Injection investment boosts capacity
Managing director Melvin Sinar says it is an exciting time to be involved in the business
Dudley-based Petford Tools, a specialist toolmaker for plastic injection, compression and composite moulds, has taken delivery of a £560,000 KraussMaffei 1600 tonnes injection press.
Backed by support from the Manufacturing Advisory Service-West Midlands Auto programme, the investment will help it increase capacity, further enhance quality and improve lead times when dealing with larger components.
The company reported 15% annual growth for 2011, taking turnover to £14m, after landing a string of new orders from the automotive and agricultural sectors.
“This is a really exciting time to be involved in the business and, whilst there are obvious pressures out there in manufacturing, we have some exciting opportunities ahead of us,” explained managing director Melvin Sinar, who first joined the company 28 years ago as an engineering and toolmaker apprentice.
“We have seen growth across all areas of the business, but especially in the automotive sector where we currently supply Jaguar Land Rover, Bentley, Nissan, Ford, Toyota and Aston Martin, where our tooling has been responsible for every exterior Fender used in their cars over the last ten years.”
He continued: “There has also been an increase in orders from JCB and white goods and we are certainly benefitting from global companies looking to source closer to home after disasters in Japan and Thailand.”
Petford Tools, which currently employs 89 people, started life as a toolmaker in 1969 after two ex-chain makers saw a gap in the local market.
It moved to its current site in Dudley eight years ago and that signaled the start of a 10-year business plan that saw the company build an injection moulding facility to complement its precision tooling operation and invest in CAD, CNC milling machines and spark and bench finishing.
This was quickly followed by new agreements to set-up low cost manufacturing facilities in China and Taiwan, which have proved vital when retaining global contracts.
“It’s not a case of choosing to ship production overseas,” explained Mr Sinar.
“What we are doing is keeping the value added work, design and precision tooling and moulding here in the Black Country and utilising our Asian factories to remain competitive on pricing against international rivals.”
He went on to add: “This has been a crucial formula in our success and will help us create another 10 local jobs over the next twelve months and reach our goal of being a £20m company within five years.”
MAS-WM Auto has provided a host of strategic and financial support to help Petford Tools with its ambitious growth plans.
This includes assistance with securing TS16949, introducing an environmental management system that has involved the recycling of waste into new products and help with R&D Tax Credits claims.
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