MAXAM
MAXAM Outdoors, integrated and efficient production
2010.06.10
Press room - News - MAXAM Outdoors, integrated and efficient production
From manufacturing the raw materials to all the cartridges´ components, the globally integrated supply chain of MAXAM Outdoors is one of its main values.
MAXAM Outdoors is MAXAM’s business area dedicated to the development, manufacture nd sales of sports ammunition and hunting gunpowder. With an annual revenue of 85 to 90 mllion Euros and 350 people as personnel distributed among its five manufacturing centres, today it is undeniably the world’s leading company in this sector.
The company’s main value being it’s globally integrated supply chain that goes from manufacturing the raw materials to all the cartridges’ components.
MAXAM Outdoors is world leader in the development, manufacture and sales of sports ammunition and hunting gun powders. Its wide range of brands in these two types of products, responds to the most demanding technical pecifications of the different shooting and hunting varieties, guaranteed by MAXAM’s experience and history in a highly competitive sector.
MAXAM Outdoors’ main added value is its supply chain based on our own technical developments and totally integrated under strict safety and quality controls.
Supply chain
MAXAM Outdoors’ production chain goes from manufacturing the main raw materials (nitrocellulose) to producing a cartridge’s four main components: the case, the gunpowder, the wadding and the pellet. The case is formed by a tube, normally made of plastic, a metallic base, a plastic piece that joins the two previous components, and lastly, the percussion
Supply chain
MAXAM Outdoors’ production chain goes from manufacturing the main raw materials (nitrocellulose) to producing a cartridge’s four main components: the case, the gunpowder, the wadding and the pellet. The case is formed by a tube, normally made of plastic, a metallic base, a plastic piece that joins the two previous components, and lastly, the percussion
cap that is responsible of initiating the cartridge.
The gunpowder is mainly made of nitrocellulose. The wadding that moves with the pellets in their movement inside the rifle’s barrel is usually made of plastic or felt. Lastly, the pellet is made of lead, iron or bismuth, with certain alloys to
The gunpowder is mainly made of nitrocellulose. The wadding that moves with the pellets in their movement inside the rifle’s barrel is usually made of plastic or felt. Lastly, the pellet is made of lead, iron or bismuth, with certain alloys to
provide it with the needed ballistic qualities. These are all made by MAXAM Outdoors with a supply chain that is capable of offering cartridges in any part of the world at a yearly rate of over 500 mi llion produced units.
An integrated chain, as Salvador Bohigues Cruañes, MAXAM Outdoors’ Operations Manager explains, is based on a general principal: “generating a flow in the movement of our components and final product”. “To manufacture only what is needed, at the moment the client requests it, in the requested amount and well made right from the start”, Salvador Bohigues adds. Such a general principal has a very clear financial motivation: “The later we purchase and the less time we have our purchases at home, the quicker we recover the money through our sales. In doing so, we reduce the time that goes from when I spend the money (purchase and expenses) until I recover it with the incorporated benefit (sale). In businesses like ours, in which price competition does not allow high margins, these kind of measures are fundamental to keep liberating those resources and be able to invest them in technology to improve my competitivity and therefore my margins”, points out MAXAM Outdoors’ General Manager.
Methodology
An integrated chain, as Salvador Bohigues Cruañes, MAXAM Outdoors’ Operations Manager explains, is based on a general principal: “generating a flow in the movement of our components and final product”. “To manufacture only what is needed, at the moment the client requests it, in the requested amount and well made right from the start”, Salvador Bohigues adds. Such a general principal has a very clear financial motivation: “The later we purchase and the less time we have our purchases at home, the quicker we recover the money through our sales. In doing so, we reduce the time that goes from when I spend the money (purchase and expenses) until I recover it with the incorporated benefit (sale). In businesses like ours, in which price competition does not allow high margins, these kind of measures are fundamental to keep liberating those resources and be able to invest them in technology to improve my competitivity and therefore my margins”, points out MAXAM Outdoors’ General Manager.
Methodology
To achieve a global integration and respond to the client’s demand we use a common methodology at all our installations. A working method based on three principles. “The first one, -Salvador Bohigues explains-we are all clients-providers. All relationships in the whole supply chain are client-provider in prices, in deliveries and quality. The second principle of the supply chain are the market demand forecasts, both in the short and medium term, completely integrated and synchronized with production planning at each factory".
“We have a planning process for every product we manufacture, aligned in real time with the market’s needs”, Bohigues adds. The last of the principles that directs this method is flexibility. “We need to continually adapt to the market demands. We need flexible machines, forms of transport with a great reaction capacity and a very flexible working organisation that helps us have the resources the market demands”. Three principles to achieve manufacturing at the rhythm the client demands.
Leading technology
“We have a planning process for every product we manufacture, aligned in real time with the market’s needs”, Bohigues adds. The last of the principles that directs this method is flexibility. “We need to continually adapt to the market demands. We need flexible machines, forms of transport with a great reaction capacity and a very flexible working organisation that helps us have the resources the market demands”. Three principles to achieve manufacturing at the rhythm the client demands.
