The West Midlands-based electropolishing company, which processes parts for Apache helicopters, nuclear reactors and medical implants, hit £3m sales to make 2011 a record year for the company.
Backed by strategic and financial support from the Manufacturing Advisory Service (MAS), Anopol reported growth across the automotive, medical, semiconductor and aerospace sectors, with export sales rising by 35% after the firm’s success in continental Europe.
The company secured contracts for its plant design and installation service, with the last three projects delivering more than £1.2m in revenue.
Anopol, which employs 39 people at sites in Birmingham and Hampshire, significantly exceeded the previous year’s sales figures after the company suffered reduced orders during the economic downturn. The company puts its improvement down to identifying new markets and investing in quality and service.
David Cass, the company’s new managing director, commented: “During the recession, we a strategy in place that focused on improving productivity, spotting opportunities in new markets and pushing our expertise in designing and manufacturing bespoke electropolishing and pickling facilities.”
Mr Cass pinpointed the company’s business partnership with the Italian factory equipment provider Delmet as a major reason behind its recent spate of new orders.
“The latest high profile order has seen us design and install a new pickling plant that surface finishes hot water storage cylinders in a fully enclosed environment, with no operator contact to chemicals and in-cycle treatment of all waste water from the pickling process.”
“Using all of our years of experience, we came up with a solution in just four months that reduced processing lead times from hours to minutes and is completely safe and friendlier on the environment…there are also massive returns on investment for the customer.”
Recent investment of more than £250,000 has seen it purchase a new ‘blacking’ process and moved forward diversification into treatments for new metals, such as tungsten, titanium and zirconium.
“A lot of our success has been down to our desire to continually evolve,” added Cass, pointing to Anopol’s application of top end grills that it surface finishes for the Bentley Arnage.
The company has worked closely with MAS for almost five years in order to carry out business improvements. During this time MAS has provided assistance towards productivity improvements that resulted £30,000 of savings and 23% increased efficiency.
It has also provided funding towards the firms ISO 9001 and 14001 programmes and, most recently, support in addressing its social media strategy.
Rachel Eade, automotive cluster manager at MAS, concluded: “Anopol is an excellent business that is combining traditional expertise with the latest processes to win customers both at home and abroad.”
“The newly strengthened management team responded well to the recession and I’m pleased to see the business exceed its growth targets.”
