Midlands based manufacturers A. E. Oscroft & Sons Ltd( AEO), specialists in Presswork, Welding, Value added assemblies and Prototypes, are proud to announce expansion and investments totalling £1.9m.
AEO have moved from their 19.000sqft premises in Redditch to a new Brownfield site within the town comprising of some 53.000sqft. The Company has made substantial investments into sustainable and energy saving equipment, a new quality centre, toolroom facility and has introduced additional staff and workforce.
According to Director, Chris Oscroft. The new site, increased space and improved work flow system were necessary to keep ahead of the pace of the growing needs of our customers and the emergence of additional requirements for manufacturing capacity with the UK marketplace. AEO are currently consulting with existing and potential customers as to their requirements for the next 5 years.
To provide the new range of services, A. E. Oscroft have also hired additional members of staff, including tooling engineers, toolmakers, shop floor staff and senior managers, with plans to hire additional staff as required and introduce an apprenticeship programme within the coming months. The company is now able to offer increased capacities and quicker turnaround times to their customers whilst also maintaining overhead costs.
In addition, the firm has installed solar panels on the roof of its new plant with extra space to increase yield and fitted a dual state of the art biomass heating system and introduced low-energy lighting within the facility thereby reducing its carbon footprint and minimising the impact and dependence on fossil fuels.
A. E. Oscrofts Director, Tim Oscroft, says, Our aim is to run this business as sustainable and eco-friendly as possible. We are monitoring all power consumptions on the new site and are making on-going efforts to continue to be cost competitive . Plus, we try to put an emphasis on UK manufacturing by producing as much as possible in-house and outsourcing all other processes to British subcontractors. This approach is also reflected in our plans to acquire businesses outside Britain and bring their production back to the UK.
Following the successful re-siting of the business AE Oscroft have followed through on its previously stated commitments and are pleased to announce that their fully operational Tool-room is now integrated into the fabric of the Business. Servicing our customers with new tooling solutions whilst also providing a preventative maintenance facility and a continuous improvement base .
January saw the commencement of an Apprenticeship scheme with the first three tool-making Apprentices starting their full time business life at the new facility in January of this year.
Chris Oscroft said Its our intention to annually invest in this Countrys young people as a long term succession planning solution which further reaffirms AEOs resolve to manufacture in the UK generally.
We are actively looking for Product partners to assist with their product development to take full advantage of the additional core competences that we now offer and we are ready for additional business ventures or acquisitions.
Examples of UK Companies who have already benefitted from our collaboration are, Weller Wheels and Ladbrooke 98 Ltd Soil blockers and newly developing Rotabench and following a 5 year development programme AEO are pleased to announce the sale of one of their own brand products Metalscreed to the multinational Peikko Ltd.