border engineering, uk: bending in the name of the law

The Magazine for Cutting and Bending 2/15

Border Engineering, UK:

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BystronicWorld 2/20156

A quiet night in Luton town center is inter-rupted by the urgent wail of a siren, royal blue lights are reflected in the roadside

puddles. A police car marked white, yellow and blue accelerates and outmaneuvers the suspect vehicle it was pursuing, and a dangerous criminal is apprehended. Many factors combined to deliver the outcome of this incident. Witnesses might note the profes-sionalism of the police officer who was driving, or his car – naturally it is a Vauxhall, as the giant plant that builds all of the UK’s Vauxhall cars is located right here in Luton north of London. But two important contributors will have maintained a low profile: the experts a short distance away at Millbrook Proving Ground who converted the Vauxhall to police performance standards, and Border Engineering Ltd, who provided vital metal parts to Millbrook to make this possible.Operations Manager Stirling Beer, an energetic local man in his thirties, is sitting in his recently outfitted office at Border Engineering’s Moreton Park industrial estate premises, also in Luton. Generously, he is making an effort to remain still

and answer questions. But it is quite clear that Stirling is eager to be back on the busy shop floor, and, half an hour later, that is just where he is, proudly demonstrating the Xpert 40 press brake he has just taken delivery of from Bystronic. “Just watch this,” Stirling says with enthusiasm, easily picking up a stack of at least 50 identical 15-centi-meter-long shapes cut out of stainless steel.In little more than a minute, Stirling has carried out a complex series of manipulations on one of the pieces, bending its 1-millimeter thickness from a 2D into 3D shape – “it’s a brake shim,” he shouts

Left: Stirling Beer, Operations Manager at Border Engineering, uses Bystronic press brakes and laser cutters to make metal parts for police cars.

“ Our two press brakes have just revolutionized the business. We know jobs will come out right every time.”

Stirling Beer, Operations Manager, Border Engineering

7BystronicWorld 2/2015

BORDER ENGINEERING UK

Border Engineering in the southern English town of Luton produces shims for police cars. With an Xpert 40 and an Xpert 100, the machine operators bend the parts with speed and precision. Thanks to BySoft 7, the programmer no longer needs to build cardboard models.

Text: Dan Whitaker Photos: Andrea Artz

Stirling Beer bends the law

A typical job shop: In this operations hall, Border Engineering makes shims for police cars, brackets for surveillance cameras, or metal bathroom fittings for unusual customers.


Border Engineering uses two Bystronic press brakes: Operator Steve Poulter bends parts on the Xpert 100 (above) and, together with Operations Manager Stirling Beer, familiarizes himself with the touch screen of the newly delivered Xpert 40 (below).


Here’s how it’s done: Operations Manager Stirling Beer uses a bending part to showcase the precision and speed of the Xpert 40.



over the din of the shop floor. Stirling has to explain that this will help keep the engine cool when a police driver brakes his car hard. When they are all ready, they will be sent over to Millbrook, who will fit Border’s parts to police Vauxhalls before testing them on over 285 hect-ares of extensive tracks. Another Border customer, AutoUmbau, does the same for police Hyundais, BMWs, and Volvos. With a smile, Stirling acknowl-edges that Border will probably have played an indirect role in any occasion when a local police car pulls over another driver.

A bending revolutionBorder has made a name for itself with just such complex bending operations, and they can be in copper or brass as easily as steel or aluminum, as thin as 0.8 millimeters. Stirling’s explanation of how this has happened is just what a hard-working

British police vehicles

There are 52 police forces in the UK – governmental attempts to merge

forces to save money or increase effectiveness are routinely defeated.

Between them, they buy around 5,000 cars a year, from 1.3-liter Vauxhall

Corsas to Jankel armored trucks – in addition to a range of boats, helicop-

ters, motorcycles, and bicycles.

One efficiency measure the national government was able to push

through was to limit the number of car manufacturers who supply them.

Standard patrol cars are now Vauxhalls, Fords, Hyundais, and Peugeots.

On major roads the most common road policing car is the BMW 530,

supplemented with Audis and Volvos.

All police vehicles are specially converted from their retail versions, but

this is usually done by specialist companies rather than at the factory.

In the UK, for instance, they will have a “runlock” system put in so that the

engine may be left running without the keys inserted, maintaining power

for equipment at the scene of an incident. Would-be police car thieves

should note that although the engine is running, releasing the hand brake

without inserting the key would lead to power being shut off.

Modifications to the car will further include: adjustments to allow

increased braking; mounted blue lights and additional rear red lights;

siren; mounting brackets for radio transceivers and automatic number

plate recognition; composite single passenger containment cell; removal

of rear door and window control; and extra spare wheels.

Standard police car equipment then includes a first aid kit; speed gun;

Breathalyzer; “stinger” traffic spikes; battering ram; taser and a broom

(the public demands that incident scenes must be left tidy once evidence

has been collected).

The highest-performance vehicles, the Road Policing Units, used to lag

behind north European neighbors who had developed their motorway

systems earlier. In 1959, once Britain began to do the same, a team of

British chief officers of police visited Germany and the Netherlands. Fast,

almost self-contained highways present challenges to a police system

as fragmented as the UK’s, and it has forced cooperation between forces.

