The business supplies bespoke tube components and pipe fittings to some of the world’s largest manufacturers, with OEM customer end products ranging from boilers to industrial heat pumps.

Nowhere is Conex Bänninger’s engineering and manufacturing heritage showcased more strongly than with its OEM processes, including both technical design and production. Within this solution offering, the company has the ability to undertake innovative processes of tube manipulation as well as tube fabrication on tube diameters ranging from 54mm to 219mm. 

Piotr Matykiewicz, OEM cell manager at Conex Bänninger, said: “Thanks to recent investments in our world class machinery, we are able to produce complex products to high quality standards for our customers. The modern technologies at our disposal also mean that we can offer our industry leading functions such as tube manipulation at a competitive premium, with high reliability. 

“The machinery performance is matched by our in-house engineers’ technical expertise, who work with the customer to provide the product design, bespoke tooling designs and technical support to achieve the required solution. This includes constantly refining the designs, with any modifications to existing products made to minimise cost for our clients. 

“The excellent service we offer has enabled Conex Bänninger to considerably expand its OEM turnover in the last five years, with the target to continue this growth in the next five years up until 2022. The OEM department is developing fast and is able to meet the high demands of our customers in terms of quality, price and production speed. The next step is establishing ourselves as genuine world leaders in OEM tube solutions.”

Another key aspect of Conex Bänninger’s value to OEM customers is its quality control function, ensuring that the solutions provided are of the highest calibre, an increasingly important function with the complex nature of the work and the rise in volume of OEM orders. 

Ewa Szymanska, quality manager at Conex Bänninger, explained: “The key to our quality control is the repeated review of our processes and systems, alongside product tests and measurements. Both aspects are essential to us delivering the best possible products and services to our customers, ensuring our high standards are always met. 

“Our test procedures are thorough, with pressure, thermal, tensile, resistance and pneumatic tests all carried out, alongside other more specialist tests depending on the product in question. We have nine dedicated members of staff in the quality control team, with the machinery operators on the factory floor also playing an important role, as they constantly carry out quality tests as part of their daily remit.

“Looking at our OEM service specifically, having an in-house team enables us to eliminate problems before they reach the customer. We can identify potential issues and propose solutions to rectify them very quickly. This includes production process improvements, staff training and tooling performance monitoring. 

“What’s encouraging is that year-on-year our OEM quality has improved to even higher results, with increased levels of testing and improved manufacturing machinery clearly delivering positive results.”