Firms join forces to land top orders

9:32am Wednesday 11th June 2008

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A WORCESTERSHIRE supplier has landed a share of an £8 million regional contract jackpot.

Barton Cold Form of Berry Hill Industrial Estate, Droitwich, has joined forces with the Midlands Assembly Network (MAN), a pro-active "super group" that has used funding and strategic assistance from Birmingham Chamber-backed Accelerate to win major orders from home and abroad.

By offering a complete package - from tooling and design through to castings and injection mouldings - MAN has been able to compete with international rivals on cost, something that was impossible to achieve as individual firms.

Paul Southgate of Barton Cold Form, said: "The initial idea was to create a network that could work collaboratively to win an assembly project from a major original equipment manufacturer, with the idea being that each member would bring a different skill set to the table.

"This was the foundations for the start of the group, but we since have diversified our approach to aggressively look at securing projects from both car makers and global suppliers.

"This has worked extremely well and we have already completed £8 million of orders last year, creating 50 collective new jobs in the process. Orders worth £3.5 million will also be completed during the next six months."

Pete West, project manager at Accelerate, said: The companies that formed MAN took an ambitious and calculated risk and it has paid off for them."

Nine companies make up the Midlands Assembly Network.