Leading technology
Another of the keys to this business area’s success is technology. MAXAM Outdoors has a leading technology, resulting from a continued investment in R+D+I. “For the gunpowder we have cellulose nitration technology to processes such as dehydration, sifting or drying to provide the product with the appropriate ballistic qualities. To manufacture the components, we carry out various processes that go from extrusion, injection, a deep filling, putting together the components and even very specific technologies such as those needed to manufacture the pellet. These are very different technologies that have requested and require a good investment in good professionals and teams such as those we have today”, Salvador Bohigues explains.
Our own technological developmentsare under very strict safety and quality controls to guarantee clients the best products and services that can exist in the market.
Our own technological developmentsare under very strict safety and quality controls to guarantee clients the best products and services that can exist in the market.
Quality and service
In line with MAXAM’s progress and sustainability goals, Outdoors implements a very strict quality and safety policy. “Our products are based on designs that have been created by our ballistic experts. At our factories, we have a quality system
that includes specific plans for each line of products, bearing in mind the specific needs of each market we export to. We adapt to the specific needs of each country”.
Thanks to these quality and safety controls and to the technological process implemented, we achieve a larger precision when manufacturing our components, resulting in a wide range of products that are distributed in over 80 countries.
Thanks to these quality and safety controls and to the technological process implemented, we achieve a larger precision when manufacturing our components, resulting in a wide range of products that are distributed in over 80 countries.
Products
The brand that is sold the most is the RIO cartridge. Other brands are also manufactured and distributed such as: Eley, Saga, GB, Imperial, Melior, Venatum, Vinci, Diana, Kemen and the new MAXAM brand. This last one, is receiving a very
good welcoming in the high range shooting cartridges brand, MAXAM VANTAGE. In line with the strong environmental commitment acquired, MAXAM searches for new solutions, such as bismuth or steel, for those cases in which the use of lead becomes limited. According to the strictest standards, MAXAM Outdoors has developed the BLUESTEEL cartridges with the steel solution. A range that we wish to implant in all the international markets.
A plural and mixed production that meets the client’s needs and requires an integrated management of all processes involved. “In total, in the whole business unit, there are almost 2000 kinds of cartridges. That is the great challenge: how to efficiently manage that demand. The key is in the forecasts, in the information flow, …it all has to be synchronized at all the factories to offer the best possible service with the lowest stock”, Outdoors’ General Manager explains.
International presence
Today, MAXAM Outdoors’ personnel represent 350 people distributed across its five production centres. This business area’s evolution has been gradual. At first, there were the Iruña de Oca factory (Alava) to make cartridges and Galdácano to produce gunpowder, both in Spain.
Later the Saga brand was purchased with the La Caparella factory (Lerida, Spain) and lastly, the factory in Birmingham (UK), with the Eley brand. Growth has been progressive, and has requested redesigning the production processes to offer a quality service based on a constant communication feedback. “Having increased our international presence of factories that integrate the various components, we have needed to de sign a supply chain for this new situation”, Bohigues explains.
A plural and mixed production that meets the client’s needs and requires an integrated management of all processes involved. “In total, in the whole business unit, there are almost 2000 kinds of cartridges. That is the great challenge: how to efficiently manage that demand. The key is in the forecasts, in the information flow, …it all has to be synchronized at all the factories to offer the best possible service with the lowest stock”, Outdoors’ General Manager explains.
International presence
Today, MAXAM Outdoors’ personnel represent 350 people distributed across its five production centres. This business area’s evolution has been gradual. At first, there were the Iruña de Oca factory (Alava) to make cartridges and Galdácano to produce gunpowder, both in Spain.
Later the Saga brand was purchased with the La Caparella factory (Lerida, Spain) and lastly, the factory in Birmingham (UK), with the Eley brand. Growth has been progressive, and has requested redesigning the production processes to offer a quality service based on a constant communication feedback. “Having increased our international presence of factories that integrate the various components, we have needed to de sign a supply chain for this new situation”, Bohigues explains.
Fruit of MAXAM Outdoors’ experience, approximately a year ago, a new factory began to operate in the USA, our most modern facility that presents itself as a clear example of a plant with optimum results.
US market
US market
This new factory, located in Tennessee, responds to MAXAM Outdoors’ growing strategy in the North American market, the world’s number one cartridges market. “For over more than seven years- Salvaldor Bohigues explains- we have been
commercially present in the North American market, but we have decided to implant ourselves locally on an industrial level to reach a completely new and different stage. Last generation machines have been installed in the factory to optimize production levels. We expect an increase in sales figures for the next three years”. A business with annual revenue that ranges from 85 to 90 million Euros, and that thanks to its integrationinto MAXAM, can be supplier to many ofits industrial installations and generate the right synergies.
For Outdoors’ General Manager, this division, apart from the volume with which to supply contents to MAXAM’s industrial facilities, provides a business portfolio, a market vision that goes beyond the industrial world, and finally, its experience to optimize costs. “Three important aspects that improve its position and business development in a very mature and highly competitive market”, Salvador Bohigues concludes.
For Outdoors’ General Manager, this division, apart from the volume with which to supply contents to MAXAM’s industrial facilities, provides a business portfolio, a market vision that goes beyond the industrial world, and finally, its experience to optimize costs. “Three important aspects that improve its position and business development in a very mature and highly competitive market”, Salvador Bohigues concludes.
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