"Made In China"... ?

That may have been true for most products a few years ago but nowadays more items are made and produced in the UK

At 365Drills in 2005 we considered the problems tilers faced drilling holes into porcelain so we looked at existing equipment and saw that it relied on a pilot drill to holed the diamond core steady.


Pilot Drills cause trouble!

Realising that pilot drills cause more harm than good we looked at a way to remove the pilot. Its easy to forget now in 2010 but back then there was NOTHING on the market place to help tilers drill holes that also offered value for money.

So we set about designing the prototype in our UK FACTORY!!


First our design was formed using - yes you guessed it - BRITISH software and CAD design.



Once we had a working design it was then on to produce a prototype.


Here at a BRITISH factory we are CNC machining a replica of what we are trying to develop.



Some parts you cant machine... Good old fashioned hand work is required !



Looking familiar?


Another machine process to tidy up the edges in the workshop.



Looking good...


And finally we apply the anti slip feet to the back of the prototype.

Next question.... AFTER ALL THIS TIME, MONEY AND EFFORT - WILL IT WORK !

Of course within 5 minutes of finishing this very first prototype we knew we had solved the problem of centring hole saws onto tiles with this device and so off to the patent office.


We used Chris Hirsh of HLBB Shaw to file a patent on our behalf. The next five years saw a range of design changes but the original concept still exists.

A lot has changed in the market place but without UK manufacturing and UK design and expertise we would never have been able to launch this product to a global marketplace.

Even now PORSADRILL is produced in a UK factory based near Sheffield and distributed from Leeds. There are 14 UK jobs that are directly reliant on PORSADRILL and we hope once the recession is over and with more interest from UK retailers for the product then we can ramp up production and provide even more employment.

This product will never be made in China and the great news is that we are actually doing what the UK Government wants which is to EXPORT these kits all over the world.

Its your support (through purchases) that help us but of course we are not a charity and its the simple fact that our diamond hole saw solution can give you the same results but for less money. Buying from 365Drills guarantees you great value for money so we hope you continue to source your diamond drilling needs from us in the future.

nice one richard

nice to read a bit of background Richard

Fair play to you. I personally feel that all this stuff getting made in China is actually bad. Do you relay need to save 20p on your product. Pay local people to make it you can controlee it and you know after waiting two months you are not going to get a container full of crap from China.
I am developing a new tiling tool see www.tile-go.co.uk and it too will never be made in China.

Cheers yes it may not be all GLAMOUR on these UK packaging lines but we are now a trusted brand with a good product.



We own all our own equipment. We owe NOTHING to the bank.



And have expanded production at a prudent pace so as to avoid the cash flow trap.



When we put display panels into shops we charge a modest £250 for the board and stock and ask for the
money UP FRONT !

Keeping it simple means we can survive the recession (in our opinion!)

Spoke too soon....

Our Packing machine "Martha! decides to break down and the engineer is fixing it (hooray)
But at a cost of £30 an hour.. Inc his travel time. Arrggg

Time on job so far 10 hours



Turns out there is a faulty compressor as well so do we
a) Ask him to strip down and repair the compressor at £30ph
b) Get a new one at £250

Answer: B!

OK so he is a great engineer and gold dust but its cheaper to throw away the compressor at £250 than to repair.

NOTE: Anyone near Sheffield *** FREE COMPRESSOR *** if you can be bothered to repair it! Just collect.

Otherwise its in the skip.

Unlucky Richard!

Martha, love the name haha. have they all got names?

You should have a competition to name your next machine. Somehow?!

And, sorry, can't help with the compressor mate.

You've missed one thing I've noticed from your timeline, you have a lot less hair now! I remember the day we saw the first pictures of you and although you were slightly balding, there was still youth existent! - Though I'm sure the youth has been replaced with Wisdom.

It should read "back in 2005 we noticed a problem with pilot drills but we had hair........ and now in 2010 there's no need for pilot drills, we have a reputable sustainable UK product, but we've lost a bit more hair".

Only messing mate. Going a bit thin on top now myself to be honest.

Yup gone from a bit of a thatch..



To Bald as a coot...



Shame me head aint as hairy as me legs !

Originally Posted by 365drills

Spoke too soon....

Our Packing machine "Martha! decides to break down and the engineer is fixing it (hooray)
But at a cost of £30 an hour.. Inc his travel time. Arrggg

.

we used to have to pay 49 pounds an hour travelling time for engineers to fix our machines, and they came from coventry to the North East. that was 343 quid before they asked for their first coffee. We soon learned a few tricks when they went wrong