Agricultural manufacturer targets scale-up
A Scunthorpe manufacturer of grain processing and storage systems has seen turnover increase to £5.5m in the year it secured more than £2m of new contracts.
McArthur Agriculture, which employs 21 people at its facility, reported a revenue of just over £4m in 2017 and last year this increased to £5.5m. The firm is now projecting revenues of £7m for 2019 after seeing a demand for its specialised range of engineering services grow significantly.
The company has tapped into external support from the Manufacturing Growth Programme (MGP) to develop its leadership and management team, improve operational scheduling capacity and create a strategic financial plan to support future expansion.
Six new jobs were created last year as part of this drive, with a similar number expected to be generated if the move into the commercial processing and storage sector goes as planned.
John McArthur, Managing Director of McArthur Agriculture, said: “We can offer a complete turnkey solution for clients, starting with the design and procurement, through to project management, construction and final handover – this is proving extremely popular.
“Traditionally, our clients have been in the agricultural sector, but there is now scope to take our grain storage and processing technology into the commercial market. Conservative estimates suggest that this could more than double our revenue over the next three years.
“In order to scale up quickly, we decided to embark on a strategic review of the business with the Manufacturing Growth Programme to identify areas of improvement within the company. It identified the need to develop our Leadership and Management approach, the sales team and operations, putting in place a financial strategy to help us grow as projected.”
One of the key outcomes of the MGP project has been to create a new board within the business. This has refined the decision-making process, ensuring the senior management are aligned with the company’s shared values, whilst also providing a forum to resolve disagreements.
Neil Harriman, Manufacturing Growth Manager for MGP, added: “McArthur Agriculture is a fantastic business, which should be used as an example to show just what is possible in a rural region like Greater Lincolnshire.
“Once a farming family, they have now diversified and built a successful business with huge potential utilising the expertise they had developed back on their farm.”