With BySoft 7 and intensive YouTube research, welder Marek Bonna has trained himself to become a programmer.

All British police cars are commercial vehicles converted by specialized companies to meet police performance standards.

While there is nothing to match the Italian State Polizia’s Ferraris and

Lamborghinis, occasionally an eye-catching roadster is commissioned

by British policemen. For instance, this year the Avon and Somerset

Police took delivery of what they believe is the world’s fastest police car –

the 350 bhp Ariel Atom, which can accelerate from 0 to 60 mph in less

than 2.5 seconds.

Many British policemen become quite attached to their cars. Police Car

UK is the police car preservation organization, full mainly of serving

and retired officers. A specialist company also does good business selling

refurbished ex-police cars.

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Stirling Beer and Dawson Richards scrutinize a metal part: The Operations Manager likes to be on the factory floor where the action is.

Bystronic machine designer would hope to hear: “Our two press brakes have just revolutionized the business,” he says with an appreciative smile. “They are fast and accurate,” Stirling continues, “we know jobs will come out right every time.” He adds: “Their power consumption is around a third of

their competitors’ – which saved us from having to make an unwelcome investment in our power supply system.” Besides the Xpert 40 – the first in the UK – Border operates an Xpert 100, which gives them flexibility. “I like the further backstops and wider bed of the 100 for larger work,” Stirling says, “but the 40 has better speed with its backstops and with travel, plus more accuracy.” But having two press brakes is itself a big advantage, as “work doesn’t just sit around waiting. These days, accuracy is taken for granted, and speed is the issue.”The throughput is impressive. In one corner is a growing pile of caged compartments for dogs, to be inserted in the rear of police cars (Stirling points out air-conditioning connections – no police dog will overheat). Against another wall are brackets

“ Work doesn’t sit around waiting. These days, accuracy is taken for granted, and speed is the issue.”

Stirling Beer



For customer Mad Alan, Border cut steel tiles to be used in the bathroom of the converted church where he lives. Alan recommends Border as “super friendly, super helpful.”

for surveillance cameras, a big market in the UK and another major customer segment for Border. Everything is cut with a 2-kilowatt BySprint Fiber, bought at the same time as the Xpert 100.

Embracing the digitalComplex bending operations don’t seem to both-er Stirling; in fact, he gives the impression that Border relishes the challenge. Initially, the most experienced machine operator, Steve Poulter, would use a cardboard model to test alternative bending sequences before setting to work on the metal. But Steve’s Euclidean sense of geome-try is now matched by software in the shape of BySoft 7. This runs on SolidWorks, the market-lead-ing CAD software, something that makes Marek Bonna happy.“Almost all our customers use SolidWorks,” Marek says. He explains that means they can e-mail a de-sign in at 9 am, which Marek converts into a cut-ting/bending plan with BySoft 7 by 9.30, and ma-chine operator Steve Poulter then completes the job by lunchtime, ready for Border to deliver it back to the client. BySoft’s intuitive controls are a pleasure, saving time and reducing any scope for human error, Marek states.For Marek, BySoft 7 and “hundreds of hours spent self-teaching with YouTube” have taken the young Pole from working as a welder to this program-ming role. When asked how he likes the work, Marek replies: “I’ve been at Border 13 years, and have no plans to move.”

Family affairThe company was begun in 1987 by the father of current Managing Director Andy Gerrard. Andy’s sister serves as Finance Director. Stirling’s wife also works in accounts. Stirling himself began here as an apprentice in 1991. With just 19 employees in total, this already gives an impression that family and business intertwine at Border. The employees say they feel part of a family in the hours that they are at work at Border, and even beyond as many show another kind of loyalty, traveling 3 kilome-ters to cheer on Luton Town Football Club. Anyone sticking with “The Hatters” (named after a now disappeared local industry) has already learnt resilience, as the team dropped through four suc-cessive divisions before beginning a tentative revival. Stirling thinks that same spirit is present in the local businesses, as he counts off nearby clients who are overachieving in their field: Millbrook where the police cars are converted; Bell Classics, which might ask for a part to be made for a vener-able Aston Martin; or Silent Sentinel, who provide high-value CCTV equipment. He winces slightly when I ask about Vauxhall, who have lost parent company General Motors some large sums in recent years.

Then Steve Poulter puts his head round the office door and mentions that a smaller-scale client, “Mad Alan,” has dropped by, and suggests I should meet him. At first I assume this is a nickname at Border for an eccentric client. Alan is indeed as unconventional as could be imagined, sporting some fine tattoos (carried out at his own parlor), but he has actually changed his name officially by deed poll and proudly shows that his driving license is in the name of Mad Alan. Beyond this, though, Alan is as content as a customer can be. Border have cut steel tiles – for the bathroom in the converted church where he lives – and have done so with such speed, accuracy, and good grace that Alan positively effuses recommenda-tion: “Super friendly, super helpful.” Though Mad Alan’s order is at the other end of the spectrum from Border’s growing roster of corporate clients, the grin on the face of Stirling Beer, standing behind him, is just as sincere. ■

Dan Whitaker is a freelance business journalist who has

covered a range of industries across Europe for publica-

tions including The Financial Times and The Economist.



border engineering, uk: bending in the name of the law

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