Reflecting on 2018 my first thought was “hard work, a year best left behind”.  However, as I looked back through my notes I realised how wrong my first reflection was.  True, we did have to work hard and there were some setbacks but actually there were some spectacular successes as well.  This is how the year went.

January

We hit the ground running with people travelling all over the world.  Neill was in India for the official opening of the “Ian Brodey Technology Centre”.  This is a training centre from which our Indian company will offer training both to our distributors and end users and helps to position Norbar India as the leader in torque expertise in the country.  We also had staff in the Middle East, Canada and Australia for Norbar Australia’s annual sales conference.  Through a visit to Japan, we studied leading companies in the world of kaizen with the aim of bringing some of the best practices back to Banbury.

Talking of kaizen, January saw the first of three “rapid continuous improvement events” to be held in 2018 with massive support from our consultant from Japan and colleagues from our parent group.

February

On 1st February the Monte Carlo Historic Rally visited Banbury for the first time in many years.  Smelling an opportunity to talk to numerous “petrol heads”, Norbar took a small space in the paddock from which to promote our products.  It was perhaps not quite the success that we had hoped for but good enough for us to commit again when the rally comes through in 2019.

We held our annual Careers Open Evening on 8th February.  This is our chance to talk to children in their final school years and persuade them of the career opportunities in an engineering business.  Norbar has a strong history of taking on apprentices and, in this, we compete with other businesses in the Banbury area.  Our open evening is a fantastic opportunity to promote Norbar as a great place to work and to win-over some of the most talented young people in the area.

At the end of February and into early March we experienced disruptive levels of snow fall. Directors in Chicago for a conference struggled to get back due to flight cancellations.

March

4th to 7th March was the Cologne International Hardware Fair – the biggest marketing event in our calendar. The continuing snow turned the journey to Cologne for set-up into a major challenge and for a while it looked possible that the set-up team would not arrive on time. However, by virtue of some smart travel timing decisions they all got there and the exhibition stand was looking fabulous for the Sunday start. The show, back to its original four-day format, was a success with Norbar’s new Automated Torque Wrench Calibrator creating a constant stream of interested visitors.

March was busy for exhibitions because we also supported distributors at OGWA in Oman and the Maintenance Fair in Gothenburg.

In a momentous month all in all, our UKAS accredited laboratory had its reassessment visit and the lab staff should be rightfully proud of the glowing praise that they received from the assessors.  We also became the first laboratory in the country to be accredited to the revised BS 7882 standard (Method for Calibration and Classification of Torque Measuring Devices), BS 7882:2017.

Continuing the theme of assessments, our staff restaurant was assessed by Environmental Health and maintained their 5 Star Award for food hygiene, the highest level.

April and May

April was another month that saw staff all over the world drumming up business. There was lots of focus on the Middle East and I was in India looking at opportunities for us in the rail industry in particular.  We exhibited at the Offshore Technology Conference in Houston at the beginning of May with good results.

Preparations for GDPR (General Data Protection Regulations) were in full flow in advance of the 25th May launch.

8th May was the 75th anniversary of our incorporation.  On 9th December 1942 Bill Brodey wrote in his diary “we can no longer rely on America as our source of tools for aero engine manufacturing”.  The result of this thought led Bill and his friend Ernest Thornitt to set up the North Bar Tool Company with a licence from the Ministry of Supply to manufacture torque wrenches.

On 22nd and 23rd May we had our assessment to ISO 9001 (quality management systems) resulting in no non-conformities.

Norbar was proud to become the exclusive torque wrench supplier to Gulf Racing and their Porsche 911 RTR endurance car now carries our name.

June

June saw the celebration of our 75th Anniversary. We booked the hospitality marquee at Bicester Heritage and offered staff and their families front row seats at the “Flywheel” event, the annual celebration of vintage cars and aircraft.  We were blessed with beautiful weather which helped to make a great day and a fitting celebration of our anniversary.

At the beginning of the month we were pleased to host seven delegates from the Chinese Standards Organisation following their attendance on the ISO Standards meeting in London.

July and August

The most notable thing to say is that the glorious weather continued and many of our European customers were closed, resulting in the expected quieter times for us.  We ran our second rapid continuous improvement event and again we were delighted by the results achieved.  Just a simple thing but it is astonishing how far a person sometimes has to walk to complete an activity such as an assembly operation and gratifying to dramatically reduce this type of waste.

Ginny took part in the “Brave the Shave” campaign and courageously had a very close haircut raising £1100 for MacMillan Cancer Support.

September and October

Our customers are mostly back from their holidays and the business travel season started again in earnest. We have people in US, India, France, Denmark, Oman, Egypt and Turkey.

28th September saw the first Snap-on vs Norbar charity football match at the Banbury United stadium.  This good-humoured event also raised £500 for our charity, Katharine House Hospice.  We hope that this becomes a regular event and look forward to a return invitation.  Incidentally, Norbar won!

Our staff restaurant earned an “Eat Well in Cherwell” Silver Award from Cherwell District Council.

November and December

This period saw a massive push for torque wrench volume with people from across the company, Directors downwards, assisting with an evening shift to help meet demand.  This effort resulted in favourable invoiced figures in the run-up to year end and much improved delivery times.

We were at two exhibitions: ADIPEC in Abu Dhabi and OSEA in Singapore.  Both of these are oil and gas exhibitions so it was interesting to compare. OSEA, although worthwhile, was a fraction of its previous size and even then, with a lot of unsold booths or “meeting areas” as the organisers had labelled them.  ADIPEC on the other had seems relatively booming and we had to scramble to secure space in the UK pavilion for the 2019 show.

Jenny’s bingo raised £880 for Katharine House Hospice!

In December we passed a major sales milestone and a few days later confirmed 2018 as our best sales year to date, by some way.

2018, In Conclusion

Although it sometimes seemed tough going, there was much to celebrate in 2018. I think that our founders, Bill Brodey and Ern Thornitt would be proud of where the company has got to in 75 years and how they would have enjoyed the celebration at Flywheel!

Our quality system, energy management system and accredited calibration laboratory passed their respective assessments with flying colours earning praise from the auditors.  Our restaurant, an integral part of what makes Norbar a “great place to work” earned not only a 5 Star award for food hygiene but also an Eat Well in Cherwell Silver.

2018 was, on careful reflection, a stand-out year and we have set a high bar to clear in doing even better in 2019.

Happy New Year!

Philip Brodey,

Marketing Director