Nearly 50 Made in Group members stepped inside Sertec’s Heavy Stampings facility in Birmingham for an exclusive behind-the-scenes factory tour, joined by special guest and Sertec Chairman Grant Adams.
For many UK manufacturers, talking about continuous improvement is easy; embedding it so deeply into the shop floor that an external customer audit scores your lean maturity at 72% is another matter entirely. On 12th November, Made in Group members gathered at Sertec Heavy Stampings to see how the automotive supplier is transforming a historic press shop into a blueprint for operational excellence. Following breakfast networking in the canteen, delegates moved to the boardroom for a formal welcome from Made in Group Director Ilona Pitt and round-robin introductions from all attendees.
Framing the visit as "Chapter Two" following last year’s tour of Wincaster House, Ilona paid tribute to Grant Adams, CEO Ben Higgins, COO Carl Milbourne, and the wider Sertec team for opening their doors once again.
"Sertec is one of those companies that genuinely inspires me to the core—a business that has evolved across generations, reinvented itself time and again, and continues to push forward on its journey towards excellence," says Ilona. "There is an almost legendary quote associated with the business—'You can leave Sertec, but Sertec never leaves you'—and that says an awful lot about the culture built here since Grant joined what was then a relatively small manufacturing SME some four decades ago. Ultimately, great manufacturing businesses aren’t built on machinery alone; they’re built on people, on leadership, on vision, and on that constant ambition to be better tomorrow than you are today."
From the shop floor to the boardroom: The Grantham House legacy
During Ilona’s welcome, Grant Adams interjected to keep the spotlight on late founder Harry Mosedale, who established Sertec in 1962 in Aston Brook Street and passed away in April 2026 aged 94. Pointing to copies of Sertec’s PROUD magazine placed on every chair—featuring a cover tribute to Harry—Grant reminded the room that without him, he would not be standing there today.
"Harry inspired generations, built an exceptional team, and leaves behind an extraordinary legacy woven into the DNA of Sertec," Grant noted. "He will always be remembered as the original Sertec legend."
Leading the main presentation were SASB Operations Manager Adam Walker and SHS Production Manager Jay Taylor—both products of Sertec’s internal progression. Adam started as a shop-floor operator 16 years ago, while Jay joined Heavy Stampings at 18 as a trainee setter, mastering everything from 80-tonne clinch machines to 800-tonne transfer lines before becoming Production Manager 18 months ago.
Today, Sertec employs 1,170 people across 530,000 sq ft spanning three UK plants and a facility in Hungary. Acquired in 1991, the 100,000 sq ft Heavy Stampings site employs 170 staff and operates 25 presses—five clinch, 16 progression, and four transfer presses up to 800 tonnes—averaging over one million parts a week. Alongside supplying 10 automotive OEMs (including JLR, McLaren, Nissan, Toyota, Ford, and BMW) and 12 Tier 1s, the plant produces precision steel totes for automated distribution centres.
To carry that heritage forward, Adam announced the official rebranding of Heavy Stampings to Grantham House in honour of Grant Adams’ 41 years of service growing turnover from £2.5 million to over £200 million. Starting next September, a one-to-three-year transformation will amalgamate work centres to free up floor space for value-added processes, an expanded on-site engineering hub, and upgraded wellbeing facilities.
"Heavy Stampings really is the heartbeat of the group, and there’s no better place to rename after such a dedicated person to our business," said Adam. "That’s by carrying the values and the DNA of the past and excelling them through to the present and the future."
Standardise before you digitise: The Sertec Production System
Unifying Sertec’s four plants is the "One Sertec" philosophy and the Sertec Production System (SPS). Developed over 18 months of internal workshops, the SPS "house" requires every process to pass sequentially through four stages: Stabilise, Standardise, Optimise, and Automate & Digitise.
"We don't jump straight into making everything digital until we have stabilised and standardised the process—and if something at the top doesn't work, we bring it back down the pillars to optimise it again," explained Jay. Replacing the traditional "black book" setter culture, Jay’s Setter Documentation Project is capturing shop-floor expertise into 150 visual SOPs, with all 47 setters completing Level 1 training and 20 advanced setters now mastering the SOPs to train future cohorts.
Stepping onto the shop floor: Inside the guided tour
Split into four groups wearing headsets and PPE, delegates toured nine stations led by apprentices, shift coordinators, and CI engineers. Following briefings from main tour guides Sam Sadler, Production Manager, Daryl Mir, Quality Manager, Jay Taylor, and Adam Walker, Shift Coordinator Will Devenny showcased the Sertec Floor Management (SFM) boards driving daily SQCDP communication across shifts.
At the clinch line, Controls Apprentice Jack Neal demonstrated Sertec’s in-house Video Assisted Review (VAR) system. Monitored remotely from Wincaster House, CCTV cameras automatically lock out the press if a light curtain is broken or a process step is missed until the VAR team reviews the preceding two minutes of footage—delivering up to a 90% faster reaction time while serving purely as a non-disciplinary root-cause education tool.
Shift Coordinator Phil Knight then showcased Press 97—the 800-tonne Nidec Arisa press launched in 2024—while Quality Engineer Charles Horsborough introduced the new shop-floor Quality Hub. Next, Controls Apprentice Mikolaj Gralak demonstrated the Automated Red Box and Karakuri auto-box changing unit, which uses gravity and mechanical counterweights rather than motors to swap full totes for empty ones, boosting OEE by 10% with zero energy use. Rounding off the route, CI specialists Neal Bowers and James Pugh highlighted pilot Model Cell upgrades—including vertical gripper storage rails, sensor guards, and retractable air lines—alongside upcoming toolroom relocations.
Q&A: Skills, closed-loop recycling, and the Shingo Prize
Back in the canteen, Ilona opened a lively Q&A. Adam detailed the site’s closed-loop aluminium recycling process, where scanning 5000- and 6000-series grades prevents cross-contamination penalties of up to £75,000 per mill container.
Asked by Johnny Robson, University College Birmingham, how Sertec recruits and retains talent, Adam noted: "The secret is attitudes and habits; skills and knowledge are taught." Alongside four-year apprenticeships and T-Level placements, every starter completes training at Sertec’s apprentice-led Training Dojo, helping the 170-strong site lose just one employee all year.
Finally, asked by Ilona what sits atop the SPS house, Adam pointed to external customer validation. Audited by JLR on lean maturity, Heavy Stampings has surged from 46% two years ago to 72% two weeks prior to the tour. With seven industry awards won since 2024, Sertec is continuing its operational excellence journey toward the 80% benchmark, with a view to contending for the prestigious Shingo Prize awards once the business is ready.
Reflecting on the day, Jay Taylor concluded: "We prepared, put the hard work in, and showed off exactly what we do. Over the next 12 to 24 months we’re excited to bring further investment to take this site to the next level."
