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At Fairburn Heating Solutions, our guiding belief is that process heating should never cause downtime.  Our vision, values and everything we do for our clients is built on this simple, but powerful belief.

How do we do it?

We work with our clients to help them transition from “reactive repairs” to a philosophy of “proactive asset management”.  We take them on the Fairburn Asset Management Journey to reduce breakdowns, grow productivity and transform the performance of their industrial gas heating system.

Does it work?

We get lots of very positive feedback from our clients and whilst many like to remain anonymous, some have allowed us to share great testimonial quotes and case studies.

However, that wasn’t enough for Craig Carr, Managing Director of Fairburn Heating Solutions.  As he put it “It’s fantastic when a client tells you how pleased they are, but we wanted to have some more concrete evidence, so four years ago we started tracking the amount of downtime repair work we carried out, to see if it was indeed reducing as we helped our clients move to a more proactive, planned approach to maintenance.”

What are the results?

The early data was very encouraging, but we quickly realised that looking at individual months was potentially misleading due to the inherent unpredictability of breakdowns and some seasonality in the maintenance work we undertake for clients.

To give a clearer picture we decided to track a moving 12-month figure which gives a smoothed figure.  This approach is commonly used to track performance where there is seasonality and volatility in the monthly data.  Unfortunately, it meant we had to wait a bit longer to see the results which tested our patience!  However, we now have over three years data and there is a clear trend with invoiced work from downtime repairs reduced by over 35% compared with 2020 for the same basket of clients.

Doesn’t that mean the business is in decline?

You might think so, but on the contrary, our strategy is not only delivering positive results for our clients, but it has also created the conditions for our business to enjoy sustained growth.

A shift from reactive to proactive maintenance work has allowed us to make better use of our expert engineers and given us the confidence to quote for and win new clients.  As a consequence, our business is growing, diversified and more resilient.

In summary, as Craig says “It really is a win-win:  our clients suffer fewer unplanned breakdowns, save money and strengthening their customer relationships; while our business continues to grow.”

Can my business benefit from the Fairburn approach?

If you would like to find out more about the Fairburn Asset Management Journey and how we can reduce unplanned breakdowns in your operations, please call us on 01886 5358 025, email totalsolutions@fairburnhs.com or send us an enquiry.

Just over a year after our first visit, James, Jay and Dan were back in the Isle of Skye for a week earlier this year, working for Mowi ASA, the largest producer of Atlantic Salmon on their Salmon feed driers.

In addition to our role as annual service provider, we were commissioned to replace two gas burners with smaller ones to provide more temperature control and save energy.  We removed two Winnox WX300 burners and replaced them with two Ratiomatic RM300 burners to give Mowi a lower temperature at the end of the oven, forcing the start and middle zones to increase temperature which gives the oven a better overall temperature profile for the drying of the Salmon feed.

The burners were acquired through Kempston Controls, who are channel partners of Honeywell.

The installation was a great success, and Mowi are now enjoying the energy saving.

We are always happy to support our valued clients when they undertake charity fundraising, but it’s still nice to receive a letter like this from Tim Freeman the Deputy Managing Director of Toyota thanking us for our support.

Like many of our clients, our relationship with Toyota is along one, going back over 15 years and is a good example of building a trusted relationship and a proactive maintenance service that supports their manufacturing goals.  To read the full letter, click on the image above.

Weishaupt are a leading manufacturer of gas, oil and duel-fuel burners widely used across the world.  With a history dating back to 1932, the company has a well-established reputation for reliability and quality.  Oil burner manufacturing began in 1952, with the first gas burner produced 60 years ago in 1963.

Craig, Sean James & Dan undertook a training session at Weishaupt UK HQ, Willenhall in December 2022. The Training focussed on the WG gas burner range which offer a wide capacity range up to 700kW, and with excellent programmable air gas/ration emissions performance.

Commenting on the successful training session, Craig said “Weishaupt gas burners are a great example of high-quality German engineering, and have very good spares availability, so we ‘re always happy to recommend them to our clients where the application fits.”

Find out more about our comprehensive process heating services – design, installation and maintenance.

Craig has always been keen to roll up his sleeves and support the team, and he’s now gone one step further having spent the last 18 months working through the commercial gas training programme to become a Gas Safe Registered Commercial Gas Technician.

This doesn’t mean he’s about to desert his responsibilities as Manging Director, but means he can help out at times of peak demand or emergency call outs.

As Craig says “It’s very hard to recruit decent Commercial Gas Technicians at the moment, and freelance Technicians are also in high demand, so it just seemed sensible to get my own qualifications and be able to support the field team when required.  At Fairburn we pride ourselves on the service we give to our customers, including working weekends and so if I can provide some back up to the front-line team it means we won’t let anyone down, even in periods of high demand.”

If you are interested in joining the Fairburn team, please visit the careers page of our website for details of current vacancies.

