365Drills is operated by Richard Hazell. He is married to Phillippa and they live near London.

Phillippa and Richard Hazell

Where it all began: In 2005 Richard and Phil were rebuilding their home and purchased hard porcelain tiles for a bathroom project. Porcelain is commercial but becoming popular in domestic situations however many installers find it difficult to drill due to its granite like qualities. In 2005 there were no tools available for a reasonable price and Richard was faced with the same issue.

.Tile drilling options in 2005 were:

The tile outlet would not accept the tiles back because porcelain is a specialist product. Further, they had no tools to deal with it and said to try elsewhere.

The first step:

Having experienced the problem first hand Richard decided to do something about it. His background was at the age of 13 his father decided to build a house from scratch. The family moved from Kent to Hertfordshire and set about turning a plot of earth into a home. At that age picking up and learning skills is easy. The new school was difficult to integrate into because most students had formed their relationships in the early years. So he spent most of his time after school hanging about on site watching and helping the trades. Fast forward to age 34 Richard bought and gutted a house taking five years to complete it using many of the skills he had witnessed twenty years ago.

It was during the construction of his own home the difficulty of drilling tiles identified itself. By reverse engineering the problem a number of things were noted. Diamond was the only material tough enough so everything in contact with the tile surface had to be made of it. The most costly part was a center pilot made of high quality diamond. Amazingly competitor systems used cheap carbide pilots but with a fatal flaw. To prevent burn out they required elaborate water cooling systems with jets to continuously pump water over the drill tip (and of course the floor).

The best ideas are simple. After many hours of design work this final drill plate is an elegant and simple solution.

Center pilots caused more problems than they solved so the eureka moment was to remove them and design a new way to hold a core. Richard's idea was a drill plate to control the core from the outside and he explained the concept to his friend Andrew Goodman. He owns GMTools and offered CAD software used to design injection moulds.

	Once designed on CAD Richard was keen to develop the idea further so persuaded GMTools (Andy) to help build a prototype. In this shot Richard photographs Andy as the first prototype is being constructed
	You can see the now familiar D shape of the very first prototype being machined. Richard and Andy have been friends for a number of years. If you need CMC work please see his website GMTOOLS
	The prototype is finished. Once completed it was tested on a tile. Results were immediate and excellent!

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Commercial opportunities [Patent filed 2005]

Releasing the commercial potential for the idea Richard immediately approached a patent attorney. He met Chris Hirsh at HLBB-Shaw based in Cambridge and with the help of Chris and his team wrote then applied for a patent to cover a method and the apparatus.

The first point the patent attorneys raised was an issue of ownership. Because Andrew volunteered his time, input, software, machinery to aid the invention he was classified as a CO-inventor. It was the testimony of true friendship that when asked if he wanted to share he declined. A short contract was drawn up by HLBBShaw and for the cost of £1 Andrew signed over his rights to the intellectual property, copyright, design rights and patent.

Later that year Richard and Andy, Lisa and Phil attended a local award ceremony for inventive ideas.

Once the patent was filed Richard began the approach to retail. His career was in the pharmaceutical industry from the age of 16 to 38 and the hurdles were that he knew nothing about this market sector.

Six members of 365 are shown with two tile training staff from PTS in Harlow

His wife's income now paid the mortgage and bills while Richard began his gamble to bring the kit to retail. In mid 2007 the 365 team attended trade show "Tile and Stone Show" to raise the company profile and have some fun too! As you can see from the shots above everyone seems to be having fun but would the tile industry take us seriously? or did our tounge in cheek approach alienate the very market we sought to crack... Time would tell.

Nicola is dressed as an airline pilot for one reason only. Other systems use a pilot drill. Our system "does not need a pilot drill.." Actually everyone dressed up as airline pilots. When we looked at our competitors we saw they were very formal and their equipment very expensive. Suits, ties and other outfits. But we needed something to grab attention.... The entire promotional was so well received that more appearances of the 365 pilots may be arranged for 2008...

Even Richard dressed up for the event . Which goes to show what lengths he will go to promote the brand and raise the profile. Yes its daft. A bit of fun but overall the point is the system is a mid price range solution to a serious and genuine problem.

Peter Jones with Richard Hazell trying the Porsadrill tile drill system

Reaching large Retail Outlets - Arctic Products

In June 2008 Richard Hazell signed an exclusive deal with Arctic products for UK distribution of Porsadrill

Richard Hazell and Nigel Stokes of Arctic Products.

