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Fairgrieve Compression Moulding General Manager Barry Davidson says he is ‘delighted’ to be recruiting new members to his team following a 50 per cent increase in orders in 2023.
It follows a sustained period of significant success and growth for the 110-year-old business, which was recently named the 2023 Small Business of the Year for the Durham, Sunderland and South Tyneside region.
As part of the North East Business Awards, Fairgrieves may yet add to its regional award and claim the crown of the overall North East Small Business of the Year.
Managers and employees are also preparing to attend the 2023 Engineering & Manufacturing Awards next month, where the business is also a finalist in the category of Manufacturing Productivity Improvement.
It has all come on the back of two years of investment and continual improvement methods being introduced across the business.
Now, Mr Davidson has revealed a 50% uplift in customer orders in 2023, having last year celebrated having turned around the company’s financial performance from a loss-making business to a profitable operation.
He says Fairgrieves now offers a very attractive proposition for people wanting to secure a highly-skilled job, working on many significant and bespoke projects.
‘Attractive proposition for employees’
“When I first walked in the door of this business a couple of years ago I couldn’t have imagined the position we’d be in now, with our order book and operations so healthy that we are recruiting to add to our production team,” said Mr Davidson.
“I’m delighted to be adding to the team. We offer a very attractive proposition for people interested in careers in high-quality, British manufacturing as we are now contracted on many bespoke projects that, put simply, others in our industry just would not be able to take on.
“This is the result of a great deal of hard work over the past two years to transform the environment and the culture of the business from one which had become somewhat stagnant to one which is now fully utilising its unique expertise, experience and equipment to attract new clients, secure more work from long-standing customers, and drive business growth.
“It has been achieved because we have a fantastic team here who have really invested in what we are looking to achieve and who are passionate the business, its history, and most importantly its future.
“The new employees who join us will benefit from being able to learn from some exceptionally talented people who have decades of experience in compression moulding.”
Business working on air defence and subsea products
Whilst Mr Davidson is unable to give details of many contracts secured due to deals being subject to non-disclosure agreements, work over the past six months has involved manufacturing for clients in the air defence sector, and working on a development project with a major blue-chip company to produce a compression moulded electrical part for sub-sea applications.
“We’re securing highly-specialised work, some of which we are one of only a few businesses in the world capable of doing,” added Mr Davidson.
“It’s highly rewarding work, and there’s a real sense of pride and satisfaction across the business at present with regards to how we are doing and the projects we’re involved in, so it’s a great time to be joining our team.”