12 | Aycliffe Today Business
Growing Aycliffe firm Altec Engineering
aim to use Durham Oktoberfest as a
springboard to expansion.
DURHAM OKTOBERFEST:
THE LAUNCHPAD TO WINNING NEW BUSINESS
In just a few weeks hundreds of businesses and delegates from across the North-East and beyond
will descend on the Xcel Centre in Newton Aycliffe for the region’s biggest engineering and
manufacturing event, Durham Oktoberfest.
The event, which is now in its seventh
year, gives businesses the perfect
platform to promote themselves and
meet potential buyers, suppliers and
customers.
“This region is home to some of the
country’s most successful engineering and
manufacturing companies and Durham
Oktoberfest is all about showcasing them
and promoting our world class capabilities
and strengths within these sectors.
”
But unlike many other events in the
regional business events calendar, Durham
Oktoberfest has built up a reputation for
bringing together companies that have a
genuine desire to work together.
One of the companies that is hoping to win
new business from the event is Bowburnbased Altec Engineering.
Darren Race, project leader for Durham
Oktoberfest and chairman of South Durham
Engineering and Manufacturing Forum,
said: “What sets our event apart is that it is
unashamedly focused on the engineering
and manufacturing sectors and this year we
aim to achieve an 80 per cent presence from
companies within these industries.
“The event is developed in direct response
to our members’ needs and continually
improved based on their feedback and what
exhibitors tell us from each successive year.
“We also appreciate how challenging it can
be for smaller businesses to put themselves
on the radars of bigger companies in the
North East, their future customers, which
is why we invest a lot of time in the Meet
the Buyer element of the event. This allows
participants to meet potential new suppliers
in a series of one to one meetings and
already we have 15 of our biggest employers
registered, including Nifco, Ebac, Parker
Hannifin, Cummins and Northumbria Water.
Altec Engineering, which was launched in
1978 and specialises in the manufacture of
CNC precision machining, special purpose
equipment and fixtures for a number of
sectors including oil and gas, defence,
automotive and medical science, is
undergoing a £1.5m expansion and is keen to
meet potential clients.
David Steel, Managing Director, said: “The
company is currently going through a major
period of growth as we look to increase
turnover and invest in our workforce and the
site expansion we’re undertaking is part of
that.
“We’re almost doubling the size of space
we occupy and we’ve also committed to an
apprenticeship programme which has already
seen us recruit nine young people with a
further four to join us in due course.
“We were involved in the first Durham
Oktoberfest event but for the last five years
we haven’t attended. However, because
we’re undergoing such a major expansion we
want to meet with other regional businesses
with a view to securing work from them and
know Durham Oktoberfest is the best way
for us to do that.
”
This year’s event takes place on Thursday
23rd October at The Xcel Centre in Newton
Aycliffe and already more than 85 regional
businesses have confirmed their attendance.
During the course of the day they will hear
from one of North-East’s most successful
businessmen, Mike Matthews from Nifco.
Now at the helm of the business, Mr
Matthews will talk about the challenges he
has faced in turning the business around and
some of the highs and lows he’s experienced
in his 30 years, which culminated in his
promotion to European Operations Officer
three years ago.
Darren Race added: “To secure someone of
Mike’s calibre is a real feather in our cap and
one which demonstrates the importance of
Durham Oktoberfest on a regional scale.
”
To find out more about Durham
Oktoberfest, which is organised by
Durham’s engineering forums in
the North, South and East of the
county in partnership with Business
Durham, NOF Energy, the Advanced
Manufacturing Forum, MAS and NEPIC,
visit www.durhamoktoberfest.org.uk,
email [email protected]
or call 0191 3037772.