By Ross Hartshorn, Sheerline’s technical production director.

Customers are – or should be – at the forefront of every business. Afterall, how can a business function without customers?

At Sheerline, everything we’ve done is built around the idea that the aluminium experience for fabricators and installers should be better. For us, that means offering a reliable service and innovative products backed up by after sales support and listening to customer feedback.

Based on the growth we’ve achieved over the past five years; I’d argue we have also helped move aluminium into the 21^st century at last. Not only have we exceeded our customer’s expectations, but we’ve driven change within the wider industry, forcing our competitors to try to improve their OTIF, lead times, and overall approach to customer service.

But, as an organisation committed to continuous improvement across all aspects of the business, it’s not enough for us to simply reach a goal or target. Once we achieve what we’ve set out to, we then look at how we’re going to maintain this progress, while also looking ahead and reassessing our goals to ensure they continue to offer the best service, enabling us to continually improve, so our customers reap the benefits of dealing with an agile, forward-thinking supplier.

People & processes

Part of my remit is to oversee the day-to-day operations across the site’s production facility. I work with a strong senior management team who know their roles and responsibilities and prioritise internal communications and team work so we can focus on delivering the first-class service we’ve gained a reputation for. So, what’s the winning formula that helps us stay ahead?

We collect data internally from different areas of the business to benchmark and assess how well we’re performing. This enables us to make strategic decisions and either add or remove processes to ensure we’re operating as efficiently as possible. One example of this is how our extrusion, maintenance, and tool room team are working together to reduce scrap rates.

The volume of aluminium we’re extruding is increasing year-on-year and we anticipate this trend will continue. To ensure we not only keep pace, but have the capacity to support even more customers, we have responded strategically.

We’ve increased our output considerably in line with demand and stock building, plus, our teams work to a planned maintenance schedule, ensuring our dies are maintained to the highest standards, reducing scrap rates while increasing quality.

Everyone working in those teams has an eye for quality, which is a key value for us at Sheerline. The way we work together and our approach to maintenance is indicative of our approach to sustainability – both in terms of closed loop manufacturing processes and long-term business growth.

It’s not just in extrusion where processes have been put in place to reduce scrap. The paint production team have also maintained low scrap levels thanks to the introduction of new equipment and processes. This technology has enabled us to standardise the preparation of profiles, which has improved throughput and created an even better finish.

A key goal at Sheerline is to maintain the first-class service we already offer while increasing our capacity so we can grow sustainably. So far, we’ve delivered an average OTIF of 99.3% for the year (up to June 2025), all while supplying customers in five days for standard paint colours, ten days for character colours, and 15 days for bespoke options.

This consistently high OTIF can be attributed to strong internal communications, strategic production planning, internal training, and setting targets to make sure we don’t let our customers down. Where orders have been incomplete, we recognise the disruption this has caused our customers, so we’ve communicated with them prior to their delivery and ensured missing items are on their next delivery.

Our customers are central to everything we do, that’s why providing a first-class service is so important. It informs our approach to processes, product innovation, and how we operate. This is all part of the Sheerline difference and something that sets us apart in an industry that is becoming increasingly competitive for fabricators.

It’s never been more important to work with a reliable aluminium systems house, so if that’s not the service you’re receiving, then feel free to get in touch.