16 | Aycliffe Today Business
DIVERSITY
THE KEY AS
ENGINEERING
FIRM GETS
BACK ON
TRACK
By Martin Walker
ALM’s new production manager Tim Walker (left) and production engineer John Blackburn with the firm’s new
state-of-the-art £160,000 lathe machine
An award-winning engineering
company is back on the up
after bosses carefully guided
it through the recession by
exploring new markets.
ALM Products, at Grindon Way on
Heighington Lane Business Park, specialised
in manufacturing and supplying hardware and
systems for cubicles and lockers, and at its peak
was turning over in excess of £3m a year.
In 2008 the company diversified, setting up a
new division called ALM Engineering Solutions,
tapping into several sectors including the oil
and gas, aerospace, nuclear and automotive
industries.
Named Durham and Wearside Manufacturing
Company of the Year in 2013, ALM Solutions
produce components from a wide range of
materials including stainless steel, exotic alloys,
titanium, inconel, copper and engineering
plastics.
Turnover has steadied at £3m a year,
the company has recently increased its
workforce to 30 with two key additions to the
management team, and more than £700,000
has been invested to increase capacity since
2009.
Since August last year £200,000 has been spent
on machinery, with a new £160,000 lathe its
latest prize asset.
And managing director Tony Thompson has set
out an ambitious growth plan which will see
turnover jump to £5m by 2015.
“We have the space and capacity to expand,
and there's potentially a lot of work in the oil
and gas sectors, said Tony.
”
“We've diversified massively in the last 10
years, because we've had to, when a lot of
engineering firms like us have gone to the wall.
“We've had to tap into different sectors, explore
new ways of producing parts that were once
alien to us.
“In October 2008 the business suffered
significantly. We lost about a third of our
turnover.
“But we've invested in state-of-the-art
machinery to produce a range of parts. We'll
take a bit of raw material and turn it into a
component, and that could be components for
any number of things.
“We're now producing parts for aircraft deicing systems and subsea remote vehicles for
example, and that's testament to how we've
evolved over the years.
”
Tony, from Ingleton, near Staindrop, stared the
business in 1994 and was originally based at
South Church in Bishop Auckland, but relocated
to Aycliffe Business Park in 1999.
Despite making two key appointments in recent
months - production manager Tim Walker and
production engineer John Blackburn - Tony has
become frustrated with an ever-increasing skills
gap.
“The new additions are part of our growth plan,
but we need more skilled people, he said.
”
“We can find the work if I can attract the right
people to do the job, but that's proving really
difficult.
“Our salary package and incentives rivals the
biggest and most well known in the industry
and we've also introduced a more attractive
overtime rate, shift and fuel allowances.
“It's a serious problem which a lot of
businesses are faced with right now, we
currently have three apprentices and are looking
to recruit another two by the spring"
More details about ALM Products can be
found at www.alm-es.co.uk, or you can
contact them on 01325 313377 or
[email protected]