Worcester Presses heading for £2.25 million in 65th year

Celebrating 65 years in business this year, the Stourbridge-based company says the majority of interest has come from a resurgent construction sector and automotive supply chain. Worcester Presses has responded by increasing its range of Tomac press feeding and coil handling systems, and by appointing a specialist sales engineer to drive closer customer partnerships. Explains Russell Hartill, director: "We are on course for a record £2.25 million turnover, thanks mainly to this £500,000 increase in coil handling and press feeding systems sales. "This isn't by accident. We recognised about 18 months ago that the auto supply chain was buoyant and there were also the first signs of the construction industry kicking into life. "Our response was to invest in Tomac's new range of products, which includes conventional decoilers and 'three-in-one' space saving systems." He adds that, increasingly, firms are looking to integrate their systems into their presses and this has led to the popularity of three-in-one options. The new products handle strip feed up to 5 mm thick by 1500 mm wide and support the company's presses - mechanical and hydraulic presses from 3 to 3,000 tonnes, taking in bench, straight-side double-crank, c-frame hydraulic and servo presses. Worcester Presses this year signed up to supply Chin Fong and Yeh Chiun equipment in the UK, too. The company says it is working through a pipeline of enquiries generated by appearances at MACH and Northern Manufacturing exhibitions. Charles Higgins, director, Worcester Presses, says: "There definitely appears to be a groundswell of optimism across industry as a whole and we are seeing renewed interest from automotive, aerospace and building products; the latter, in particular, is picking up after four years of flat growth. "MACH was one of the busiest shows we've seen in a decade and we've taken in the region of £1 million of enquiries, which we have been working through. The appointment of Richard Priest [as sales engineer] is a massive addition for us and gives us technical expertise and a real focus on our coil handling and feeder division."