H I G A R - engineering|excellence

	Johnson & Johnson Implant Tools J&J were a local company who relocated to Ireland. Higar became involved with the design and development of surgical implant tools of hip replacements. Manufactured from high chrome steels, polished and cleaned in a clean environment to very high standards, matching that of the exacting medical industry

	IBM Lock Latch During the late 1980’s early 90’s Higar became involved in the computer industry for which it managed a project manufacturing a locking latch for a very early disc drive called “RED WING”. The component was a steel lost wax casting which Higar designed and laid down the tools at a UK foundry. The casting was then machined and electro nickel plated and finally had two rubber stoppers bonded and a small clapper and spring plate assembled under a class 10,000 clean room environment. Utilising POKE YOKE fixturing and full SPC SIGMA gauging throughout the process Higar maintained zero customer defects for 3 years and a 5000 per week production rate.

	IBM - Disc Cover Reclamation The rapid advances in computer technology soon changed disc drive design and construction which lead Higar to the demise of this business and a new challenge. IBM found they had a process yield rate on the mini hard drive production line which rendered the disc drive covers unusable once they had been rejected. Higar proposed a method of rectification to save the valuable covers by stripping gaskets, filters and inspection labels and replacing with new and leak checking. This rectification turned into a business saving IBM thousands of pounds and turning Higar Class 10,000 clean room facility into a class 1,000 with class 100 Air Showers. A team of 20 people work on a two shift system rectifying 10’s of thousands of cover.

	Applied Materials - Semi Conductor Wafer Handling Equipment The continued changes in the computer industry and development in the Far East for Disc drive manufacture meant further diversification. With the skills already developed operating under clean room conditions Higar marketed this capability and came into contact with an American company called Applied Materials the Worlds leaders in Semi Conductor Implant technology. This presented a superb opportunity as the product was not only assembled to a high level under clean room conditions but it also involved a high precision machined components. Higar started out with 12 assemblies which were manufactured complete in the factory and assembled in a class 1,000 clean room. The great success of this initial phase lead to Higar managing 120 various assemblies of a complex nature, including, electro motor drives, wire harnesses and vacuum assemblies which were all electronically tested on bespoke bench top test rigs and leak checked to 10/-9. In late 2000 this business represented £4 million of turnover per annum employing 12 people with an internal and external supply chain. Higar invested £80,000 in a new high level clean room in this rapidly expanding sector to support a move to build complete Wafer Implant Modules when in March 2001 the industry collapsed and all orders were cancelled.

	SPARES & AFTER MARKET SUPPORT Following 9/11 Higar identified a niche market in supporting existing and new customers with a dedicated level of manufacturing capacity and highly skilled engineers to support the manufacture of low volume Aircraft spares. Since Higar still has a significant level of conventional engineering skill and equipment it was seen as most effective to combine this with some standard 2 & 3 axes CNC machining capability to offer a fast turnaround dynamic environment in which we can manufacture a wide variety of products. The Cultural ethos is very reactive able to cater for changing and urgent demands. Keeping this environment separated away from running production programs ensures we maintain visibility and control across the business. Aircraft spares account for around 1/3rd of the business turnover and is expected to grow significantly in the next 5 years.