Control systems firm notches up 50th anniversary with £22m sales
One of the West Midlands’ fastest growing manufacturers marked a year in which it notched up its 50th anniversary by posting more than £22m of sales.
PP Control & Automation, which supplies electrical control systems, cable harnesses and sub-contract manufacturing solutions to many of the world’s largest machinery builders, turned 50 last September and marked the occasion by securing £2m of new contracts.
Located in a 55,000 sq ft facility in Cheslyn Hay, the company enjoyed a major surge in demand during 2017, with interest in its strategic outsourcing services coming from as far away as Iceland.
It is a far cry from when the business was formed by chairman David Fox, operating from a 1,200 sq ft unit in Walsall with just a handful of staff and supplying small volume electrical controls and distribution equipment.
Tony Hague, Managing Director of PP Control & Automation, said: “2017 (was) a major year for us, not just in terms of our ‘big birthday’, but also in terms of laying the foundations for the next five decades.
“We now have a five-year plan of taking turnover from £22m in 2017 to £40m in 2022 and the £1m factory extension now gives us the additional space and world class logistics/materials department to help us achieve that.”
He said the sub-contractor had benefited because a lot of machine builders were themselves busy, many worried they might loose orders because they could not meet sales lead times due to production constriants.
“Strategic outsourcing solutions that we can offer can greatly assist in redesigning their supply chain and operational strategies and provide significant improvements without the cost and risks associated with significant additional recruitment, capex and new buildings,” added Mr Hague.
Mr Fox started PP Control & Automation after spotting an opportunity to provide a more professional panel building service to the region’s hospitals and building companies.
It was originally just him, his wife doing the books in her spare time and a close band of friends who came with him after he decided to leave Simplex to set up the business. The first employee was Frank Cox, who still works at the business today.
The early days involved supplying lots of small contracts, before a new opportunity saw the firm supplying thousands of gear trays for street lighting to be installed in Milton Keynes. Contacts made by Mr Fox over previous years also led the business to do work for Ford Motor Company, working on its fume and dust extraction systems.
“This was really the first example of where we started to look at supplying the big OEMs, rather than lots of small local opportunities,” said Mr Fox.
“It really gathered pace in the mid 90s, when we landed a contract to help Mazak build machine tools. This was the major transformation point for PP and I’m proud to say we still supply the Japanese manufacturer today.”
