ENGINEERING
Ready to motor – Tees Components ’ MD Sharon Lane checks out the firm ’ s new electric pool car with works manager Mark Speke and contract engineers Josh Pearson and Danny Aftab .
LEAN MACHINE
Tees Components back on the rise after challenging two years
For a while during the pandemic , the prospect of getting out to clients ’ sites seemed very far away for Tees Components ’ sales team . After two years of almost complete reliance on remote contact , taking receipt of a new electric pool car – the Tees CompKona - at the end of 2021 was a statement that the subcontract machining specialist was back on the road .
This comes after a challenging two years , not least through having all 60 staff working on-site throughout , as managing director Sharon Lane explains : “ We operate in rail , energy , water and defence sectors , so we were part of a critical supply chain .
“ Engineering is very collaborative , and our staff had to find ways of working together across a table even in the height of the pandemic , before vaccines . We formed two ‘ bubbles ’ for continuity , installed CO2 monitors to ensure our rooms were well-ventilated , supplied FFP2 masks and were very careful .”
While the factory stayed open , the East Cleveland firm also experienced significant delays in its contracts .
Around a quarter of Tees Components ’ revenue comes from the Tees White Gill Thrusters division – manufacturing spare parts and attending ships in dry docks around the world to carry out servicing . With its main markets in the US and Asia , this work stopped due to travel restrictions . Subcontract machining work was also impacted .
In the fast Lane – MD Sharon is taking the company forward .
Sharon continued : “ We specialise in very large , one-off , complex components , and we saw much less demand for these – there wasn ’ t the usual level of investment in prototypes . While we won new work manufacturing different products , we weren ’ t maximising our USP .
“ Some of our clients were badly impacted by the pandemic too – one , OEM , for example , is in the cosmetics sector , so their new product sales were much lower . We knew these orders would return . It was an unusual situation because clients were still going to need us in the future , but it was a long pause whilst they recovered ”.
All of these factors resulted in lower revenues than usual for the heavy engineering firm , which is approaching its 60th year of trading next year . Despite this , there were no job losses .
“ It wasn ’ t our staff ’ s fault that our income reduced ,” reflected Sharon . “ Our team is full of highly-skilled people at the top of their game , and we invest a lot of resources into training and retaining apprentices for our future skills . “ There was no question of redundancies . We went through everything to find ways of reducing waste , and we have come out so much more efficient and leaner as a result .”
2022 has got off to an incredibly busy start for Tees , with thruster engineers now catching up on service jobs along the East Coast of the US and into South America . The company also won an order in excess of £ 1m to design , manufacture , install and test two thrusters for a new research ship being built in the US . Subcontract work has also bounced back .
“ The heavy machine shop is back to its normal self , full of large fabrications and forgings , and our order book is back up to pre-pandemic levels ,” said Sharon .
The steady investment , a hallmark of the business , now continues . Its new canteen and welfare extension is well underway , recruitment has re-started , with four new starters in recent weeks , and the company is participating in the Made Smarter scheme to improve digitisation .
For Sharon , it ’ s time to reflect and plan for the future : “ The main thing is that everyone at Tees has come through the pandemic with their health and their jobs intact . We ’ ve been able to take opportunities for improving our business and our team ’ s come out stronger .
“ Now it ’ s about looking forward - and we have everything to look forward to .”
92 | Tees Business