After operating for many years from three sites, steel processing specialist P.P. Group was unable to meet its growth plans and adding extra costs to the business. However, consolidating its skillsets through a move to a new site is not only bringing more efficiency but also an enhanced forward-thinking approach for the company. Ed Hill reports.
The steel processing and fabrication expertise of the P.P. Group can trace its history back to 1976 when the company began its life in the basement of an old cotton mill.
Since then, through steady growth and company acquisition the Oldham, Greater Manchester steel processing specialist has grown to become a leading UK profiling and processing business, supplying sectors as diverse as oil and gas, nuclear, rail, construction, waste and water, yellow goods, renewable energy and food, amongst others.
The company comprises three main divisions: P.P. Plasma, its stainless, aluminium and special metals division; P.P. Profiles, which processes carbon steel and P.P. Processing, the company’s fabrication and manufacturing operation.
Its capabilities include laser, plasma, flame and waterjet cutting, bevel cutting, saw cutting, surface grinding, weld prepping, heat treatment, rolling, pressing braking, etching and polishing. The Group also offers CAD engineering and fabrication services to customers as well as delivering complete engineering solutions and large turnkey projects. It processes more than 12,000 tonnes of plate and sheet metal annually.
Three-way split
Around two years ago the Group underwent a restructuring and rebranding exercise to help promote a more unified and integrated identity to potential customers.
However, it still operated from three different sites around the Greater Manchester area. P.P. Plasma’s work was carried out at a site in Salford, P.P. Profiles was based in St Helens and P.P. Processing operated from Gorton. This set-up was adding extra cost that the business could ill afford and increased administrative and managerial complications.
“Having the three sites created a lot of logistical problems,” Peter McCabe, group managing director explains. “If a customer wanted to order carbon steel from us and stainless steel with various different cutting processes, and also required rolling and press braking operations, we would have to involve the services of all three. It meant we were making around 100 deliveries a month between the three locations.”
To add to this, the sites themselves were becoming overcrowded with little space available for the company’s growth and expansion plans. For example, the need to replace a 6 x 2.5m CO₂ laser cutter at the P.P. Plasma site in Salford would have meant an 8-12 week period of downtime which was simply not sustainable.
With these problems getting progressively worse, the decision was made to find a site that could house all three of the Group’s divisions. After employing the services of a property management company, a new site at Drury Lane in Oldham was located.
“When we first saw this site last March we knew it would be ideal for us,” Mr McCabe comments. “In total it gives us 110,000ft² of real estate to operate in. At the moment we are using around 60,000ft² but we have a spare bay that provides a further 40,000ft² which we plan to convert into a bespoke stainless steel unit where we can have entire segregation from our carbon steel operations.”
P.P. Group had the added benefit of negotiating the purchase of the new location, helping to secure the company’s stability over the longer term. In total, with the purchase of the site and acquisition of state-of-the-art new machinery, the investment in the move will amount to around £8 million.
Continuous trading
One of the biggest challenges for the company was the need to remain operational during the move. The relocation of each division was phased with P.P. Processing moving first, closely followed by P.P. Plasma and then P.P. Profiles.
Steven Hughes, QHSE manager at P.P. Group, who was also involved in the relocation, says: “The fact that we manged to move without suffering any downtime is remarkable. The attitude from the staff has been fantastic. They have come in on Saturdays and Sundays to help us achieve the move and now we are reaping the rewards.”
The integration of the three companies into one site is already helping to bring in new business and alter the perception of the P.P. Group to new clients.
Mr McCabe affirms: “There is a world of difference from the buildings we were in to the one we are in now, and the interaction between the three divisions has improved tenfold. There has been a lot of effort merging the three workforces from each site; each had their own management approaches, practices and cultures so we had to really encourage everyone to feel part of a bigger operation.”
Mr Hughes adds: “We are now in a position where visitors come straight through the gates and are immediately impressed. That’s the feeling that we wanted. It makes a statement about the Group’s professionalism and the fact we’re prepared to invest heavily in our success.”
And for Mr McCabe the move to the new site is really about strengthening the company’s hard-won reputation.
“We have a robust commitment to quality. We are ISO 9001, ISO 14001, BS EN 1090 and OHSAS 18001 certified and known for being able to take on difficult jobs that others won’t – particularly when it comes to developing, cutting, rolling and forming complex pieces,” he states.
“The move means we are now even more a total turnkey supplier – but we still have the great engineering expertise and business knowledge that we have always had within the company. Many of our staff, including managers, have been with us since they were apprentices and members of our manufacturing design department also have shopfloor experience but are able to think outside the box and deliver projects where other companies would struggle.”
And with new recruitment and apprenticeships, further investment, and a diverse range of customers, Mr McCabe is upbeat about P.P. Group’s future, even with uncertainties such as Brexit on the horizon.
“We have always had a business model that doesn’t rely too heavily on any one sector,” he says. “When the 2008-9 recession hit, because we weren’t aligned to any particular industry it had very little impact on us. We still enjoyed organic growth throughout that whole period. Similarly, when oil and gas took a downturn it didn’t affect us as much as it might have done.
“We will continue to grow the processes and capabilities that we have always excelled at, just on a bigger scale. The most important point about making the move to the new facility is to make the customer’s experience of our company – both for engineering and service – more productive, efficient and enjoyable.”
As an official statement, P.P. Group has emphasised that as of 1st September 2018, P. P. Plasma, P. P. Profiles and P. P. Processing ceased trading and merged under a single company the P. P. Group of Companies Limited, trading under company registration number 02342095.
P.P. Group http://ppgroupltd.co.uk
