Aycliffe Today Business Aycliffe Today Business issue 33 | Page 5

The magazine for Aycliffe Business Park | 5
/NEWS
PWS’ new recruits
(left to right) Cat
McElroy, Jessica Inglis
and Lucy Dawson.
BUSINESS BRIEFS
MEDITEK ‘CEASES TRADING’
New marketing appointments
at Aycliffe-based PWS
N
ewton Aycliffe-based PWS, one of the
UK’s leading distributors of kitchen
components, has expanded its marketing
team with three new appointments.
Jessica Inglis has joined the fourth
generation family firm as PR and
communications manager, overseeing all
public relations and strategic communication
across the UK.
With over six years’ marketing and PR
experience within various industry sectors,
including global fashion retailers, Jessica
has built up a vast and comprehensive
knowledge of the media industry.
Adding further gravitas to the team, Cat
McElroy has come on board as the digital
marketing manager.
For the last 10 years she has worked
within the marketing industry, driving brand
development and strategy for a world leading
C
lighting brand.
Specialising in digital, Cat will play a key
part in driving the company’s online presence
even further forward.
Finally, the trio is complete with the
addition of Lucy Dawson, who takes up the
position of technical graphic designer in the
marketing team.
With a BA Honours degree in graphic
design, Lucy has worked in the design
industry for just over three years.
Focusing on 2D AutoCAD and 3D Inventor,
she brings a valuable skill set to the team.
Aidan Jackson, group marketing director
at PWS, said: “We’re delighted to welcome
three talented individuals to PWS.
“These appointments reaffirm our
continued investment, and our long-term
strategy to position ourselves as the market
leader in our industry.”
Crafter’s sales climb to £10.3m
rafter’s Companion has been ranked
number 31 in this year’s Sunday
Times Lloyds SME Export Track 100
list, after experiencing 72% year-on-
year growth in export sales.
One of just four North-East companies
to make the list, the Newton Aycliffe-based
business has grown significantly from a
small start-up into a global enterprise, now
exporting to 32 countries worldwide across
Europe, Africa, Australia and North and South
America.
Having been listed at number 52 last year,
the company jumped to spot 31 in the 2018
list, and expects export growth to continue,
particularly in the US and Germany, over the
coming years.
Company founder Sara Davies MBE said:
“To move up by such a substantial jump is
a real achievement for us and is tribute to
the hard work of our teams across the UK,
Europe and US.
“We expect to see continued export
growth driven by product innovation, greater
brand visibility and increasing consumer
demand.”
The annual Sunday Times Lloyds SME
Export Track 100 league recognises the 100
An award-winning stairlift maker in
Newton Aycliffe has reportedly ceased
trading, with all staff being made
redundant.
Meditek, which once employed 30
people at its premises at Northfield Way
on Aycliffe Business Park, has stopped
operating.
According to quotes attributed to co-
founder and director Kevin Strafford-Price,
he has reportedly said: “Meditek has
ceased trading. All the staff received
redundancy, notice and monthly pay. I
would like to thank the creditors who
worked hard to help the company get
through and customers who were loyal to
the end.”
Meditek, formed in a Hartlepool garage
in the mid-1990s by Mr Strafford-Price
and Derek Nicholson, moved to Aycliffe
from Fishburn, near Sedgefield, in 2013 to
develop its models.
A year later the firm won the Export award
in Aycliffe Business Park’s inaugural Make
Your Mark awards competition.
HITACHI TRAIN GEARS UP
One of Hitachi’s new Intercity Express
train has arrived in Inverness depot for the
first time, ahead of improving passenger
journeys when they enter service later
this year.
The Hitachi-built tr ain, which will offer
customers more seats, space and
improved on-board technology, is doing
test runs in Scotland and giving depot
staff the chance to familiarise themselves
with the train.
The test train, which was built in Japan,
will be followed by 64 Aycliffe-built
Intercity Express trains that will run from
Inverness and Aberdeen, via Edinburgh,
to London.
Earlier in February, Hitachi celebrated
the 30th complete IEP train set, built on
Aycliffe Business Park, leaving the factory.
INNOVATION SUPPORT
small and medium-sized (SME) companies in
Britain with the fastest-growing international
sales over the previous three years.
Founded in 2005 by award-winning
entrepreneur Sara, Crafter’s Companion
has enjoyed continued growth with the
company’s export sales increasing by an
average of 94% each year, rising to £10.3m
in 2017.
Crafter’s Companion currently employs
more than 100 staff across the UK, selling
products online, through its own outlets
and independent retailers, and regularly
presenting workshops and demonstrations in
store and on TV shopping channels in the UK,
US and Germany.
Companies in County Durham who are
looking to do new things in their business
are being urged to take advantage of
a new funded support service from
Teesside University.
Innovate Durham offers advice, mentoring
and practical support to SMEs who want
to grow by developing new products or
services or by introducing new processes
into the business.
Innovate Durham, which is part-financed
by a grant from the European Regional
Development Fund, offers SMEs the
services of a dedicated business
innovation manager, who will work with
them to understand what they want to
achieve, identify potential projects, and
develop a practical action plan of support.
Innovate Durham is a part-funded service
available to growth-oriented businesses
in County Durham employing fewer than
250 staff and with an annual turnover of
no greater than €50m per annum.