Company chases business all around the world

Jul 30 2008 by Tony McDonough, Liverpool Daily Post

Company chases business all around the world

DIRECTORS of a Liverpool firm that produces specialist steel products for industry have won crucial backing from Rolls Royce to ensure its survival.

The Liverpool Fabrication Company was facing a bleak future after it was announced the Rolls Royce gas turbine plant in Bootle was closing down.

Around £800,000 of the firm’s £2.5m annual turnover came from work for Rolls and the directors feared this work would be lost when the engineering giant announced production was being transferred to the US.

However, they would not admit defeat and with the help of the Merseyside Manufacturing and Automotive Group (MAG), managing director Rod Steel sent a negotiating team over to the Rolls Royce plant in Ohio to see if anything could be salvaged.

And not only did they win an assurance they would keep the work, but also a pledge that even more work could follow.

Mr Steel said: “We know this is a tricky time for many companies, but our message is that there are customers out there – you’ve got to go and get them.

“We made some team decisions and started to look seriously for additional customers. We also wondered if the Rolls Royce work could be saved.

“Accordingly, management team members Mark Gaskill and Neil Jump went to Rolls’ plant at Mount Vernon, Ohio, to see if anything could be salvaged.

“Not only did they succeed, they came back with an arrangement which is likely to exceed the value of the work we were doing when Rolls were based around the corner.”

Liverpool Fabrications, which employs 31 people, has also won new contracts from a British firm which, until then, had been buying from companies in the Czech Republic, Hungary and Romania. And further work has arrived from a Canadian company which requires large acoustic enclosures and related duct work.

MAG’s support comes through a business mentoring programme, and through the development of a business management information system.

Liverpool Fabrications has jobs available for sheet metal workers, is launching a scheme to train school leavers, and plans to expand its base.

tonymcdonough