling was second to none and their no-nonsense approach was refreshing. Being new to this industry RP put me at ease explaining each stage of manufacturing and sending photos of the tooling once manufacture had begun. It was reassuring being able to visit RP’s facilities both before placing my order and during the manufacturing process.This was one of the main reasons I wanted to use a UK supplier rather than a toolmaker in China.”
Mould Simulation Analysis
Magrak were one of the first customers to utilise RP’s latest investment. Mould simulation analysis software was used to validate the design of the component before RP started to design and manufacture the tooling. The software allowed RP to gain product insights, visualise flow and thermal properties and optimise processes before physical parts were produced. This analysis not only helped to improve the quality of the finished product, but it also helped to reduce the development costs and manufacturing time by eliminating any potential issues before manufacturing begun. This analysis process also allowed RP’s tool designers to have a sound understanding of the product design ensuring the tool would produce high quality, durable parts with a repeatable process when being moulded.
Digital & Traditional Manufacturing
Tooling manufacture began upon RP’s impressive suite of Hurco CNC machining centres which are powered by CAD/CAM digital manufacturing processes. RP combine both digital and traditional manufacturing and hand finish all their tooling ensuring quality is of the highest standard. Magrak had specified that parts needed to be correct during the first tool trial, once tooling was complete it was passed to RP’s Quality Engineering Department where it was inspected and measured to ensure the critical dimensions were correct before proceeding to production.
Paul Roe, General Manager at RP Technologies commented “At RP we are highly experienced within prototyping and new product development, our services lend themselves to customers such as Magrak. We supply production grade components from aluminium tooling and have a reputation for high quality which is imperative when launching a new product to the market place.”
Following the success of their first product launch, Magrak are in early development stages and plan to expand their product range soon, Jason commented “RP have become a trusted supplier, and I’ll be using their services for future projects.”
For further information about Magrak please visit www.magrak.co.uk or to discuss your upcoming injection moulding project please visit www.rptechnologies.co.uk or call Paul Roe on 0121 550 5868.
