The Elevate Manufacturing programme has helped businesses across the county to scale and grow. One business that has recently benefited from joining the programme is Worcester-based Wickens Engineering Limited, one of the UK’s leading manufacturers of industrial racking and bespoke storage systems.  

Following support and grant funding from the scheme they are now on track to double their sales by 2028.  

How the support and grant has helped transform their business

Fuelled by a £1m improvement project to help expand their paint shop capabilities Wickens Engineering sought out additional support and grant funding from the Elevate Manufacturing programme. Through the initiative, Operations Director Mark Rawlings was allocated a dedicated growth manager to help him identify barriers to growth, and a range of business improvement projects including a paint shop upgrade and upskilling the workforce.

Mark Rawlings, Operations Director at Wickens Engineering Ltd, commented: “We have seen strong growth in recent years, with turnover up £3m following orders from clients in the automotive, marine, recycling, construction fencing and retail sectors.

“Our paint shop was reaching capacity, so we knew we had to do something about it, deciding to embark on a £1m investment in automation equipment. As part of the GROWTHmapper exercise we did with Elevate, we identified that we could introduce a larger powder coating option alongside our existing wet paint line - a move that would unlock capacity and a new service offer to customers.”

Once the support was completed a revenue grant was issued to help them to invest in consultancy work to help the business to re-evaluate its processes, reduce solvent paint usage and to enhance productivity. This helped accelerate the implementation of the project by six months.  

The company are now able to provide customers with longer-length steel powder coated products as well as improved powder coat painting processes. This was made possible through the consultant identifying a need to invest in a more time-efficient electrostatic spray gun to provide a better-quality finish to their products.
 
Jas Raju, manufacturing growth manager at Elevate Manufacturing Programme, said: ““Wickens is a fantastic family-run business that has started and successfully grown in Worcester, generating economic value and creating jobs for local people.

“It is at an exciting time in its growth curve, and we’ve been able to help it identify some key issues and unlock funding to help accelerate critical improvement projects that will lay the foundations for the business to achieve £20m turnover by 2028.”

Experience with support on offer

“There are many different business support programmes out there that it can get quite confusing and time-consuming trying to find the right ones that will work for your business,” added Mark.

“Worcestershire SMEs are blessed that we have a very proactive Growth Hub and the Elevate Manufacturing Programme, who collaborate very closely to ensure manufacturers get access to dedicated support.

“It has made a massive difference to us operationally and will be a big boost commercially. They also signposted us to Skills Boost, which helped us fund Business Improvement and Effective Leadership training for more than ten staff. The external support has been a real big plus for us.”

The Elevate Manufacturing programme provides every business enrolled with an experienced manufacturing growth manager as well as match-funded grants for up to 40% of the project.

Alongside this support, the programme offers a number of manufacturing masterclasses, covering topics from digital manufacturing to supply chain management. To find out more about how this can help your business and for further details on how to apply please visit our website.