Aycliffe Today Business Aycliffe Today Business issue 34 | Page 19

The magazine for Aycliffe Business Park | 19 ACB sales director Paul Sparke served his time as an apprentice tool-maker on Aycliffe Business Park. Gardner Denver area sales manager Graham Read (left) with ACB sales director Paul Sparke. “I knew companies would start flocking to the park, with the arrival of Hitachi Rail Europe and the way Gestamp Tallent were growing.” base in Dunston, and 70% of our customers were in DL, DH and TS postcodes, most of which are within a 20-mile radius of Aycliffe,” explains Paul. “We saw it as a natural progression for the business after four years of continued growth, to reaffirm the work we do with existing clients but to expand on that by establishing new customers. “We’ve signed an initial three-year contract rolling to seven years, so we’re here for the long-term.” Gardner Denver is a Worcestershire-based supplier of CompAir and Hydovane products, among others, covering the whole of the UK. ACB is one of Gardner Denver’s biggest One Air distributors, having been recognised with two sales awards by the supplier in 2017 – one for Northern Europe Downstream Distributor of the Year and the other for Regional Elmo Rietschle Distributor of the Year. GD area sales manager Graham Read said: “ACB is my largest distributor covering the whole of the North, so it’s an important client, and Aycliffe is therefore a key area for us. “Although it’s a huge business park, there isn’t the concentration of industry there is in the Leeds and Manchester areas, so I think there are more opportunities here due to less competition in our field.” GD has gained the energy management standard ISO 15001 accreditation and is one of the UK’s biggest suppliers of air compressor products. Graham added: “We also attend the annual Air Tech conference held at the NEC in Birmingham so in terms of our industry we’re a leader. “And ACB, as a One Air distributor, have access to all our products, so they can compress air from zero to 400 bar.” Paul, meanwhile, is back in familiar territory. He served his time as an apprentice toolmaker with Presswork Metals, now ROF 59 – just a stone’s throw over the road from his new offices. He then worked in sales for Woodside Pnematics, also based on the estate, which later became Air Channel, before leaving in 2009 to take up a sales role with CompAir. He then joined ACB, then based in Gateshead, as a director in 2014. “I was given the opportunity to put a long- term growth plan together,” explains Paul. “The five-year plan was to assess our database and make the move from Gateshead to Aycliffe. I could see what was happening on Aycliffe Business Park around four years ago. I knew companies would start flocking to the park, with the arrival of Hitachi Rail Europe and the way Gestamp Tallent were growing. “I knew it was going to be a challenge and something to get my teeth into. A lot of businesses were still suffering through the recession. “But when I joined we turned over £790,000. My target was to hit a million, and we achieved that, then we did £1.1m and £1.2m, and this year we’ll do around £1.4m. “That’s not down to me. The main part is down to the support we get from Gardner Denver, both in terms of sales and technical support but also with marketing. “We also pride ourselves on one-to-one, 24-7 customer service and getting the job done in the quickest possible time for our clients, which has been another major factor in our success.” To find out more about ACB’s services, call 0191 460 9605, email [email protected] or visit www.acbnorth.com