News: Amco acquired by Naylor Industries

Amco Plastics, the Rotherham-based plastic extrusion business, has been acquired by Naylor Drainage Ltd, part of the expanding Naylor Industies group.

Based in Wath, Amco is a high volume manufacturer of ventilation ducting, originally for the British mining and tunnelling industries, and a vast range of plastic tubing. Everyday products that started their life at Amco include paint rollers, cable trunking, stair nosing, children's activity toys and exercise equipment.

Naylor is a fourth generation family business based in Barnsley and the company has manufactured pipes in clay and latterly also in plastic since its formation in 1890. Naylor's Specialist Plastics division, based in the Midlands, extrudes plastic tubes and profiles in a wide range of materials and colours for a broad range of sectors and applications including dewatering, ground stabilisation and packaging tubes.

The Amco business, which currently has a turnover of £4.4m, will remain on its current 28,000 sq ft site and will trade as a division of Naylor's Specialist Plastics business. Amco Plastics Ltd's former joint MD Chris Simon will continue to work with Naylor, supporting Naylor Divisional MD John Grice in the integration of Amco into the Naylor family.

John Grice, managing director at Naylor, said: "The acquisition of Amco extends our capabilities in tubes and profiles and also gives us access to a new range of flexible ducting. We are looking forward to working with the Amco team to develop a unique range of services and products for a wide range of sectors."

A team led by Stephen Ingram and Tim Brind from BHP Corporate Finance acted as lead advisors to the vendors, with Michael Hall from the Sheffield office of law firm Hill Dickinson providing legal advice. DLA Piper's Sheffield Corporate team advised Naylor on the deal.

Richard May, partner at DLA Piper, said: "Naylor Industries is a valued client of the firm and we are very pleased to have been able to support such an excellent local company in the expansion of its business since its recent award winning MBO. Despite the economic slowdown, the manufacturing sector in South Yorkshire continues to thrive and we hope to see more companies in the area adding to their portfolios."

Amco Plastics website
Naylor Industries website

Images: Amco Plastics

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News: Apprentices can help local manufacturers remain one step ahead

Former education secretary and Sheffield Brightside MP David Blunkett was in Rotherham this week to call on local businesses to address the skills crisis facing the manufacturing sector by working together to help restore pride in apprenticeships.

He was speaking at an event organised by international law firm Hill Dickinson which was held at the Advanced Manufacturing Park. It brought together business, education and public sector leaders to look at how, by sharing skills and resources, they can work together to redress the economy and find solutions to drive British exports.

The MP was joined on the panel by Master Cutler Pam Liversidge, Anthony Knowles from the National Apprenticeship Service, Andrew Cropley from Norton College, Nigel Brewster Board member of the Sheffield City region LEP, as well as Hill Dickinson's David Rawlinson.

Delivering the keynote address, Mr Blunkett, said: "Apprenticeships are not just about skills. They are about growing pride in the job and we need to encourage youngsters to think creatively about what they can do with their hands and their brains. We must help them to learn to take pride in what they can make.

"We have tremendous heritage and potential not just in engineering but in health and sport too, but we have to remain one step ahead. Instead of resisting change, we should be welcoming it and taking the lead so we can shape it."

Mr Blunkett said it was important that the public and private sector worked together to improve skills and called for "imaginative" thinking in developing new solutions.

He added: "We should be shouting about South Yorkshire and what we have to offer. We should be proud of our past - not living in it, but learning from it.

"We owe our young people. We need to give them their self-respect and self-worth back, but most importantly we have to pull all the pieces of the jigsaw together to give them hope for the future."

Delegates at the event also heard more about the progress of the new University Technology College alongside existing national and local educational and apprenticeship initiatives.

Anthony Knowles discussed the value of Apprenticeships to local businesses and said: "If every company in the City region employed an apprentice there would be no unemployment in Sheffield. That might seem to be a rather simplistic statement to make but independent research has also shown that for every £1 invested in apprenticeships the economy get £18 of added value and that companies which employ and apprentices are more successful than those which don't."

The audience also joined in a lively cross panel debate looking at how SMEs can be supported and encouraged to employ apprentices and also how young people can be "work-ready", employable candidates with the necessary social skills to enter a work environment.

Rounding off the event Hill Dickinson's David Rawlinson added: "We have heard today that the challenge ahead is to look within our own organisations to see how we can work together with the LEP and other agencies to provide the opportunities and training that young people so desperately need. In working together to find a solution we will begin to help the Sheffield city region and indeed the UK to lift the economy out of recession and to start growing again."

Hill Dickinson website

Images: Hill Dickinson

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News: Manufacturing skills for the future

Rotherham is to host an event next week examining the manufacturing skills for the future.

International law firm, Hill Dickinson, is hosting the event on May 8 at the Advanced Manufacturing Park in Rotherham that aims to bring the education, manufacturing, engineering and technology sectors together to explore ways in which these sectors can support each other in rebalancing the economy; helping to drive exports.

Keynote speaker for the afternoon event is David Blunkett MP, the former Education and Employment Secretary, Home Secretary and Work and Pensions Secretary and current MP for Sheffield Brightside and Hillsborough.

A panel of business leaders will take part in a question and answer session and includes Pam Liversidge, Master Cutler and representatives from the Sheffield City Region Local Enterprise Partnership.

A spokesperson at Hill Dickinson, said: "The UK, like many economies around the world is going through a prolonged period of stagnation. This conference will be an opportunity for likeminded local businesses to discuss ways in which they can come together to extend manufacturing capacity and increase export capabilities."

Hill Dickinson website

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