38
JANUARY 2014 PRO INSTALLER
PRO BUSINESS
www.proinstaller.co.uk
INVESTMENT FOR GROWTH
Few could argue that
Solidor is the fastest
growing composite
door manufacturer in
the UK, with volumes
now up to an incredible 850 doors per
week and with the
company continuing to
invest in the growth on
a monthly basis.
The impressive growth of
the Solidor brand shows
no sign of slowing down,
with a 7th CNC machining centre now on order
as the 6th one is just being
commissioned. Over the
Right to Buy
New Year’s
resolution
The government will take further
steps to reinvigorate the Right to
Buy in 2014 so more hard-working
tenants can aspire to buy their
home, Communities Secretary Eric
Pickles announced today.
The maximum discount for a house will
increase from 60% to 70% of its value, and
the £75,000 cap will start increasing in
line with the consumer price index rate of
inflation. A £100 million fund will improve
access to mortgage finance, and new Right
to Buy agents will guide people through
the buying process.
Revenue from additional sales will be
ploughed back into delivering new affordable homes for rent, which will help drive
up the rate of housebuilding across the
country.
Mr Pickles said the changes showed
the government’s rock solid support for
aspiration, and would ensure Right to Buy
becomes a realistic New Year’s resolution
for thousands of social tenants across the
country.
The Right to Buy gives something back
to families who worked hard, paid their
rent and played by the rules. It allows
them to do up their home, change their
front door, improve their garden - without
getting permission from the council.
last year the company has
invested over £750,000 in
capital equipment, along
with introduction of 20 new
members of staff, bringing
the total to 114.
Manufacturing equipment
purchased includes 3 CNC
machining centres, a new
extraction plant, door frame
router, vacuum former,
cassette curing oven, high
capacity edgebander, CNC
corner cleaner and profile
saw. Similarly investment
has been made on the
distribution side with 3 new
new wagons, low loader
vehicles, bar code scanning
for production and new
warehouse racking.
One of the most interesting investments has been
the introduction of wood
burning heaters, which harness the off cuts from the
solid hardwood cores that
are part of Solidor’s unique
composite door make up.
Vist www.solidor.co.uk,
call 01782 847300 or
e-mail enquiries@solidor.
co.uk. Follow @solidorltd
on Twitter or look it up
on Facebook.
UK manufacturing
recovery retains
momentum
The manufacturing recovery remained on track at the end of 2013,
as rates of expansion in production and new orders were among the
highest in the 22-year history of the UK manufacturing PMI.
Job creation was close to November’s two-and-a-half year record as
firms benefited from stronger domestic market conditions, the index
from Markit/CIPS revealed.
Output rose for the ninth successive
month in December, fuelled by an increase
in new work and efforts to clear backlogged work.
Rob Dobson, senior economist at survey
compilers Markit: “UK manufacturing’s
strong upsurge continued at the end of
2013, with rates of growth in production
and new orders still among the highest in
the 22-year PMI survey history. On its current track, the sector should achieve output
growth of over 1% in the final quarter while
filling around 10-15 thousand jobs, continuing its positive contributions to both
the broader economic and labour market
recoveries.
“The domestic market remains resurgent
and is a major factor driving production
and new order inflows higher. UK exporters are also finding pockets of strength,
with sales of capital and intermediate goods
rising solidly to destinations such as Brazil,
China, Ireland, Russia and the USA.
“With the manufacturing sector still
some 9% off its pre-crisis peak production, the question everyone wants answering is whether this upturn can develop
into a self-sustaining recovery. The news
is still good on this score, as growth is
coming from a broad base that should
help keep the rebound on track during
the early stages of 2014.
“Output and new orders are rising
across all manufacturing sub-sectors and
also at SMEs and large-scale producers.
The strong performance of intermedi-
‘The domestic market
remains resurgent with
higher new order inflows’
ate goods manufacturers suggests that
firms are refilling their warehouses, while
robust growth at consumer and capital
goods producers indicates that household
and investment spending are also still
playing a key role.”