Family firm SciChem expands on back of international growth
BILSTON-based Scientific and Chemical Supplies (SciChem) has increased its storage facilities by 20% with the lease of a new 8,400 sq ft warehouse unit.
SciChem is a supplier of science equipment and chemicals to schools and commercial laboratories throughout the UK.
But it needs the extra space – at Chestom Road, Bilston – to help it cope with growing international demand for its products which are now exported to 166 countries.
The new accommodation boosts SciChem’s warehouse facilities to more than 50,000 sq ft.
The company – which has a £20m turnover – employs some 80 people at its Bilston headquarters and a further 20 at its branches in Scotland and in the Republic of Ireland.
SciChem chairman John Turton said: “We are winning increasingly large export orders, particularly in the Far East, hence the need for this major expansion in warehousing facilities provided by the new lease on another unit in Chestom Road.
“As we continue to win new orders and grow in size, so our headcount will also continue to rise.”
SciChem is a family firm, still run and jointly owned by the sons of the men who founded the company in 1957: pharmacist JR Turton and Second World War fighter pilot KH Cartland. The company started life in Sedgley, supplying a large number of foundries, metal finishing companies and the automotive industry, before moving to Bilston in 1988.
Andrew Wynne, a partner in the Wolverhampton commercial property department of law firm FBC Manby Bowdler, advised the firm on the move.
He said: “SciChem is a shining example of Black Country success story which is just quietly getting on with tremendous growth. It is a strong family firm, which remains entrepreneurial and has been able to take advantage quickly and effectively of new markets.”