As energy and almost every other cost of production rises at rates we haven’t seen for a generation, many manufacturers are scutinising their costs looking for opportunities to make savings. In previous downturns, some businesses have chosen to cut maintenance. At face value, it’s an easy decision; move away from paying a regular fixed fee and only pay out when something absolutely needs fixing.

However, that is often a false economy. Moving away from proactive, planned maintenance will push a manufacturing plant back to a reactive approach to maintenance where parts are replaced or mended when they break. This inevitably results in more unexpected failures, unplanned breakdowns, unpredictable repairs and a rapidly spirally amount of downtime, with all the costs of idle plant and the potential damage to customer relationships. For many manufacturers, even one hour of unplanned downtime can be hugely expensive.

More enlightened manufacturers realise that good maintenance actually saves them money. Not just the reduction in unplanned breakdowns and downtime, but in a number of other ways. Installing secondary gas metering can identify opportunities to improve energy efficiency. Monitoring key expensive assets ensures they are replaced at exactly the right time, when their performance is deteriorating but before they break gets the maximum value out of the assets and keeps the whole production process running at optimal levels.

In addition, well-maintained production equipment enjoys a longer life, delaying the capital cost of replacement. In a climate of rising interest rates, securing finance and meeting more expensive repayments is a much more challenging situation than in recent years.

For more information about our approach to maintenance and the benefits that your business could enjoy, you can download our free white paper – The Asset Management Journey, or you can contact us directly through the contact form or give us a call on 01886 358025.

A fantastic end to the motorcycle racing season for our sponsored riders ended in the last few weeks.

Mike Leeson (pictured above) finished second in  the last race of his season to claim the Mallory Trophy 601-1300cc championship and second place in the Mallory Allcomers Trophy.

We’re really proud of your achievements Mikey – you absolutely smashed it!

Cam Fraser (pictured above with Craig Carr) had a fantastic finish to his season leapfrogging from 3rd place to 2nd in the Bennetts British Superbikes GP2 Cup.

Cam’s 2nd and 3rd place finishes in the last two races saw him finish 17 points clear of third place and narrow the gap on the championship leader.

Fantastic stuff Cam, we can’t wait for next season!

Our latest apprentice to join the team is Jay Bovill.  Jay is working with James Brown, one of our Senior Gas Technicians.  Jay is new to the gas industry, so in addition to working alongside James, he will be studying at the Smart Gas Assessment, Training & Apprenticeship Centre in Ashbourne, Derbyshire.

Outside of work, Jay is an accomplished BMX rider, who was selected for the British team that took part in the World Championship in France this summer.  Jay was the only member of the Junior Men’s team to make it through to day two of the competition and eventually progressed to the semi-final and an overall 5^th place.

Craig Carr, Managing Director of Fairburn Heating said “We are delighted to welcome Jay to our team.  His achievements in BMX riding demonstrate a level of commitment and resilience that will serve him well in the gas industry.”

Jay commented “I’m already enjoying the mix of practical experience working with James and the training with Smart Gas.  I’m hoping to make the Olympic BMX team in 2024, but it’s important to me to have skills that will enable me to build a career to support my riding and provide a successful future for me after my BMX days are over.  I’m grateful to Fairburn for providing that opportunity.”

If you or someone you know would be interested in an apprenticeship with Fairburn or a more senior role, please check the careers page.

With two wins the last meeting and 2nd place or better in every race this season, our sponsored rider Mikey Leeson is not surprisingly leading the Mallory Trophy 601-1300cc championship going in to the final race meeting of the season on 23rd October.

With a 35 point lead over his nearest rival, he is in a very strong position and he also leads the Mallory Allcomers Trophy by a single point.  However, with double points available for the final round, we’re keeping our fingers firmly crossed that Mikey maintains his super consistency through both races and takes the titles he so richly deserves.

Go smash it Mikey, we can’t wait to come and cheer you on this Sunday!

Heatwaves, traffic jams, queues at airports and ferry terminals can only mean one thing – it’s the summer holiday season!  And so it’s the time of year when many manufacturing plants have their annual shutdown, especially in the automotive sector.

So, while our clients’ workforces are taking a well-earned holiday, our engineers are carrying out planned maintenance.  Our approach to planned maintenance, driven by monitoring of process heating systems and their key components means we can get a lot of routine gas burner maintenance work completed when the plants are shut, reducing the impact on productivity and the cost of unplanned breakdowns.

The same principle applies to the other industry sectors we work in.  Using data to predict component failures means we can work with the manufacturing teams to plan maintenance at a time that best suits their demand schedule.  Very often, we can carry out maintenance work at weekends or overnight to minimise the impact on the smooth running of the factory.

If you are frustrated by the number of unplanned breakdowns to your process heating system, please give us a call on 01886 358 025, we’ll be happy to show you why we believe process heating should never cause downtime.