30 manufacturing jobs created following grant boost
THIRTY jobs have been created in Sheffield’s manufacturing sector following a grant from Sheffield City Region.
The new employees were hired at Advanced Engineering Techniques (AET), based in Halfway, Sheffield.
The privately owned SME created local jobs as well as staff promotions and new senior management positions.
Established in 1989, AET specialises in laser cutting, machining and fabrications, supplying sectors such as bus and coach, road freight, yellow goods, offshore platforms, lifting equipment and security sectors.
The expansion of AET’s manufacturing capacity and the improvement of the factory layout to create additional space was made possible thanks to a grant from the Sheffield City Region Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP) of £99,000.
This formed part of a £450,000 total investment.
David Birch, managing director of AET, said: “The grant from the LEP funding has allowed us to take on 30 new employees, buy two new robots which run 24 hours a day and change the layout of the factory, all helping to increase turnover by 25%.
“The grant has been great for our SME as we have been able to take on more work with existing customers as well as bringing in a new customer, thanks to our extra members of staff and new machines. We have also been able to export to the Far East, something we hadn’t done before.
“I suppose the best thing about the grant is that we haven’t had to miss the opportunities we have been given due to a lack of staff and machines, or even, the money to buy new machines. It has helped us think outside the box in terms of development as well.”
The funding also helped to free up some of AET’s budget to provide further training of their staff.
Mr Birch said: “The funding, which we’ve used on the factory layout and to buy machinery, has enabled us to use some of our budget to provide further training of our staff. For example, we have sent a couple of employees to the University of Sheffield, we have had half a dozen staff doing a basic management course, and then, another manager and I have done an MBA at the University of Derby. Training is important to us here at AET – 60% of our employees have received a qualification whilst they’ve been working for us, usually an NVQ level 2 or 3.
“We also have a number of apprentices and students on work experience from the local schools working with us. We provide them with vital training and many of them continue to work for us – we find it’s a good way of bringing people in.”
The company has around 190 members of staff currently, including permanent, seasonal and contract workers. In the future, it plans to buy additional premises to expand the business and increase the number of employees to 250-300 in the next ten years.
Nigel Brewster, vice chairman of the Sheffield City Region LEP, said: “AET is another successful example of one of the 52,000 SMEs in the Sheffield City Region driving our pragmatic and community-based work ethic. One of the LEP’s core aims is to increase jobs in the region, partly through investment and partly through skills training. One of the ways we do this is by bringing people, public sector and business closer together.
“Thriving businesses such as AET unlock the region’s economic potential as well as build valuable international networks. The LEP Board would like to congratulate all those at AET who have contributed towards the growth of the business and the benefit this brings to our region.”
