Amcanu: Leading in Attenuation Enclosures Since 1975

Plans for  2020

With an industrious past and a passionate culture of individual development, Amcanu aims to operate as the leading manufacturer of attenuation enclosures for today and tomorrow

Since Spencer Davies OBE first established Amcanu Ltd. as a Welsh based manufacturing business in 1975, the company has evolved as a master of metalworking that has flourished and endured through both good and hard times. By 2000 Spencer handed control of Amcanu to his son Owain Davies, who has continued to build on the company’s solid foundation as a family-run business with good family values at its core. Amcanu specialises in building world-class attenuation enclosures that are designed to maintain optimum performance of pump, compressors and generators. The enclosures are designed to protect industrial equipment, reduce noise emissions, maintain optimum performance, help clients comply with environmental regulations and improve health and safety. Amcanu products feature easy-torepair modular construction and have enjoyed significant market penetration across a range of traditional applications including construction, quarrying, energy and manufacturing, while the enclosures are also increasing being employed in emerging areas such as 3D printers.

Amcanu was previously featured in Manufacturing Today Europe during March 2016, when Owain discussed the company’s exceptional progress since 2011 after enduring the global recession that rocked the manufacturing sector throughout 2009. Indeed, the company quickly reached the point of exceeding pre-recession performance by operating across three core markets comprised of industrial enclosures for sound insulation; enclosures for digital technology, such as for Renishaw’s industrial 3D printers; and small subcontracted projects for local customers.

Having fully recovered form the impact of the 2009 recession and subsequently built the business to a highly favourable position, 2016 represents a milestone year for Amcanu that has been marked by major investments into its staff and facilities, as well as new operating philosophy of stepping out of its traditional comfort zone and exploring new opportunities. “When Amcanu was last featured in Manufacturing Today Europe we were growing and recovering market confidence following the 2009 recession. We had been planning for the future but at that time were perhaps reluctant to make any changes unitil we felt the time was right. As 2016 has progressed we have decided to move the business forward with some important strategic investments, meaning that the past 12 months have been a time for some exciting changes for the company,” Owain reveals. “We have installed a new powder coating plant and bought new handling equipment, as well as upgrading our IT network. We have also invested further capital on training and development throughout the business. We have done all of this while considering where we would like to take the company next and having made these investments we are looking to double the size of the business over the next four years according to our ‘2020’ plan.”

The major investments across the business were valued at around £300,000 and included the acquisition of two new forklifts, additional cranes and a new IT server. Thesehave allowed Amcanu to increase its overall process efficiency, quality of products, as well as its manufacturing capacity. By bringing new skilled staff into the business, Amcanu is increasingly well positioned to consider new opportunities throughout the manufacturing centre. “This is very much a journey and a lot of the development of the company is built on looking at where we are today and understanding what opportunities we have to improve. It is important to remember that no matter how good you think you are, there is always room to improve,” Owain says. “As a business we have gone through some ups and downs during our 42-year history and I think that it’s fair to say that 2016 has been a turning point. We’ve won awards for our manufacturing credentials and plan to keep aiming high. Six months ago we had just started on this journey but we have now reached agreements with four new clients since March 2016. This does not sound like too many in the greater scheme of things, but when you consider that our customer base is very bespoke and that we deal with 10-30 strategic customers, it is actually a significant increase.”

While Amcanu has done an impressive job of rebuilding its market confidence and growing its business, the company remains keenly aware that throughout the manufacturing industry there is a growing challenge concerning a lack of skills. To ensure that the company retains the necessary skills to continue to develop into the future, as well as to serve the local community, Amcanu works with local schools and colleges to develop training programmes that encourage students to pursue careers in science and engineering. This community minded approach is the final strand in the company’s strategy to double its size by 2020 while paving the way for a strong manufacturing future. “I think that one of the most important things when talking about problem solving and serving the community is that you must be prepared to put yourself forward and ‘walk the walk’. As a business we have been instrumental in supporting the schools and we try to engage with science and technology at local primary schools and our local college, Coleg Sir Gar, which has a very strong engineering department,” Owain concludes. “We have plans to grow during the future by increasing our customer base and the number of staff that we employ. This is something we will do by trying to lead by example.”

Amcanu Ltd
Products: World-class specialists in manufacturing sound attenuation enclosures