Kevin Morris is UK & Ireland Sales Manager at Snap-on Industrial, where he oversees both direct and non direct sales for the division across the two markets. With extensive experience in professional tool solutions for critical industries, he has been closely involved in some of the company’s most significant rail sector deployments, including the landmark Eurostar ATC rollout.
From a single automated tool control box in a bogie drop facility to a 25-unit depot-wide system, Snap-on Industrial’s work with Eurostar offers a blueprint for how the rail industry can rethink asset management. UK & Ireland Sales Manager Kevin Morris explains the technology behind the transformation and why listening to the customer remains the starting point for every solution.
SSH: What is your role within Snap-on Industrial?
KM: My current role is UK & Ireland Sales Manager, responsible for the Direct and Non-Direct Sales Business for the Industrial Division of Snap-on Industrial.
SSH: When did the company start trading?
KM: Snap-on Incorporated started trading in 1920 and officially launched its business in the UK in 1965. The company’s expansion into the British market was marked by the opening of a branch and a distribution centre in Kettering, Northamptonshire
SSH: What was the inspiration behind starting Snap-on?
KM: The inspiration for setting up Snap-on in 1920 was to revolutionise the automotive repair industry by providing mechanics with a more efficient, versatile, and high-quality tool system. Engineer Joseph Johnson recognised that traditional tools were inefficient and aimed to create a solution that allowed multiple tools to be used with fewer handles. Johnson’s core concept was to create a set of five unique handles and ten interchangeable sockets. This innovation meant that a mechanic could ‘snap on’ different sockets to a single handle, replacing a large, heavy, and often unreliable set of traditional, non-interchangeable tools. This became known as ‘Five Do the Work of Fifty’ and the interchangeable socket was born.
SSH: Tell us about Snap-on Industrial.
KM: Snap-on Industrial, a Division of Snap-on Incorporated, is a leading global innovator, manufacturer and marketer of tools, equipment, diagnostics, repair information and systems solutions for professional users performing critical tasks.
SSH: Which sectors do you work in and what is your USP?
KM: We work across several sectors including rail, aviation & aerospace, energy & natural resources, military & defence, education, and manufacturing & assembly.
Snap-on has many unique selling points including the high quality and
durability of its tools. Snap-on tools are recognised as high-end, professional grade instruments, with many of the hand tools made in the USA with proprietary alloy steels, engineered to deliver a high level performance under rigorous conditions. Other USPs include being known as the ‘Brand of Choice’ amongst professional tool users and our Customer-Driven Innovation: Snap-on works closely with technicians to identify needs and develop new tools in response, with over 2,300 active/pending patents worldwide.
SSH: What types of products and services do you offer?
KM: We offer a range of products from hand tools and torque tools right up to fully automated tool control boxes utilising networked software for full traceability of assets.
SSH: How have the products and services you offer developed over the years?
KM: The core of Snap-on hand tool products has not changed much over the years. As a manufacturer of premium tools, our products still maintain a reputation for high durability, longevity and reliability, often being considered a ‘badge of professionalism’. However, the methods we use to help customers control their tools and assets have changed dramatically.
Working with our customers and listening to their feedback, we developed the Level5 Tool Control Program to ensure the customer has the right level of control to meet their needs.
Level 1: Organisation
The more organized you are, the easier it is to get the job done right. Starting with a complete tool audit conducted by a Snap on Solutioneer, we’ll help you determine the level of tool control you need, from roll cabinets to carts, keeping the kits mobile or stationary. Implementing proper tool control can improve productivity, control inventory, reduce losses and standardise work by making sure the right tools are in the right place at all times.
Level 2: Visibility
Finding the right tool for the job can be time consuming. By increasing tool visibility, we decrease the time it takes for your technicians to find the tool they need. We also make it easier for missing tools to be noticed and returned. Our selection of high visibility tool handles, custom colour foam inserts, toolbox organisers, and pegboards don’t just increase the visibility of your tools, they increase your team’s productivity.
Level 3: Access Control
Don’t get locked in to using keys that can be lost or shared. Our tool storage units have Keyless Access Control, which means your teams only have access to the tools they need. Our proprietary software manages tool storage unit access at the individual user level, allowing either stand-alone or networked control. This all means that only the right people can access the tooling as required.
Level 4: Asset Management
Many customers have manned stores areas that require a system to control inventory as well as tool kits. Snap-on’s True-Crib software was designed for this. Take asset management to a whole new level of speed, control, accuracy and cost-effectiveness with True-Crib. With our easy to operate and intuitive True-Crib software, analysing, reporting, and tracking your tool crib assets becomes simple. True-Crib uses barcode scans and talking software, creating the most accurate way to check tools in and out.
Level 5: Automation
When critical industry processes and concerns require the elimination of Foreign Material, the solution is to minimise human error. Snap-on’s ATC can handle the control and tracking automatically. By adding Automated Tool Control Solutions, systematic solutions begin to standardise work, improve productivity, control inventory, reduce losses, improve security, implement an audit trail, increase accountability, enable oversight prevention and regulate calibration and maintenance reminders.
Snap-on’s automated offering has been growing to not only include an Automatic Tool Control box, powered by proprietary camera recognition software, but also many other vehicles for point of use tooling. As well as the ATC mobile box, you have the FlexHub, a customisable, rack-mounted modular locker system designed for 24/7 automated tool and asset tracking with built-in charging capabilities. You also have the ATC Vortex, a vending machine style unit with automatic adjusting tambour style doors to dispense a large variety of differently sized items.
