Abaco Systems has expanded its UK manufacturing capacity, breaking ground on the construction of an expanded manufacturing facility in Towcester. Once finished in the middle of next year, the facility will offer over 100,000 sq ft of floor space. The firm says that the expansion will replace its Milton Keynes
Sheffield based GRI Group has acquired contract manufacturer Expac Ltd. Expac, which focuses on toiletry, beauty, health and household sectors, has now become a subsidiary of GRI Expac. Entrepreneur Graham Royle is the leader of GRI Group, which bought the £5 million turnover household products manufacturing firm as part of
Housebuilding firm Persimmon says that the construction of a new “Brickworks” factory was a further investment in its manufacturing capability. The firm said that cost control and procurement discipline provided crucial support to its successful trading performance as it now looks to build a new brick factory in South Yorkshire.
Middlesbrough manufacturing firm ESCS could be set for a 50% boost to turnover after attracting a growing interest from China. At present the fire protection company has a turnover of £500,000. It sent its self-designed ES300 TL system for demonstrations with a major gas and oil firm based in Qingdao, China.
Aerosols and consumer chemicals manufacturing firm James Briggs Ltd has successfully entered a new emerging market. The Oldham based company won a deal with Iranian protective coating specialist firm Dana Chem. This will see it supply the firm with its branded Hycote paint products. The Hycote brand has been made
BDC 319 : Aug 2024
Abaco Systems has expanded its UK manufacturing capacity, breaking ground on the construction of an expanded manufacturing facility in Towcester. Once finished in the middle of next year, the facility will offer over 100,000 sq ft of floor space. The firm says that the expansion will replace its Milton Keynes manufacturing site. Abaco’s UK Managing Director, Andy MacCaig, commented: “We have been planning this move for some time. It will allow us to serve our customers better by improving our efficiency – eliminating transit time, for example – and will create new synergies between our design/development teams and our manufacturing teams that will lead to better communication and real opportunities to innovate. “The net result will be the ability to deliver even better products to our customers more quickly. Those benefits will also be felt by the customers to whom we provide contract manufacturing services.” Abaco says it has made significant investments in state of the art equipment at its facility in Milton Keynes and this will be relocated to the new site. The company recently unveiled the PowerXtreme PPC11A 6U VME rugged single board computer. The board is based on Power Architecture and is available in high performance and low power versions. The high power board features a 1.8GHz QorIQ T2081 processor, said to double the performance of its predecessor. The low power board features a 1.4GHz QoriQ T1042 processor, with four single-threaded e5500 cores and consuming less than 7.5W. Last month, Abaco Systems welcomed the launch by The Open Group of the FACE™ (Future Airborne Capability Environment) Conformance Program. The FACE Conformance Program defines the processes to verify, certify, and provide formal recognition that registered software conforms to the FACE Technical Standard. It provides a number of benefits for buyers as well as suppliers of avionics systems. Abaco has long been an active member of the FACE Consortium, which exists to define an open avionics environment for all military airborne platform types. Increasingly, the principles of FACE are being leveraged beyond airborne applications.
Sheffield based GRI Group has acquired contract manufacturer Expac Ltd. Expac, which focuses on toiletry, beauty, health and household sectors, has now become a subsidiary of GRI Expac. Entrepreneur Graham Royle is the leader of GRI Group, which bought the £5 million turnover household products manufacturing firm as part of its continuing acquisition strategy. Among Expac’s products are talcum powder, shower gel, cleaning sprays and washing up liquid. The acquired firm will carry on operating under its own in-house management team who will make decisions on a day to day basis. During its acquisition of Expac, GRI Group was advised by commercial law firm Nabarro. Corporate partner Ben Hendry led the Nabarro team. He was assisted by corporate associates Richard Lee and Caroline Walker. GRI Group was also advised by BHP Chartered Accountants. Corporate partner at Nabarro, Ben Hendry, commented: “We were thrilled to advise GRI Group on their latest acquisition. Expac is recognised as a highly successful manufacturer with a strong presence in the household products sector. “GRI Group has established itself in developing, manufacturing and the distribution of chemical ingredients for personal care, household care, pharmaceutical and many industrial applications. “The combined business will have many advantages such as a comprehensive range of products and contract manufacturing capability. We look forward to working with them in the future.” Graham Royle, chairman and chief executive of GRI, added: “Expac is a fantastic strategic fit with the rest of our group associate companies. “There is virtually no product overlap and the combined range offers superb synergy across the customer base and global geographical markets that we cover.” Meanwhile, GRI recently unveiled new global sustainability reporting standards. The Global Reporting Initiative has launched a new set of global sustainability reporting standards aimed at giving companies a common language for communicating such information.
