A Black Country engineering business is celebrating its 30th anniversary by doubling the size of its factory and creating new jobs.

Brownhills-based Lodent Precison has been aided in its grand design with a £50,000 Access to Finance grant from Business Link West Midlands.

Planning permission for the new scheme, set to cost £410,000, has been granted and work on the new development in Coppice Side Industrial Estate will begin shortly.

The extension has been designed to accommodate a new milling machine and when the scheme is complete it will protect 25 existing jobs and pave the way for new ones on the strength of new contracts from its blue chip client base.

Lodent director Jeff Bates said: “Our success has been due to our ability to cater for whatever demands our customers throw at us and we need to keep up to date with all the latest quality standards.

“We sought help from Business Link to achieve these and also got financial backing from its Access to Finance programme in the process.”

Established in 1978, Lodent supplies quality tooling for several engineering sectors, including press tools for automotive, electrical and domestic appliances, mould tools for automotive and electrical and die casting tools.

The past five years has seen the company offer its technical and machining knowledge to the aerospace and motorsport arenas, providing specialist processes, such as EDM and reverse engineering. Business Link adviser Geoff Lancaster put the company in touch with consultant

Martin Edmonds of ME Consultants in Solihull, who in turn helped the company with its grant submission.

Mr Edmonds said: “The company had a very strong case and the directors are very experienced and committed. It deserved support and we were pleased to successfully help the management team secure £50,000 grant assistance for the expansion project.”

Already Lodent has taken on its first new employee and, as annual turnover nears £1.8 million, it is hoping to recruit further in the near future.
Mr Bates said: “We have been very grateful for the expertise shown by Business Link.

‘‘We know that the secret to success is to keep moving with the times and Business Link’s help has enabled us to do this.”

Mr Lancaster, who has worked with Lodent since 2003, said he was pleased to have seen the company’s development.

“Since 2003 when they were a much smaller concern with a turnover of just £350,000, they have grown very rapidly.

“I put this down to their own hard work and dedication, as well as focusing on quality rather than volume,” he said.

The Business Link Access to Finance programme is available to all SMEs employing fewer than 250 people.

It aims to provide a complete package of support for small companies, from the impartial advice of business advisers to hosting educational seminars and workshops.

For companies requiring in-depth assistance, discretionary grants are available to enable them to work with consultants.

Business Link in the West Midlands has come in for major criticism recently and revealed last week that it is axing 21 advisers who have failed to meet the tough standards set following a review of the organisation.

Despite the move, Business Link has said that nine out of 10 of its clients are satisfied with the advice they receive. The quality and delivery of the Business Link service is the responsibility of regional development agency Advantage West Midlands.