Despite having all these different methods to control automated point of use tooling, there is just one piece of software called L5 Connect required to manage them all, making the complete Level5 tool control programme unique. L5 Connect software networks all your Level 5 equipment, including tool cribs and standalone tool storage units. L5 Connect reports inventory, tool usage, tool maintenance, location and more for greater visibility and ease of management across your business.
SSH: When a client comes to you with a particular problem, what’s your process for coming up with a solution, and how closely do you work with clients throughout the projects?
KM: Customers come to us with many different problems, but our response always starts in the same way – we listen. This is one of Snap-on’s core values and is included in our mission statement. We engage fully with the customer to understand the issue they may be facing before looking to one of our many programmes to help find the right solution for them. We can draw from a wealth of expertise that spans the globe. Inside Snap-on we share our solutions with our colleagues, and these are then documented so they can be drawn upon in the future and used to improve our programmes as needed.
One such programme that we have developed whilst working with customers to solve their problems, is our Custom Tools Solution Program. We asked customers if they ever wished they could just design a tool to their exact needs and specifications – with Snap-on, they can. We take a total team approach including engineers who work closely with customers to develop the right solution from the design, testing, and production, right down to the ergonomics.
If a customer ever needs a custom solution, they can count on Snap-on to get the job done. Critical applications require special tools – it’s that simple. Snap-on has a long, proven track record of designing custom tool solutions for critical industries. Our dedicated engineers use the latest measuring technology, 3D printing, finite element analysis (FEA), and metallurgical analysis to ensure every custom tool meets the high standards that only Snap on can provide. It’s a value-added service unmatched anywhere in the industry.
SSH: What can Rail learn from other industries?
KM: I think what Rail can learn from other industries is how to control assets so they can not only be shared but be available in the right locations at the right times. An example of this is the temptation to have tooling for each team of workers so each team leader know tools are available when they are on shift. In truth, this can often result in tools not being used for up to seven days and there being two or three times more of items than are needed. With our asset management and automation, tools and assets can be controlled and tracked so that businesses can place the items in a single location for all to use.
With the right tracking software, you can easily identify who has what, where they are using it and if they have returned it. The power of knowing where your assets are, allows you to only supply what is needed and divert budgets to other areas of the business for continued improvement.
We are seeing this behaviour across many rail companies as they embrace lean methods and control such as 5S.
SSH: You’ve said the biggest standout project that you have personally been involved in is the Tool Control Project at Eurostar where they became the first rail company in the world to adopt the Snap on ATC system, starting with a single box in its bogie drop facility and growing to 25 boxes across the depot. The benefits they have reported include a 50 per cent reduction in reliance on team cages, significantly reduced tool loss, and greater efficiency through point of use tooling. How representative is that journey of what a typical rail customer experiences, and how does a rollout of that kind usually begin?
KM: We are seeing this approach more and more with Rail customers – a review of business practices to allow them to identify ways to improve efficiencies and drive down costs. This generally starts with a walk around with the customer and a Snap-on representative. A discussion is held about the exact needs: is it to limit tool loss? Could it be the need to rationalise the number of similar tools that are held? Perhaps it is a desire to update obsolete tools and see what new initiatives are in the marketplace? Or could it be that a record of what calibrated tools are being used on what jobs is required?
Whatever the business needs are, through observing work, Snap-on is able to design a solution to enable customers to take their asset management and compliance to the next level, while embracing tool control processes and procedures.
SSH: The ATC FlexHub is a modular locker system with see-through windows, rack mounted design, 24/7 access and full L5 Connect integration. It went from a customer suggestion at your 2023 INSIGHT event to a launched product in under a year. What gap was it filling that the existing range could not address?
KM: Many of our customers love the ATC boxes but you are limited in what you can control by what fits into the drawers. Many customers have larger items that they require point of use but would take up a little bit too much room in an ATC. The FlexHub allows them to control these items in point of use cabinets that will run using the same access cards and be controlled by the same software. These hubs also come with integrated power to allow customers to easily control and simultaneously charge battery-powered tooling so it’s ready to use when needed.
SSH: Many rail operators will already have asset management systems in place. How does L5 Connect integrate with existing infrastructure, and what does that process typically look like for a new customer?
KM: Snap-on L5 Connect software can integrate via API integration into a customer’s third-party management system. This API integration can retrieve, manage and transact data between the L5 Connect system and any system capable of using an API interface. Data including employee information, tool usage and calibration dates can be updated unidirectionally between the third-party application and L5 Connect. This can make management of data more streamlined and efficient to enhance productivity and asset management within an organisation.
SSH: The new industrial drill has been specifically designed to keep the wrist and arm aligned in order to reduce repetitive strain injuries. Is that kind of ergonomic thinking becoming a standard part of how Snap-on approaches tool development, or did it come directly from customer feedback?
KM: The answer to this is both – they are intertwined. Snap-on designs its tools through a customer-centric, observation based process that prioritises technician feedback, ergonomic safety and high performance metallurgy. Rather than just manufacturing, the company engineers solutions by observing technicians at work to identify unmet needs and performance bottlenecks.
