James Lister and Sons Limited ’ s tube manipulation business continued trading throughout the lockdown , supporting existing customers and winning many new clients as a result of competitive pricing and rapid response .
£ 100,000 investment in a state-of-the-art left hand / right hand CNC bending machine late last year has been pivotal and directly led to £ 150,000 of orders with firms involved in heat exchangers , structural design , rail , fitness products and furniture .
Austin Owens , founder of Grove Design , picked up the story : “ When the crisis struck , we diverted a lot of our design expertise into supporting the development of the manKind visor and other products for the NHS .
KimberMills International , Muller Holdings , PP Control & Automation and Ricor , with Warwick Manufacturing Group ( WMG ) providing academic expertise , knowledge transfer and access to state-of-the-art technology .
Together , the collective offers a singlesource solution to supply chain issues , providing access to castings , contract
electronics , design , electrical assembly , forging , hydraulics , injection moulding , machining , PCB manufacture , pneumatics , high volume pressings / stampings and tube manipulation .
It employs over 2000 people across 21 factories , boasting nearly £ 150m of annual sales and export orders to more than 35 countries .
“ We then started to receive a significant number of opportunities from innovators and OEMs , with two of these resulting in over £ 200,000 of contracts to support the creation of new products for the agriculture and horticulture sectors .
“ Design and the ability to solve problems will always be a unique selling point and something we are working with other MAN members to help support their recovery efforts .”
The MAN Group is made up of Alucast , Barkley Plastics , Brandauer , C-MAC SMT , Grove Design , James Lister & Sons ,
For further information , please visit www . man-group . co . uk or follow @ mangroupuk on twitter .
Issue 48 PECM 15