Manufacturer targets Japan as part of Far Eastern sales drive
A UK manufacturer is targeting a major sales drive in Japan as it looks to boost its presence in the Far East.
Alloy Wire International (AWI), which supplies more than 60 different high performance alloys to clients in the automotive, aerospace, oil and gas and nuclear, has invested £100,000 into establishing a new sales partner in Tomoe Engineering Co and launching a dedicated Japanese website and suite of marketing materials.
The Black Country manufacturer has also recently gone one stage further by joining its new sales team at its first ever Tokyo exhibition, showcasing its range of materials and three-week delivery lead times to an audience of nearly 90,000 delegates.
It was a major success, AWI said, with new enquiries taken, paving the way for a sales push that could generate £250,000 of new contracts over the next 18 months.
Angus Hogarth, sales director at AWI, said: “Export orders now account for more than half of our £10m turnover and we’re continually finding that our wire, technical expertise and service are in demand all over the globe.
“Japan, with its high-tech industries and precision engineering, is perfectly suited to our capabilities. It offers us massive potential and we made the decision about 18 months ago to make a concerted effort to target customers in this marketplace.
“The first step was to forge a relationship with a local Japanese company and that was quickly sorted with the appointment of Tomoe Engineering Co, a $240m industrial specialist. This gave us the platform and from there we have travelled more than 48,000 miles, spending time training their staff and creating Japanese marketing material and a website.”
