For over 50 years Swiftune Engineering has been at the forefront of race preparation for the A-series engine found in the original mini and other open Formula of race cars. Success on the race track has seen Swiftune powered Minis to national and international championship and race wins. Relocation to new premises in the heart of Kent instigated a new chapter in its history and provided a clean slate to develop its engine build and dynamometer bays.
“The racetrack has always been our shop window, success on the track, whether in one of our own cars or a customer using our engines guarantees interest,” says Nick Swift CEO, Swiftune Engineering. “Our workshop was always just that, a workshop, and I used to go to extreme lengths to discourage customers from visiting, I would drive the length and breadth of the country picking up engines rather than the customer delivering them!” During the planning stage for the relocation to the new purpose-built workshop facility Nick’s attitude started to change, or rather his attitude was changed for him by delegations from employees and then his wife, who convinced him that first impressions were important and allowing customers to see how their engines and cars were being prepared was an important aspect of customer service. With Swiftune’s race prepared engines and transmissions, which boast 130 – 150 bhp compared to the original 25 bhp, costing around £20,000 or, a complete race-prepared Mini between £75,000 and £90,000, that customer service is paramount.
“It made perfect sense not to bring all of our old storage and workbench equipment over to the new workshop, as we recognised that first impressions are vital in any business, so the decision was taken to call in System Store Solutions. The initial brief was to equip the engine build and dynamometer bays with up to date cabinets and work surfaces. The result is that now, everything has a place and everything is in its place, the workshop is more efficient and I have no qualms in letting customers come and look around. In fact, we now get a surprising number of customers visiting, and that is due in part to the look of the place thanks to the work done by System Store Solutions.”
Having a clean sheet of paper to work with in the engine preparation bay provided the opportunity to install a bespoke storage solution, albeit made up of standard cabinets and worktops. The design allowed enough storage space that if an engine build was delayed, all the parts can be put away, out of sight, in an orderly manner, but all easily accessible. Consumables such as nuts and bolts are now centrally located, with an easy visual check for stock levels. “Prior to the move we used to keep consumables in plastic tote boxes, usually high on a shelf, so they were never to hand and monitoring stock was always difficult, we are just simply more efficient now.” says Nick Swift. “While we are settled in our new home, which is more than double the size of our previous workshop, we are turning our attention to the next phase of expansion, which will be the creation of a new workshop dedicated to race car build and preparation with our vision to have it looking like a high-spec motorsport facility. The existing car build area will then be used to increase capacity for engine building. At which point we will again present System Store Solutions with another blank piece of paper to create the optimum system for our needs.”
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Picture caption: Swiftune Engineering is synonymous with the race preparation and restoration of classic Mini engines and transmissions, as well as building complete cars
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