DRB puts plans in place to build new £500k offices

MANUFACTURER D R Baling (DRB) has been granted planning permission to build a new £500,000 office.

The Sheffield wire manufacturer, which supplies major companies across the UK and Ireland with specialist wire to secure bales of compacted waste or recyclables, will build its new office on its six and half acre site at Oxspring. It also has industrial units on the site which are rented out to other companies.

The firm said it has also invested millions of pounds in machinery to ensure its wire keeps pace with technical advances in the burgeoning waste processing industry. DRB said it now commands at least 25% of the British market for this wire.

It has increased its tonnage output by 10% year on year and last year made 9,000 tonnes of wire – enough to circle the earth four times over.

DRB aims to increase turnover from £7.5m to £10m over the next three years and managing director Peter Robinson said the firm has built its reputation on the quality of its products and staff expertise while faced with competition from subsidised imports from Europe.  

He said: “Our wire must meet very exacting specifications and standards and we’ve evolved and grown as the industry itself has developed.

“We’ve always had a passion for what we do and providing a reliable, quality product and service underpins everything.”

The Enterprising Barnsley business support programme, which is delivered by Barnsley Metropolitan Borough Council, has given free business coaching to the company to support its growth. 

Support received through the Enterprising Barnsley programme has included help to develop the company’s website and social media and marketing strategy, review patents and copyrights, and to make the company more ‘tender-ready’.

Two years ago DRB invested £1.2m to build a bespoke unit to house a new state-of-the-art furnace for annealing, a heat treatment carried out in a controlled nitrogen atmosphere which leaves the wire clean and scale-free.
In the same year, DRB developed a unique fully-automated system for the manufacture of rewound coils. The machine has tripled production of this product.

The Enterprising Barnsley programme aims to help Barnsley-based businesses expand, generating economic growth and creating new jobs.