Merrychef has announced a raft of additional improvements to its Sheffield factory as demand for its recently launched conneX® oven increases. From a manufacturing perspective, an automated P I Salvagnini bender and more efficient press brake equipment has recently been installed to provide a faster, more accurate method of shaping the metal sheets for the oven casing, whilst a new in-house high efficiency powder coat painting facility is being introduced to reduce the product’s carbon footprint.
As Colin Lacey, vice president and managing director explains, being a responsible manufacturer is the driver behind many of the improvements: “Sustainability has become more and more important as we move from the linear economy of take, make, use and dump, to a more circular economy, centred around reusing and recycling. As a company we have already moved away from plastic components, with the majority of our oven components now being constructed from materials that can be reused.
“We are trying to be as responsible as we can be, making steady improvements year on year. For example, we have just moved from nitrogen to air for cutting, and are currently exploring whether we can utilise our 100,000 square foot roof for solar energy. We will imminently be installing EV charging stations on site for our customers and staff.”
The biggest asset
Whilst the infrastructure and machinery are obviously important, people remain the biggest asset of the company, and Merrychef continues to invest heavily in this area, as Lacey continues: “The business is growing at double digit rates and this is thanks to our biggest and most precious asset, our team. We’re very fortunate that we have lots of long serving members, but we also appreciate the need to invest in the future. We have added 100 new recruits to Sheffield in the last year and recently re-introduced our apprenticeship programme whilst initiating engineering internships for the first time. Both of these are great ways of nurturing new talent. We have also fostered relationships with UK universities to give students practical experience in the commercial world and as a way to identify new talent for the future.”
The Merrychef conneX® range has transformed the high-speed oven sector since it launched last year. Delivering speeds up to 80% faster than other cooking methods, the ovens are quite simply the quietest, fastest and most connected ovens Merrychef has ever developed.
Further details:
For more information on the new Merrychef conneX® range or any of our high speed ovens, please visit, https://info.merrychef.com/connex
