Arc Specialist Engineering

A group solution

With a strong focus on developing a collaborative approach to business and meeting the needs of its clients, Arc Specialist Engineering Limited offers a proven platform for continued growth

Since Arc Specialist Engineering was lasted featured in Manufacturing Today Europe during January 2016, the company has continued to build on the development of Tube Bend Form International (TBF) and EWS Manufacturing Ltd (EWS), which it acquired in July 2014 and September 2015 respectively. The roots of Arc Specialist Engineering date back to March 2013, while today the Birmingham based business operates a group of four small to medium sized niche engineering manufacturing businesses within the metal processing sector comprised of Cooper Coated Coil, Toolspec, Tube Bend Form and EWS.

“Since January 2016 Arc Specialist Engineering has continued to integrate EWS into the wider group in a process that has included recruiting significant technical; sales and marketing; and management resources into the business. TBF undertook a major reorganisation of the shop floor and office environments to improve efficiency.

“TBF has also seen the arrival of a new entrepreneurial Managing Director, Angus Bruce, who is driving improvements in sales,” reveals Arc Specialist Engineering CEO, Andy Richardson. “Toolspec has seen challenges from lower volumes from one of its main customers and has been successful in winning exciting contracts and business with new and existing customers. Cooper Coated Coil has gone from strength to strength, making good use of the impressive capital investment and benefitting from recent recruitment of additional high-calibre employees. Arc achieved its largest ever graduate intake in 2016 into technical, sales and marketing positions. This builds on the high-calibre graduate intakes of the previous two years. The fusion of new talent with the wisdom, experience and leadership in the group is creating an exciting culture of growth and development.”

With both businesses integrating well into the Arc Specialist Engineering Group, both are also undergoing change and investment in people and equipment to facilitate continued growth. The presence of the group in a variety of specialist metal working applications coupled with an ongoing programme of investment, has allowed the group to respond to the changing requirements of the metal working industry. “Arc creates freedom for people to work effectively and enjoyably to provide the best possible value and service to customers. Combined with strong financial management, this is a great environment for success,” Andy says. “There are different dynamics within the various markets that Arc serves, some markets are seeing high growth while others are seeing contraction and challenges. Some raw material prices have seen wide oscillation in the last 12 months. That is now being exacerbated by the lower value of Sterling. Passing on cost increases in today’s markets is always challenging. Arc’s strategy remains the same and orientates around growth in niche, specialist markets. The growth will continue to come from organic and acquisitive activity.”

As the group works to integrate the expertise of TBF and EWS, Arc Specialist Engineering continues to support the business through investment into its people and training. This will help the company to maintain a positive growth trajectory through both organic expansion and acquisitions. “Arc has embarked on a major development programme called Leadership Plus. A large proportion of the group’s employees are involved in workshops, action learning groups, coaching and implementation of their learning inside and outside work. The Leadership Plus programme builds on the freedom that Arc provides by shunning centralisation, autocracy and corporate behaviours. Responsibility and accountability is spread as far as possible into the organisation, enabling our businesses to provide better service and value to the customers and better fulfilment for our people,” Andy concludes. “Our focus is on organic growth, investment and the development of leadership throughout the organisation. We will continue to search for high quality businesses to acquire in metal processing or other material processing. The strategic vision is simple: double and double again!”

Arc Specialist Engineering
Services: Specialist metal working solutions