A LOCAL manufacturer has invested £350,000 in its site at Brighouse, upgrading both its premises and machinery.
By Jo Winrow
The improvements by welded steel mesh manufacturer Siddall and Hilton Products are part of its ongoing programme at its Foundry Street site.
Over the Christmas period, the company undertook a three-week project to completely replace the roof of one of its factories, increasing the amount of natural light in the building, improving its thermal efficiency and ensuring it is watertight to keep products in prime condition.
At the same time, a new heating system was installed in both factory units, replacing old and inefficient gas heaters.
In addition, the 17-year old GRS144, one of Siddall and Hilton Products’ five welding machines and the largest welding machine in the world when it was built, has been fully reconditioned and refurbished during a two-month programme by an in-house team.
This programme also saw the replacement of the staging and guarding around the machine, with the guarding having been fabricated on site using the company’s own mesh panels.
“It’s great to see our world-class vision starting to take shape,” said Ian Thurley, chief executive of Siddall and Hilton Products.
“As a business with a 127-year heritage, there are parts of the site, both buildings and machinery, which need to be upgraded and, following the MBO in 2019, this forms a key part of our strategic plan.”
“We’re really pleased to have our largest welding machine back in production and looking as good as new, proudly standing alongside our latest £2m welding machine which we added last year.
“Our ongoing investment into the redevelopment of the site and machinery forms part of our commitment to maintaining our position as the UK’s largest manufacturer of welded steel mesh for high-security fencing, general fencing and industrial mesh panels.
This is the first of some exciting improvement plans we will be announcing during 2022 as we progress our ambitious vision for Siddall and Hilton Products to be a world-class operation.”
During 2021, the business achieved turnover of £17.3m, despite Covid disruption and lockdown, and its 60-strong team processed over 1,500 tonnes of wire a month.
It follows the addition of a new £2m specialist welding machine, which was brought over from Austria in March last year. The equipment runs more than 40 per cent faster than any of the firm’s existing machines, and produces up to 70 per cent less process scrap.
