“
Focus on Italy
and greater speed etc. because we need to produce as
Rupert Martin, chairman of
much as we can off the square metres of factory space
Dextra Lighting available. The S2 is a fantastic bit of machinery – the
folders and punchers are very reliable. The machine
is linked to Italy and the level of support is good. The
folders are all modern ones – we have our own paint
lines and paint the product in the flat. The machines
can fold to a box after the material has been painted.
You need to have the latest generation machinery for
that capability. If you can paint in the flat, you save
25-30% of the paint alone and it can go through
your lines more quickly…“
Dextra Lighting buys in sheet steel, cut to
size from the supplier. It then uses its machine
The partnership principle
to punch holes and crop out the shape of the
corner (which then forms a corner once folded).
Salvagnini automated machines (S2, S4 etc.) work
24 hours per day on the Dextra shop floor.
I
SMR spoke to a Salvagnini customer who currently Dextra Lighting runs both Salvagini and
“We are running eight Salvagnini machines,”
has eight of its machine tools – the highest Amada machines. It uses Salvagnini machine tools
Martin adds. “The existing S4P4 will be changed this
count of Salvagnini machines in the UK to date. for punching and folding – its latest S2 punching
December for a brand new S4S.30 model (which uses
Dextra Lighting is now not only a commodity lighting machine is the only one being used, currently,
about 25% less power), is a bit quicker and has more
manufacturer but also a producer of niche higher in the UK. The Salvagnini folders make the
capability. Instead of the P4 (the folding end), we will
end architectural style products using its Salvagnini luminaire boxes.
have the latest P4-1916 folder.”
machines. This, believes its chairman Rupert Martin,
“We usually change machinery every seven
is Dextra’s greatest single success over the last
The Dextra facility
years – you tend to find the most changes and
three years. It is now, Martin told ISMR, the largest
at Gillingham
efficiency upgrades over that timescale. With JIT
privately owned lighting/luminaire manufacturer in
manufacturing, the reliability/flexibility end is
the UK with 425 employees.
very important to us. Return-on-investment goes
Operating from a single site in Gillingham,
out of the window if your reputation is that you
Dorset (UK), Dextra Lighting offers products that
can deliver on time. The seven-year old machine
range from everyday items, readily available at
that we have is worked five days per week, 24
electrical wholesalers, to those of a more bespoke
hours per day – in effect, equivalent to a 21-year
nature geared towards the specifier. This includes
old machine on a one-shift basis. That machine
recessed, emergency, industrial, retail/display,
“Our largest investment has been in Salvagnini is working superbly but she has done a lot of
exterior lighting etc.
machinery,” Martin continues. “With the S2, you’re work so changing the machine gives you more
“We have rapidly expanded over the last ten
talking about a whole new way of manufacturing efficiency, in power and speed and reliability.”
years and should turn over about £42 million this
which is much quicker. Salvagnini punching machines Rupert Martin has embraced a partnership
year,” Rupert Martin told ISMR. “We’ve got to this
are quite expensive but they have a long lifetime, are principle with his supplier, believing that it has
position on the back of service to our customers,
very accurate and are very fast. We bought the S2 helped to propel Dextra Lighting towards success.
based on a principle of Just In Time manufacturing.
in June 2006 to replace our seven-year old S4P4, a “One of the reasons that my company is so
This means that we rely heavily on good machinery
Salvagnini punching and folding line. successful is the quality of machinery that we buy,”
- 80% of what we manufacture today will be
“We regularly change our machines to keep up he told ISMR. “Salvagnini has now become part of
loaded onto our own vehicles overnight. We aim to
with new technology, benefit from less power usage

my business.”
rapidly turn sheet metal into finished product (3-5
day turnovers) and deliver throughout the UK.”
Dextra’s lighting products are modular
CONTACT: Dextra Lighting, Brickfields Business Park, Gillingham, Dorset SP8 4PX, UK
luminaries which are made of sheet metal
Tel: +44 (0)1747 858 100 • Website: www.dextralightong.co.uk
boxes. The Salvagnini machines that it uses are
specialised box-makers.
“The basic raw material for luminaries is still
sheet metal,” Martin explains. “We buy in about
400 tonnes of CR4 material per month and can
machine down to a minimum of 0.55mm material
which runs successfully through our Salvagnini S2
punching machine.”
A Dextra luminaire product
32 May/June 2007 International Sheet Metal Review
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