Export successes, security of supply and making every member of the business a shareholder have been just some of the highlights of a record-breaking year for Alloy Wire International (AWI).
One of the UK’s leading manufacturers of round, flat and profile wire has delivered £17.9m of sales since the MBO twelve months ago, a near £5m rise on the same period in 2022 and £3m above anticipated revenues.
The senior management team of Tom Mander (Managing Director), Adam Shaw (Finance Director) and Andrew Du Plessis (Technical Director) have put the expansion down to a resurgence in oil and gas and aerospace volumes returning post the pandemic, plus ongoing growth in automotive and new opportunities in R&D and space exploration.
They have also underlined the growing importance of AWI’s commitment to a 400-tonne stockholding in material and its ability to supply a 60-strong range of exotic alloys in just three weeks.
“The last year has surpassed all of our expectations and capped a tremendous twelve months since we completed the MBO,” explained Tom, who has worked in the business since July 2005.
“One of the first things we wanted to do when we took over was extend the Employee Ownership model to every member of staff, meaning all of our 33-strong workforce at the time became shareholders in the business.”
He continued: “This really set the scene and ensured everyone knew we wanted to take them on the journey with us and they have responded by producing a record year of £17.9m sales.
“There has been strong domestic growth, but that has been outstripped by demand from overseas, with AWI material now sent to more than 65 different countries – often beating off competition from low-cost rivals.”
Alloy Wire International manufactures round, flat and profile wire in 60 Exotic alloys, such as Inconel, Monel, Hastelloy, Nimonic and Waspaloy.
Founded in 1946 by John Stockdale in an old ambulance station in Old Hill in the Black Country, the company’s founding principles of ‘manufacturing quality, delivering reliability’ has stood the test of time and remains a crucial part of how it deals with its international customer base.
Today, the firm continues to supply 6000 customers across 15 different market sectors and, despite global supply chain disruption, is still delivering material in just three weeks from the order being placed.
A £1m investment drive will be completed this year to strengthen its market-leading position, with the installation of new wet drawing and single hole dry drawing machines, not to mention an annealing line spooler.
Andrew Du Plessis, Technical Director of Alloy Wire International, continued: “The latest purchases will give us even more capacity to take on orders, some larger in volume that what we have traditionally been used to.
“Our technical expertise – where we consult and work with clients to identify and deliver the best possible material for the end application – continues to be popular and I often feel makes the positive difference when new customers are choosing between us or an international supplier.”
AWI has continued to roll-out its ‘Wired for Good’ campaign throughout 2023, a campaign that was first started to mark the firm’s 75th anniversary and supports local charities and community groups.
A further three beneficiaries – Acorns Children’s Hospice, Sands and Tough Enough to Care – were announced following the MBO, taking the company’s donations to more than £45,000.
