The Titan Structure - In conversation with Sigma Assembly Specialist - Jack Matthews

How were you involved in the Titan Structure project – what did you do, and what were your responsibilities? 

Within the Titan Structure project, I worked with other members of the Brandon team to improve both the Titan Structure itself and other systems within the company. As well as assembling the arm structures on Titan, I worked closely with Mark to set up several sigma cells; sigma cells use highly innovative technology that helps me and others who work in assembly to construct parts of the structure using step-by-step instructions. 

Do you think the company values (innovation, trust, partnership and doing the right thing) are influential/adopted in everyday life within the company, and if they are, do you think they create a stronger team? 

The company values were definitely adopted and taken on board within this project as we were given a much louder, stronger voice within the design aspect of the project and were able to raise issues with the physical product, to the design engineers. In the past, there was less communication between different departments/teams as, previously, products were passed on from R&D without our involvement. Within the time period of this project, Brandon’s core values of partnership and trust have grown and developed as communication between different teams has been established.

Who do you work with/who is in your team? Do you get on well with those in your team? Do you work by yourself?

Within the assembly, I worked with many people to produce the different parts within the Titan Structure. Although sometimes it was necessary to work by myself in assembling a particular part, there was minimal work I did entirely on my own in the entire process.

What was your favourite part of assembling the Titan Structure and what was your least favourite/ most challenging part of assembling the Titan Structure? 

Personally, I enjoyed assembling the entirety of the Titan Structure – there wasn’t a particular aspect or part that I found more pleasant than the rest, and similarly, there wasn’t an aspect that I found particularly challenging. However, the assembly of the new Titan Structure, in contrast to the previous Mk IV is much easier, and therefore enjoyable, to build. This is because, where the older structure Mk IV required us to bond castings together, which was a time-consuming process, and the structure was a lot heavier, the new Titan Structure is lighter and more secure.

The Titan Structure was manufactured using the innovative smart cell system – how does this differ from the typical method of manufacturing products?

The new smart cell system greatly differs from the previous method of assembling and manufacturing products. The most distinct difference is the new smart cell system is an online technology therefore it is completely paperless. This is very beneficial as you can’t lose any instructions and the information is all stored on the system therefore it is much more accessible if Brandon should need to acquire a specific piece of information (which greatly improves process or quality control). The new smart cell system also takes you through each step one by one therefore, a new assembly employee could create an entire Titan Structure with little to no help from other assembly employees – which saves time for both the new employee and the existing one.

The smart cell system is very beneficial for process and quality control but does it actually help you to assemble and produce the product and if so, how does it help?

The sigma cell is very useful for process and quality control as it retains all the information of every Titan Structure created. Therefore, if a customer were to encounter a problem, Brandon Medical would be able to prove that the fault was not in production or assembly. In terms of helping me, in the beginning, it was extremely helpful as it has step-by-step instructions in the form of videos and images therefore it is much easier to learn from due to the interactive, visual learning features.