Government department gets insight from Coventry manufacturer
Government officials paid a visit to world leading lightweight casting company Sarginsons Industries to broaden their knowledge of the sector.
The Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) visited Sarginsons’ foundry on Torrington Avenue, Coventry for a tour of the firm’s shop floor and operations.
The visit – organised by the Cast Metals Federation and supported by the CWLEP Growth Hub - comes after the Department for BEIS was formed by Theresa May’s government last year, merging together the Department of Energy and Climate Change and the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills.
Sarginsons is on track to grow sales by 30 per cent to £7.5 million by the end of 2017, following a £130,000 investment in energy efficient equipment including two new gas furnaces, a new air compressor and new LED lighting across its facility.
Anthony Evans, managing director at Sarginsons, said: “We were honoured to have taken a visit from the BEIS just before they announced their industrial strategy, which I am delighted to hear focuses on investment into research and development, and the next generation of workers.
“These were two key areas we highlighted to the Department for BEIS during the visit as being really important to Sarginsons over the coming years.
“The wider British manufacturing industry, including Sarginsons, needs to be better prepared for an increase in demand, in terms of more investment in developing workforce skill sets and innovative processes, which was acknowledged by our visitors.
“For example Sarginsons has seen extreme growth in orders from North America for aluminium car parts both as the material becomes more popular overseas and because of the weakness of the pound. Although these overseas orders are niche, all of the signs show that this is going to grow moving forward and we need to be able to capitalise on this.
“Overall the visit was a real success, and we were pleased to hear that the delegates were impressed with our on-site quality control technology, which has helped to competitively engage all of our staff to drive top level results.”
The Department of BEIS visited Sarginsons as part of a tour of the wider West Midlands, and was set up by Dr Pam Murrell, Chief Executive of the Cast Metals Federation (CMF).
Richard Heath, who attended on behalf of CMF, said: “It’s vital the government is aware of the pressing issues that our industry needs help with to be able to compete with other nations, so we were delighted to be able to take them on a tour to meet some of the country’s major manufacturers.
“The cost of energy, recruitment of young people and the impact of Brexit are on everyone’s minds at the minute, and we’ll continue to develop our strong relationship with the Department for BEIS to tackle these issues moving forward.”
