Post by Trade Coach on Mar 19, 2014 1:43:01 GMT 1
Welsh company FSG Tool & Die began feeling the pinch before the recession really took hold and set itself the target of increasing its exports long before the scale of the financial crisis became evident. It’s a strategy that paid off through the downturn and foreign sales now make up the lion’s share of its work.
“When I say we’re a tool maker, people think hammers and chisels,” says managing director Gareth Jenkins. “But what we do is design and build things for other manufacturers, such as press tools and injection moulds. We make the things that make millions of things.”
FSG, based in Llantrisant, South Wales, employs nearly 100 staff and has annual revenues of £8m, more than half from abroad – double the proportion of six years ago. “We felt customers cutting back, so made the decision to export in early 2008 and actively sought out work in Asia and Africa,” says Mr Jenkins.
FSG also hit on the strategy of “clustering” – finding foreign companies in its sector who offer complimentary but not competing products – and then working together to sell abroad. The synergies this delivered have helped drive FSG’s export success as it shares the cost of a full-time sales presence in Asia with its Swedish and German partners.
FSG hasn’t needed to seek financing to support its exports, something that backs its founders’ no-debt ethos. “Banks take the umbrella back when it starts raining,” says Mr Jenkins. The company also works only in sterling, a principle that he recommends to others.
Source: www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/industry/10701447/Success-in-making-the-things-that-can-make-millions-more.html
“When I say we’re a tool maker, people think hammers and chisels,” says managing director Gareth Jenkins. “But what we do is design and build things for other manufacturers, such as press tools and injection moulds. We make the things that make millions of things.”
FSG, based in Llantrisant, South Wales, employs nearly 100 staff and has annual revenues of £8m, more than half from abroad – double the proportion of six years ago. “We felt customers cutting back, so made the decision to export in early 2008 and actively sought out work in Asia and Africa,” says Mr Jenkins.
FSG also hit on the strategy of “clustering” – finding foreign companies in its sector who offer complimentary but not competing products – and then working together to sell abroad. The synergies this delivered have helped drive FSG’s export success as it shares the cost of a full-time sales presence in Asia with its Swedish and German partners.
FSG hasn’t needed to seek financing to support its exports, something that backs its founders’ no-debt ethos. “Banks take the umbrella back when it starts raining,” says Mr Jenkins. The company also works only in sterling, a principle that he recommends to others.
Source: www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/industry/10701447/Success-in-making-the-things-that-can-make-millions-more.html
