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As the company edges ever-closer to its 200-year milestone, Manufacturing Today sits down with Arlene Campbell-Moore, Director of Supply Chain at Ashcroft, and John Pennell, Director of Business Development, to learn more about how Ashcroft is leveraging cuttingedge technology and a closely-collaborative approach to cultivate world-leading success.
“ There is a high level of cross-functional engagement across Ashcroft, particularly within our New Product Introduction( NPI) processes, where sales, engineering, product, marketing, and procurement teams work closely together,” Arlene begins.“ During the NPI test phase, our engineering, product, and procurement teams work closely together to address critical considerations such as raw material selection, sourcing regulations, and customer requirements. We approach sourcing through a business-continuity lens, planning not only for primary suppliers but also establishing secondary and tertiary sourcing strategies to ensure long-term resilience.
“ One thing I think Ashcroft does best is bring people from different parts of the organization together in focused working sessions to explore market developments and identify the key internal contributors for
Arlene Campbell-Moore, Director of Supply Chain
John Pennell, Director of Business Development
each initiative. This approach helps ensure we achieve the best possible outcomes from every functional perspective while giving all teams a shared, holistic view of the products we plan to introduce.” Specializing in the design and manufacture of temperature, pressure, and test
instruments, innovation runs at the very core
of Ashcroft. This focus permeates every facet of the business, from its internal operations to external sourcing, and forms a fundamental part of its wider investment strategy.
“ One example of this is our approach to sensor technology,” John explains.“ Ashcroft has invested heavily in owning and developing our core sensor technology rather than sourcing it externally. By leveraging Nagano Keiki( Ashcroft’ s parent company) sensor technology across our transducer platforms, we’ ve established a common design foundation that supports multiple products.
“ This shared architecture allows us to standardize components while still modifying electronics and configurations to meet different certifications and application requirements. Owning the technology creates natural standardization and reduces supply chain risk. It also allows
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