In this next stage of development we are approaching the high street retail outlets like Jewsons, Travis-Perkins, Topps-Tiles, B&Q, Homebase, Wicks, Bathstore as well as other large companies like PTS Plumbing, Jack Pennington, Amec Construction, Toolbank with the fully developed drill kits. The objective is to provide volume sales of this system placing it within easy travel times for our customers.

UK Production for volume sales

We have invested capital into elegant packaging solutions. And now have a full time team of packing operators, engineers, production supervisors and warehouse staff able to produce large quantities in short periods of time. We are fully UK based so jobs go to UK people. We also source and purchase uk materials and maintain our own UK equipment. We do not export production abroad. But we do export our kits abroad.

Richard Hazell at one of the packaging lines for 365Drills Porsadrill producing tile drills for very hard porcelain

Tile Drill kits coming off the packing line conveyer at the 365 drills factory.

The future

"Our drilling kits make life easier for installers and one day the retail market will agree with us".

At the time of writing (October 2007) the porcelain market is about 30% and rising. As ceramic kilns wear out they are being replaced in favour of porcelain so the market will rise steadily over the next ten years. This is not a declining industry but instead growing. Many people walk into tile shops stating "My tiler sent me here to select tiles but told me to tell you - no porcelain...." But tilers have to adapt because the industry, fashion and the market have moved on.

There is a great team at 365 and we really care about our customers and product. We are still on our journey and I wish I could tell you we achieved our objectives. But the path is not easy. There have been some successes but plenty of knock backs. I am willing to learn, very hard working, and given time I am sure we will succeed. I am ready to listen to any advice or tips. If you can help me, the product or have improvements then I would love to hear from you."

The highs and the lows of striking out

The biggest high was definitely testing the prototype. We took it off the machine and tried it (on of all things) a glass window in the door of the factory tea room. I pressed it against the glass and spun the diamond core. It scribed a perfect hole into the glass thus vandalizing the window! But in those early seconds I knew we had a winner. The lows are with industry. We have been let down by so many large companies who invite me to share our information about sales and technical information. Then instead of placing an order they go back to established suppliers and ask them to copy us. Small businesses produce 60 per cent of commercial innovations in the UK and it vital to the country's economic success that their ideas are supported, not stolen. Two years ago there was nothing in the market and what annoys me is seeing crude alternatives instead of this elegant and simple solution.C

PRESS RELEASE

365Drills provide value for money with Porsadrill

Current trends have changed in kitchens and bathrooms as tastes become grander! Materials used in construction of tiles have become much harder as the size increased.

CURRENTLY there is genuine difficulty drilling very hard porcelain tiles. Existing methods require an industrial diamond drilling rig costing hundreds of pounds. Due to the increasing popularity of the hard tile market there existed a gap in the market for a low cost alternative. 365Drills produce an "all in one solution" for £50. Known as the BFKMX or Bathroom Fitters Kit it consists of 2x6mm 2x8mm 1x16mm 1x30mm 1x40mm and is designed as a total installation solution. The range is enhanced with 37 other sized kits in the £30 to £50 bracket giving installers a choice between industrial systems at a premium price or the new lower cost systems.

The developmental breakthrough came when 365drills replaced the pilot drill with an inexpensive guide plate which purpose is to hold a diamond crown steady and prevent its slip on any type of tile. Removing the pilot eliminates cost but also the need for a water feed. Jetting water to a drill site is messy but without a pilot to cool means a significant reduction in the quantity of water needed. This saves time for the installer and keeps the installation site dry.

Retailers can benefit from this system too. Short life kits ensure installers return for replacement kits plus additional sizes and of course other items at the outlet. In fact a lot of installers who own expensive rigs supplement their equipment with the cheaper kits for one off sizes and jobs. Each pack is bright, vibrant with contents highly visible to customers. Packs take up little footprint, have comprehensive instructions, a user friendly look and are simple and obvious to use.

In contrast industrial rigs look complicated, have many additional extra parts and the initial outlay is a barrier to purchase. Installers often worry about capital equipment being stolen from site, van or night storage so limit spending to essential items. The loss of a 365drills kit is more a nuisance than a capital outlay. Installers also appreciate the kits are priced at a quantifiable cost that can be added to a customers invoice and a fixed cost that can help price up a job. Presenting the kits as a consumable item to clients increases their profit per job and allows the pricing of jobs to be done with accuracy.