Rolapal designs and manufactures innovative seating products for disabled people for wheelchairs and other applications. They provide extra support, pressure relief, postural stability, safety, and long-term comfort.
Roydon Scarlett, General Manager, tells us how Heliner has provided a perfect-fit solution to manufacture their products.
Where to look?
“We needed a CNC router to work with plastic, carbon fibre, and foam for manufacturing of some new products. So we looked to the market, not knowing exactly what we needed.
One supplier tried to sell us a five-axis machine that was beyond our needs and skills, and he didn’t really seem to know his products very well.
I was put onto James by a prototype manufacturer who said James knows everything about CNC routers. Another manufacturer who knew him way back said he was a very skilled machine operator, knowing all the tricks and how to do the job faster.”
Accurate needs assessment
“James visited us, asked lots of questions about what we wanted to do, and went into issues that other suppliers never talked about, taking a deeper view.
He figured out we needed a 4-axis rotating-head machine to do all the work we envisaged – no more and no less.”
Getting the best out of our machine
“James duly assembled, delivered, and installed our machine, then followed through on the whole process including setup and training.
With a few tweaks, he knew how to beef up its strength, accuracy, and efficiency.”
Removing the risk
“When you embark on a new manufacturing process, you’re looking at a $40–100K risk, but James has de-risked it all for us.
His machines are high quality, strong, and last well. The only problems we’ve had are because of being on a learning curve, but James has taken care of it all, even though it wasn’t his fault.”
Knowing how to make our products before we do
“James’ support is only a phone call away and help is ready when we need it. He’s become part of our team, with a real understanding of what we’re doing, and can picture our scenarios when we explain them to him.
He works out setups for us for new component production and tests them before we do it ourselves.
We have every confidence that he has our best interests at heart, and knows exactly what we need without overselling to us. James is very thoughtful and has earned our implicit trust, with the proof being in the pudding.”
Underrated and under-utilised
“James has been a great find – he really knows his products and adds value far beyond his competitors. I’d say he’s a well-kept secret, and a lot more people should be buying from him.
We’ll be looking for his help to get another machine at some stage to support ongoing initiatives.”
