A Birmingham manufacturer has ignored the prophets of doom in the automotive sector to boost its sales and performance by increasing its involvement in cars.
Hydrapower Dynamics, based in Ladywood, has increased the proportion of its business from five to 15 per cent over the last 12 months.
The company, which supplies hydraulic components for the original equipment industry, aerospace and also into marine applications, has expanded its workforce from 60 to 77 during the year to cope with increased demand.
It has been helped by it becoming one of the first companies in the country to achieve a double industry standard that will soon be a pre-requisite for all automotive suppliers.
Working with Birmingham Chamber of Commerce and Industry (BCI) and Business Link it has achieved both the TS16949 and Investors in People certifications, which encourages businesses to take a closer look at how it is run and its quality systems.
The shift in emphasis has proved to be successful with sales increasing to a record £6 million, including a deal to supply fuel lines to sports car manufacturer TVR.
Managing director Patrick Browne said: "Our involvement in automotive has increased quite a lot during the year and we have had to take on more people. All we hear about are the problems in the automotive sector, but our area is quite specialised and niche, and there is a big requirement for it."
In order to build on this success the company decided to work with BCI to embark on a pilot scheme to complete these new accreditations.
Mr Browne said: "We were interested in seeing what the Investors in People processes could do for us as a company but weren't particularly both-ered about getting the plaque. Then the chamber said there was support available to help us achieve this new accreditation.
"We soon learnt that we were already doing a lot of what IIP was asking for but it also encouraged us to look more deeply at the way the company is run and structured from top to bottom. And we are already starting to see the results in our order books.
"It's not just a change in the quality systems but cultural changes in the way the business is run and managed. It helped with identifying our skills and training needs." ..SUPL:
