Shropshire manufacturers get European insight

Wrekin Sheetmetal in Telford and Shrewsbury-based Salop Design welcomed West Midlands MEP Anthea McIntyre to their respective factories in an effort to help encourage decision making in the European parliament to help manufacturing.

The two companies are both members of the Made in the Midlands manufacturing collective, and have invested heavily in their businesses in recent years.

Salop's spending on its powder coating line and apprentice academy has helped the company expand and to fill skills gaps in manufacturing in Shropshire.

Meanwhile Wrekin showcased the initial roll-out of its innovative new job processing system as well as its investment in cutting-edge machinery.

The company has invested more than £750,000 in new machinery over the last three years alone. The visits were also designed to help local businesses improve their understanding of the issues at stake in the forthcoming EU referendum.

Salop Design director Christopher Greenough said: "We wanted to show her the fantastic facility we have got, but also what other Shropshire businesses are doing.

"There's doom and gloom around at the moment, but there are good news stories. There's tough times ahead, and difficult decisions for the government, but many businesses are trying to push ahead and show enthusiasm for their industry."

He added: "Last year was one of the best years we have had of trading, and I know a lot of other manufacturers will say the same. We now need to keep it going, and the European decision will have an impact on that.

"We need a lot more informations – we need to know what it means if we leave, what it means to stay in. Currently we are making a lot of decisions based on what's in the media, so let's speak to decision-makers."

Simon Orpe, Sales Director at Wrekin Sheetmetal, added: "We were delighted that Anthea accepted our invitation to visit our site, and were really proud to be able to show her the new system in operation. It has the potential to revolutionise our way of working, and will see us go completely paperless on the shop floor."

"Best of all, it means that we're able to track jobs absolutely live, to the minute, and the data that's able to provide is hugely valuable. Anthea's career before becoming an MEP was focused around business systems and so she completely understood the potential impact it could have, as well as the investment we've had to make to bring it all about"

Ms McIntyre added: "It's wonderful to see traditional manufacturers like Wrekin Sheetmetal investing in new technology and doing so well, and I was pleased to hear about the recent surge in orders."