Housebuilding firm Persimmon says that the construction of a new “Brickworks” factory was a further investment in its manufacturing capability. The firm said that cost control and procurement discipline provided crucial support to its successful trading performance as it now looks to build a new brick factory in South Yorkshire. The new site, located close to Doncaster, is commissioned for the first quarter of next year and will be manufacturing a significant amount of Persimmon’s brick requirements. The announcement came in a third quarter trading statement that covered the period from July 1, 2016 to November 1, 2016. Persimmon took encouragement from trading over the summer weeks straight after the EU referendum, with the volume of customers visiting Persimmon sites staying way ahead of the previous year. From then on, at the beginning of the autumn selling season, Persimmon said that customer activity strengthened in line with the traditional seasonal variations of the market. Since the group posted its half year results on August 23, 2016, private sales rate has been 19% ahead of last year, which represents a continuation of the stronger sales rate experienced during the summer weeks. The company is now fully sold up for this year and has around £757 million of forward sales reserved past 2016, which is a rise of 4% on the same point last year. Persimmon said that the market has benefitted from strong lender support and resilient consumer confidence. However, the business has recognised that the uncertainty regarding the potential impact of the EU referendum result on the UK economy may go on for some time. Persimmon says that it is still cautious with regard to new land investment but has continued to progress attractive propositions on a selective basis. In a bid to support growth moving forward, the housebuilder is planning to open a new regional operating division near Nottingham on January 2, 2017.
Middlesbrough manufacturing firm ESCS could be set for a 50% boost to turnover after attracting a growing interest from China. At present the fire protection company has a turnover of £500,000. It sent its self-designed ES300 TL system for demonstrations with a major gas and oil firm based in Qingdao, China. Talks are now underway with regard to the Chinese company possibly ordering 10 of the machines in a £250,000 deal. ESCS makes specialist corrosion control and spray application equipment. It already boasts major gas and oil operators in Azerbaijan, Indonesia, Singapore and Australia among its customers. However, managing director Shaun McDonald believes that the ES300 TL has the ability to revolutionise the fire protection sector. The specialist machines spray thick coatings of intumescent epoxy materials to protect steel structures from the threat of fire. ESCS already makes and exports the ES430 from its new premises on South Tees Freight Park. The ES430 is a bigger applicator of passive fire protection, but on request from its Chinese customer produced the smaller, faster version. ‘A real innovation’ McDonald devised ESCS himself and invested £27,000 into the planning, design and research of the machine, with manufacturing support from Middlesbrough companies Donoghue Engineering and Teesside Precision Engineering. He now believes that after initial trials at Azko Nobel in Felling, the new machine is going to be a big hit throughout the sector. McDonald said: “I knew it would do a job, as it will reduce the set-up time and application process on smaller jobs by at least two thirds, but it far surpassed even my own high expectations during the testing. “This is a real innovation because it will save so much time. There is nothing like this on the market so I think these machines will fly off the shelf once people out there know about it.”
Aerosols and consumer chemicals manufacturing firm James Briggs Ltd has successfully entered a new emerging market. The Oldham based company won a deal with Iranian protective coating specialist firm Dana Chem. This will see it supply the firm with its branded Hycote paint products. The Hycote brand has been made in the Royton area of Greater Manchester since 1982. It includes products for valeting, maintaining and painting vehicles. Although there was some skepticism surrounding the future of British exporting after the EU referendum in June, the weakened pound has increased UK export activity by 8% to its highest rate in the last two years. The manufacturing company says that the its international performance has fallen in line with the wider positive outlook. It is now looking to increase its presence in Europe and further afield. The partnership with Dana Chem has added to a number of international firsts for the firm. Over the last year and a half the company has entered new markets across Southeast Asia and the Middle East throughout the last year and a half. ‘An exciting new era’ James Briggs CEO Tim Pugh said of the deal: “James Briggs has continued to realise its strategy of targeting new international territories, such as Iran, that are receptive to high quality, British-developed products. “While Brexit has meant a necessary realigning of our export activity, our wider strategy has always looked beyond the single market and we’re confident it will continue to serve us well in the near and long-term.“ He continued: “Our partnership with Dana Chem marks the beginning of an exciting new era for James Briggs, and we look forward to expanding our presence in Iran as our partnership and products begin to gain traction.” In August, Applied Graphene Materials (AGM) worked with James Briggs Limited on a joint development programme. The business has developed a form of graphene it says can deliver a six-fold improvement in barrier and anti-corrosion properties. James Briggs is expected to use the product in primers to offer greater protection from weathering.
