Aycliffe Today Business Issue 8 | Page 19

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