£500,000 sales boost for Worcester Presses as demand grows for coil handling systems.
A UK power press provider is setting its sights on a £500,000 boost this year, after it experienced growth in its coil handing and press feeding systems division.
Worcester Presses, which celebrates 65 years in business in 2014, has seen significant increases in the number of customers looking for bespoke press configurations.
The majority of interest has come from a resurgent construction sector and from clients who have benefitted from the huge investment in the UK’s automotive supply chain.
It has responded by increasing its range of Tomac press feeding and coil handling systems and by appointing a specialist sales engineer to drive closer customer partnerships.
“We are on course for a record £2.25m turnover, thanks mainly to this £500,000 increase in coil handling and press feeding systems sales,” explained Russell Hartill, Director.
“This isn’t by accident. We recognised about 18 months ago that the auto supply chain was buoyant and there was also the first signs of the construction industry kicking into life.”
He continued: “Our response was to invest in Tomac’s new range of products, which includes conventional decoilers and ‘three-in-one’ space saving systems.
“These machines are industry leading and offer customers the opportunity to handle strip feed up to 5mm thick by 1500mm. Increasingly, firms are looking to integrate their systems into their presses and this has led to the popularity of three-in-one options.
“The appointment of Richard Priest as Sales Engineer also reinforces our ability to provide evAen greater design and integration support for existing and new customers.”
This latest news marks an exciting year for Worcester Presses, which provides UK industry with mechanical and hydraulic presses from 3 to 3000 tonnes and covering bench, straight side double crank, c-frame hydraulic and servo presses.
Located at its 10,000 sq ft site at Titan Works in Stourbridge, the company has already increased turnover to £1.75m and is now working through a new pipeline of enquiries that have been generated by appearances at MACH and Northern Manufacturing.
This included the launch of a strategic relationship with Chin Fong and Yeh Chiun to supply their machines in the UK.
Charles Higgins, Director, commented: “There definitely appears to be a groundswell of optimism across industry as a whole and we are seeing renewed interest from automotive, aerospace and building products…the latter in particular is picking up after 4 years of flat growth.
“MACH was one of the busiest shows we’ve seen in a decade and we’ve taken in the region of £1m of enquiries, which we have been working through. The appointment of Richard Priest is a massive addition for us and gives us technical expertise and a real focus on our coil handling and feeder division.”
“These factors have allowed us to expand our business by the areas that matter most to our customers…sales and service.”
Worcester Presses employs ten people at its factory in the West Midlands, providing manufacturing, refurbishment, repair and full servicing capability on all of the machines it sells.
f the firm’s ambition to hit £2.25m is realised, this will lead to the recruitment of more engineers, the possibility of adding another apprentice and a new admin member of staff.
