GE Power is a world energy leader providing equipment, solutions and services across the energy value chain from generation to consumption – powering homes, schools, hospitals, and businesses for 130 years. GE UK & Ireland employs around 8,500 people, occupies over 20 sites across the country and contracts trusted UK-based suppliers to support its critical work.

The company has tested the world’s largest wind turbine, the Haliade-X, in Northumberland; handles the world’s largest and most fuel-efficient aviation engine, GE9X, in Wales; supplies around two in every three NHS hospitals nationwide with medical imaging equipment; and provides propulsion systems for the UK’s largest ever naval vessel, the Queen Elizabeth-class aircraft carrier.

Prior to approaching Maun, the company encountered difficulties with one of its multi-million-pound transformers, simply because the ends of the copper strip used to conduct the electricity in its transformers were not quite fitting together correctly.

With a high current being passed through, it’s essential that the male and female ends of such wiring match perfectly. However, the tool previously being used was not producing a clean, exact cut, causing the transformer to malfunction.

Having been referred to Maun by another client, General Electric was aware of our high quality standards and expertise in creating custom tools. We have nearly 80 years’ tool-making experience, and our home in Sutton in Ashfield is one of the rare places where you can find specialist hand toolmaking, using traditional machinery alongside the latest cutting-edge technology.

The result? Long-lasting quality fused with pinpoint accuracy.

The GE team visited Maun’s factory with sample materials to help us determine the type of tool needed. Armed with this information, our experienced Production Manager and team looked at the client’s specific needs and began to develop initial ideas.

Originally, the team considered a bespoke version of Maun’s famous parallel-action plier, but it soon became apparent that a hand tool would not produce sufficient force to cut through the copper conductor wire.

Fortunately, our team’s knowledge and experience extend beyond traditional hand tools. A pneumatic tool, previously used in industrial meter sealing applications, provided the inspiration, along with the client’s preference for using electric rather than pneumatic power. We sourced an electric power module externally and combined this with a custom-engineered cutting head developed in our factory to create a complete unit.

We presented three sizes of tool to GE Power for testing. Based on feedback, we made minor modifications to the tool sizes and began production. This iterative process of modification, refinement, testing and review is key to developing an exceptional final product.

The result was a tool that promises to cut the copper strip reliably into the perfect ‘arched’ shape, precisely centred for a variety of widths of copper wire. The tool has been rolled out to other divisions worldwide and, thanks to this success, we were also tasked with developing a separate tool to cut the cardboard insulator into which the copper sits.

None of this would have been possible without Maun’s team of experts. They design, develop and present a client with intelligent options, before taking on feedback and refining the proposed tool. This process involves comprehensive testing and the willingness to explore different iterations of tool until a final product emerges that fully meets customer requirements.

Whatever the project, whatever the industry, our process remains largely the same, which is why the result remains the same – the perfect, newly created custom tool that meets your needs.

Maun doesn’t just make tools – we develop solutions to the problems your organisation faces. We love solving problems, but success is only possible when we collaborate closely with the client.

From the very start of a project, we dig deep into what our client really needs, and sometimes this changes as we make our way along the development journey together.

From the outset, we take the lead, presenting the client with options and often working back and forth with a range of prototypes until they are happy with the final product.

Ultimately, a good customer experience comes down to two things: a high-quality final result and getting there through a personal, collaborative approach.

We love working with people from all industries, sectors and walks of life and have done for many years. In fact, some of our best innovations and learnings have bloomed from customer enquiries for our custom tool solutions.

If you have a problem that you’re not able to solve with an off-the-shelf tool, we’d love to work with you to create a new, bespoke tool or solution to your problem.

Maun Industries was founded by the Rippon family on 1st January 1944. We were named after the nearby River Maun and, led by skilled engineers, we set about developing and manufacturing our own range of innovative hand tools from day one.

For six decades, Maun operated from Moor Lane, Mansfield, and in 2004, the business relocated to new, purpose-built premises in nearby Sutton in Ashfield. The Rippon policy was to manufacture all tools in-house and sell worldwide, a philosophy that we’re proud to continue to this day.

Maun's quality management system is certified to ISO 9001 and has been for thirty years, and our pliers conform to BS 3087-7:1996, ISO 5747:1995 standards – that we were instrumental in defining.

Maun Industries was owned by its founding family for 64 years. However, time catches up with us all, and the Rippons sold the company in 2008. The following year, Blastparts, a supplier of spare parts and services to the shotblasting industry, became an operating division.

At the end of 2019, ownership of the business changed again, with our current Managing Director Tim Scholes taking the helm. Building on the traditions of the past, Tim is investing to ensure the firm's sustained growth and long-term prosperity.

Neil is one of our talented engineers here at Maun, on hand to guide customers through the tool development process. Drawing on his expertise gained through more than forty years of crafting quality tools, Neil uses both traditional and modern machinery and methods.

Neil has been through the process of hand tool development many times and is an expert in developing bespoke tools to solve customer problems.