Bringing Aycliffe Business Park Together | 19
Significant investments have also been
made recently - £65,000 has been spent
on an ESAB Eagle 3500 plasma, a stateof-the art bit of kit which cuts shapes
and holes into sheets of raw steel, while
another £20,000 has been spent on a
new overhead crane. Both investments
were made thanks to a 25% subsidy from
HSBC’s funding asset programme.
John added: “Back in 2008 we invested
£1m on some really state-of-the-art kit that
massively increased our capacity. Now
that is all paid for we’re looking to make
the next step and keep investing to ensure
we’re always improving and increasing
capacity.
“As we are trying to be more efficient
rather than just chasing turnover,
we are currently introducing a more
efficient method within the paint area by
introducing dual pumping for the painting
of the steelwork.
“Bolstering the management team and
investing in new kit is all geared towards
increasing the firm’s production and
capacity to be able to take on more.
”
Finley’s currently have between 180 and
200 tonnes of steel going through the
factory every week but the ambition is to
get that up to around the 300-tonne mark.
They are now looking to take on extra
platers and welders in the coming
weeks to help their buoyant shop floor
deal with the extra work along with the
implementation of new ideas.
And the Finley story doesn’t stop there.
Sister company SCH Site Services is run
by Gary, who is joint managing director
with John, and they are expecting to see
the turnover jump to £3m by the end of
the financial year in March.
door to SCH, and this is being leased longterm but includes a building which John
has ear-marked for training purposes.
SCH currently employ 34 people, with
Finley’s having 60 employees, employing a
total of 94 combined.
Looking at an even bigger picture, he has
ambitions to turn some of the land and
buildings into training centres for welders,
platers and steel erectors.
And with Julie heading up the Finley’s
operation, it often takes sibling rivalry to a
new level.
“They are run as two separate companies
and we give quite a lot of work to SCH as
one of our sub-contractors, says John.
”
“But they don’t always get the work. They
have to price the jobs up as we put the
site installation out to the market and they
have to be as competitive as anyone else
in order to win it, which often creates a lot
of family banter!”
There are other business interests that
come under the Finley’s umbrella, too.
As well as its five-acre site, they’ve
invested around £1.4m in other properties
over the last two years. They acquired
a 40,000 sq. ft. unit which sits next
to Finley’s site, the home of SCH Site
Sevices, and in August 2012 they bought
the former Presswork Metals factory, a
70,000 sq. ft. space which currently sits
derelict for now.
“The dreaded skills gap that everyone is
talking about is just around the corner,
”
warns John.
“It’s going to hit us very soon and we all
need to be prepared for it. The government
are encouraging more young people into
Apprenticeships and that’s great, but it is
not going to solve the short-term problem.
“We have given individuals the chance
to engage in welding and with the right
attitude towards work we have seen them
welding within a four-to-six-week period,
doing six to 10mm fillets, passing the tests
and being certified.
“The industry is on the up-turn and we’ll
soon find there’ll be more demand for jobs
than there is skilled people therefore we
need to do something about it.
”
To enquire about any job opportunities
at Finley Structures call them on 01325
328120 or send a CV and covering letter
to [email protected]
John has already changed the use
of this site to a leisure facility with
Durham County Council, with plans to
turn it into one of the region’s biggest
climbing centres with a 20-metre wall,
and hopefully this will come to fruition
sometime in 2014.
Finley’s worked on a 950-tonne project at the
National Renewable Energy Centre (NAREC) in
Blyth for Shepherd Construction
Finley’s have also acquired the former
Demolition House on Beaumont Way, next
Finley’s also built the steel frame for Nifco’s
state-of-the-art factory in Eaglescliffe
They also worked with Shepherd Construction on a
1,000-tonne project at Drax Power St