RBC Electronics
RBC was the last teasmade manufacturer in Britain, making Swan D01 Teamades in Burton on Trent.
RBC Electronic Ltd was the last British manufacturer of teasmades. They made the Swan D01 under licence to Littlewoods, but part of the tooling and the software which controlled the Swan D01 teasmade was owned by RBC themselves.
The RBC factory was at Unit 6, Rembrandt Business Centre, All Saints Road, Burton-on-Trent, Staffordshire, DE14 3LS.
The officers of the company during its operation were:
- Creditreform Secretaries Ltd, Nominee Director 2000-2000
- Creditreform Ltd, Nominee Secretary 2000-2000
- Gary Andrew Wilkinson, Managing Director, 2000-2001
- Daniel George Yeomans, Managing Director, 2001-2009
- Gwendoline Patricia Alice Yeomans, Company Secretary, 2000-2001
- Roger John Tatler, Company Secretary, 2001-2005
- Laren Yeomans, Sales Manager and Company Secretary 2005-2008
- Philip Ian Bill, Production Director, 2006-2012
I was lucky enough to be given some photos of the factory in production and a description of the manufacturing process.
Step 1 - PCB Auto Insertion
The Printed Circuit Boards (PCB) are populated with electronic components with a Universal Axial Auto Insert Machine. Capable of inserting 10,000 components an hour the Universal removes the monotony of manual insertion and greatly increases precision and quality.
Step 2 - PCB Wave Soldering
The PCB’s are then automatically soldered using a Wave Solder Machine. PCB’s are passed through the machine on a conveyer where they are pre-heated and then passed over a ‘wave’ of molten solder. This procedure perfectly solder’s all electrical joints in 1 single pass with high accuracy.
Step 3 - PCB Rework and Test
After the soldered PCB’s have cooled, large componentry, such as the switches and clock module, are manually fitted and the whole PCB is checked over for production errors. At this point the PCB’s are 100% functionally tested on specially
designed test equipment.
Step 4 - Teasmade Body Assembly
All parts, including the PCB and water tank are assembled into the Teasmade body. A crucial and skilled part of the assembly is fitting the clock hands, as they are key to the accuracy of the clock and alarm function.
Step 5 - Electrical Safety and Pressure Test
Before the Teasmade is packaged it is put through a series of rigorous safety tests. Various electrical tests are performed including exposing the unit to 1,500 Volts, after which the tank is pressurized to test the integrity of the seals.
Step 6 - Functional Boil and Soak Test
The Teasmade is tested even further with a final functional test which includes a boil test. After passing this it is then placed on a 24 hour soak test to check the clock and the alarm function.
Step 7 - Packaging
The Teasmade and all accessories are carefully packaged into retail boxes. Great care and attention was used during the design of the packaging to ensure the best protection for the product possible.
Step 8 - Shipping
Shipping the Teasmade on pallets is a crucial method for reducing costs and improving the handling of the finished goods.
RBC sold about 30,000 teasmades a year until their unfortunate demise, which I believe was due to a factory fire in about 2008. A voluntary liquidator was appointed by special resolution on 24th Feb 2009. Following liquidation, the company was dissolved on 31st Aug 2012.