News: Mayflower Engineering finds success in new sectors

South Yorkshire's Mayflower Engineering is showing how specialisation and diversification into new niche markets can be the perfect method of recovery from the recession.

The business, which underwent a management buyout in 2008, was immediately faced with the full impact of the banking crisis resulting in a near complete withdrawal of capital funding from the marketplace.

The Sheffield-based firm lost nearly 50% of business from regular customers, most notably Corus Steels.

The new management team of Kevan Bingham and Glyn Hobson devised a strategy to face the difficulties head-on, by diversifying into niche markets. This has led to gaining new business in sectors as varied as sub-sea, off-shore, wave to energy, nuclear, rail, river and canal gates and bridges, military vehicles and waste recycling.

One of the biggest successes is the contract for the design and build of the next generation of autoclaves for Sterecycle's Rotherham facility.

The first of an intended three new waste processing autoclaves has been successfully shop assembled and tested at Mayflower's plant assembly workshops in Rotherham.

The £1.4m contract with Sterecycle for the design, manufacture and installation of the new up-rated municipal waste processing autoclaves was secured in 2010 against stiff competition and will replace the two existing vessels at the Sterecycle plant in Templeborough in early 2012, providing a substantial increase in processing capacity.

Glyn Hobson, operations director at Mayflower Engineering Ltd, said: "We are very pleased in how the design and development of the new rotating, pivoting, heated, pressure vessel has been undertaken in close collaboration with Sterecycle's engineers to produce an autoclave to the highest construction and safety standards and capable of meeting Sterecycle's operational demands at the Rotherham site for the next twenty five years."

"This is just one of a number of projects we have won following our decision to target new markets. It shows how if a business has the right skills and a strategy in place to succeed, that even the toughest economic conditions can be overcome."

Mayflower Engineering website
Sterecycle website

Images: Sterecycle

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News: Nabarro advises on Newburgh JV

The Sheffield office of national law firm Nabarro has played a key role in creating up to 100 manufacturing jobs in Rotherham.

The joint venture (JV) between Rotherham-based Newburgh Engineering and Leeds-based Firechill is set to create up to 100 new jobs in the manufacture of a new energy-efficient low carbon refrigeration system in Rotherham.

FireChill Manufacturing is the result of a Yorkshire Forward initiative to search for new opportunities to bring manufacturing into Yorkshire. FireChill Manufacturing will be responsible for the production of units, while FireChill Trading will focus on global distributor recruitment and marketing.

The Sheffield office of national law firm Nabarro advised the JV in securing the US-developed Cooltec heat-activated technology that Firechill Manufacturing will manufacture and market to worldwide.

Nabarro partner Andrea Cropley, who advised Newburgh said: "Firechill Manufacturing is set offer a new, commercial green product manufactured in our region for export to a worldwide market. This is an excellent example of private sector growth in our local economy following assistance from a public sector initiative.

"The creation of the new jobs will depend on the success of the product in the coming years, but early estimates of up to 100 new jobs is not over-optimistic."

Vincent Middleton at Newburgh Engineering added: "The assistance from Nabarro in forming the JV was critical, it is now up to all the Firechill team to now deliver a world beating green product that's "Made in Sheffield."

In June FireChill secured just under £1m from a group of private investors to add to the £4m invested to date in research and development. The new money was to fund accelerated infrastructure development, product field-testing and manufacturing mobilisation.

The proven, patented, heat-activated cooling technology technology reduces operating costs by up to 20% in traditional air conditioning applications and by up to 80% when integrated into a combined heat and power (CHP) system.

The unit's low cost, low carbon technology provides a competitive advantage, particularly in areas which are hot, crowded, have plenty of gas and/or where the electricity supply is unreliable or expensive.

A wide range of potential commercial applications includes; reducing supermarket energy costs through pre-cooling; removing supply chain food waste in India; high-volume production of water from air in South Africa and Australia and even cooling for one-day old chicks.

Firechill website
Newburgh Engineering website

Images: firechill.com

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