Booming Black Country manufacturer targets £10m in annual sales
A BLACK Country manufacturer – 100% owned by its staff – has invested more than £700,000 in a bid to increase its global customer base.
Alloy Wire, which makes round, flat, shaped profile and electrical resistance wires in a range of exotic nickel alloys, has set its sights on reaching £10m of annual sales by 2016 after it boosted its capacity across two sites in the West Midlands and Yorkshire.
The company recently put the finishing touches on an investment drive that has seen it install three Zwick tensile and hardness testing machines, PMI material x-ray guns, fully automated multi spindle spooling machine, a five metre strand annealing furnace and a bespoke wire finishing line.
This has given the firm the ability to double its capacity, improve accuracy and extend its capability to produce wire from 0.025mm to 21mm.
Mark Venables, managing director and leader of the successful management buy-out two years ago, said: “We’ve had a really good time since the global recession, boosting turnover from £4.5m in 2009 to its current £8m level.
“Our success has been down to our ability to take on small batch quantities, fast response times and the fact we can manufacture in more than 60 different alloys, including Inconel, Nimonic, Incoloy, Hastelloy, and Ni-Span C902.
“Now is the right time to build on that success and the significant investment we have made in extending the factory and equipping it with automation and state-of-the-art technology will help us offer an even better product and level of service.”
It is not just capital that the firm is spending money on. All 25 of its staff receive ongoing training and are encouraged to learn new skills that can add value to the business.
Established in 1946, Alloy Wire currently works with 4,000 customers in 15 sectors and it exports to more than 45 countries across the world.
Angus Hogarth, sales director, said: “A lot of growth is coming from clients supplying into high value engineering, which is currently enjoying renewed investment.
“We are looking to build on our market share in nuclear and oil and gas, two industries which demand safety critical components that can withstand high temperatures and corrosive environments – ideal for what we supply.”
As part of this year’s marketing activity, Alloy Wire has already exhibited at Houstex 2015 in the United States and will shortly be showcasing its capabilities at the SPE Offshore Europe Conference in Aberdeen and SMI Metal Engineering Expo in North Carolina in the US.
