The driving force behind White Cross Ring has always been a strong desire to fulfil industry needs wherever they find them – even going so far as to develop their own machining solutions in-house by modifying their existing equipment. “In the mid-90s, one of our shopfloor operators turned an old GEKA punch machine into a flange puncher!” explains MD Tom Horner.
The same fearless agility and open-minded approach has seen White Cross Ring grow exponentially since its inception 60 years ago, expanding their capabilities and customer base to fuel the business’ long-term success.
All in, in-house
From its enterprising beginnings in Guiseley, Leeds, as a metal fabrication company, White Cross Ring founders Brian Vierod and Brian Woods decided to resolve their supply issues by manufacturing their own rings and flanges in house.
After a while, they realised they weren’t the only ones struggling to get hold of these components. Soon, Vierod & Woods Ltd expended and established White Cross Ring, manufacturers and suppliers of high-quality rings and flanges to the fabrication sector.
After moving to bigger premises in Bradford, the ‘Two Brians’ continued to develop their business, adding new Pullmax and Roundos machines to their basic ring rollers to satisfy increasing customer demand. At a similar time, they expanded their offering to incorporate welding services, saving their customers the trouble of going elsewhere, and soon after, began drilling and punching rings in house as well, to speed up processes for their customers even further.
Expansion is a mindset
Unafraid of a challenge, their willingness to solve customer problems – big or small – by continually investing in new equipment and upskilling their team has filtered through the generations. This innovative can-do approach has become the cornerstone of White Cross Ring‘s comprehensive service delivery. Today, they offer customers a complete in-house solution that truly sets the company apart.
‘A lot of people don’t realise our capabilities. Our customers are often surprised by what we’ve got going on!” says Tom Horner
Aside from their ring rolling operation, which is still going strong, White Cross Ring now offers a complete in-house fabrication service that includes capabilities such as:
- Cutting
- Welding and fabrication
- Tube and section bending
- Drilling and punching
“It’s not rocket science that we offer all these other services; it just makes sense,” he explains. “It saves our customers a lot of legwork when they come to us. When you can tie it all together using these different machines and fabrication skills, it’s a finished product that we deliver – a complete solution; not just a part of the bigger process.”
All part of the service
Tube bending
With their fully automated CNC tube benders from BLM, White Cross achieve highly accurate, tight radius bends on tubes and pipes. Suitable for use on stainless tube, galvanised pipe, aluminium, copper and even duplex. White Cross’ extensive tube rolling capacity sees them produce a vast range of products from barriers, handrails, and public transport accessories to furniture, tank container products, and even medical scanners.
Spiral Handrails
Having received many enquiries for spiral handrails, the White Cross Ring team has developed and perfected a technique for creating long, sweeping curves for spectacular tubular handrails in a variety of materials.
Now specialists in this niche market, White Cross Ring offers a complete bespoke service that includes working with their in-house engineers and designers to help customers achieve their dream staircase, complete with central column and metal treads.
Section bending
Core to the business is the expert cold bending of steel flat bars, angle iron, channels and square, rectangular and circular hollow sections. White Cross operatives can roll round bar, square bar and beams as well as non-standard sections in aluminium, stainless steel and mild steel.
Leaders in the field with over 50 years’ experience, the company has developed innovative techniques to bending different metals and profiles – and as ever, the team always welcomes the challenge of a new and unusual operation!
Barriers and hoops
A longstanding White Cross specialty, the team makes bespoke tubular, hooped steel security barriers to your exact requirements. Suitable for garage forecourts, carparks, and urban spaces, everything from bike stands to perimeter barriers can be made in tube diameters up to 114 mm in mild steel and stainless steel, galvanised or powder coated.
Fearless fabrication
White Cross’ fully equipped workshop and skilled in-house team means they can manufacture virtually anything in mild steel, stainless steel, or aluminium. Whether it’s for the industrial, commercial, residential or private sectors, White Cross’ bespoke approach means everything they fabricate is made to measure in their workshop to fit precisely with their customers’ requirements.
Some of their regular fabrication work includes:
- Furniture: chairs, stools and tables
- Degreasing equipment: stainless steel baskets
- Welding equipment: stainless and mild steel protection frames
- Stainless and mild steel protection frames
- Stainless steel vacuum vessels
- Bespoke barriers and handrails
As well as these ‘everyday’ products, White Cross Ring prides itself on being able to say “yes” to any project, no matter how weird or wonderful.
“We’ll take on anything!” laughs Tom. “No job is too big or too small. If you come in off the street and just want a little bend or a spot weld, we’ll do that, because you never know where it might lead. We always keep an open mind – we want to try things – and with our machinery, team, and the size of our facility, we have the ability to do that for our customers.”
Among the more ambitious projects Tom and the White Cross Ring team have worked on, are a ‘ball of death’ for a stunt motorcyclist – “it took forever!” – and the tracking for a fairground Waltzer ride, which according to Tom filled the whole shop floor. “I don’t think you’ll get many companies that would be willing to take up a big portion of the shop floor just for one job,” he points out. “But we go the extra mile.”
White Cross’ comprehensive in-house offering and capabilities have also seen them called on to fulfil some high-profile projects, including rolling a ring to enable the restoration of the famous Rose Window at York Minster after the devastating fire of 1984, and building stage equipment for the German metal band Rammstein, for their epic 2019 stadium tour.
Innovation meets determination
White Cross’ innovative approach to solving problems and meeting customer demands has seen the team develop their own in-house solutions along the way. By modifying older, existing equipment to fulfil the need for multiple processes and complete fabrications, White Cross was able to grow its capabilities under one roof.
“A lot of the work we do is for ducting or for the big petroleum tankers, which have flanges. We wanted to be able to drill and punch the rings for these jobs, as well as roll and weld them,” Tom explains.
“Back in the 90s, we had an old GEKA punch machine that had had its day and we’ve turned it into a flange puncher. We changed a few components and kept the core part of it because when you’re marking out a ring, it’s to the PCD; every hole has to be perfect. It’s a fantastic bit of kit! There isn’t a machine out there that does this, as far as I’m aware – it’s our little baby.”
Shopfloor investments
Resourcefulness and innovation may be a White Cross tradition, but tradition doesn’t stand in the way of progress; although the methods used for ring rolling haven’t changed much in the 60-odd years White Cross has been operating, the technology for achieving this has. The company is now looking to new and modern machinery to keep them current and future proofing the business.
“With the new machine we’ve invested in, you have better control settings. They’re more sensitive, so you can put weight on incrementally rather than it being just guesswork, which makes everything that bit more precise,” Tom says.
“Our Roundo 62 S, which we purchased last year, has CNC programming capabilities, which allows us to save the settings, so we can repeat jobs accurately should we need to, and take on those bigger projects that require lots of the same parts.”
The company’s biggest machinery investment to date is its BLM E Turn 52, which has the ability to manipulate the positioning of a tube while also bending it, offering a wider range of finished shapes.
This follows on from the success White Cross has had with its BLM Elect 52, which the company purchased a few years ago.
“It was kind of an unknown. We were spending a hell of a lot of money and it could have been a flop – it could have been a disaster!” Tom points out. “But it wasn’t. It was brilliant! It’s made us even more determined to look to invest year on year, which we have done so far – for us and our customers, and we will be doing this year.”
Having recently placed orders for a brand new AMOB MDH-90-CN3 and also a Roundo R3s, both of which are due at the end of this year, White Cross looks set to fulfil this promise.
