Wire maker targets expansion as it celebrates 15 years in business

A specialist Yorkshire producer of shaped wire is celebrating 15 years in business by targeting expansion and making the most of a £1 million investment by its parent company.

Precision Shaped Wire (PSW), which employs four people at its factory in Batley, has plans in place to take sales past pre COVID-19 levels by the end of the year.

Part of Alloy Wire International (AWI), the company is also looking to mark the milestone by taking part in ‘Wired for Good’, a campaign that will see it boost its work supporting charities and, importantly, committing to becoming carbon neutral.

This means all manufacturing, deliveries and even employee commuting emissions will need to be offset and the firm has partnered with a number of specialist organisations to achieve this, with the focus on woodland creation, solar/wind and sustainability projects.

Adrian Howker, divisional manager for Precision Shaped Wire, commented: “Our 15th anniversary of being owned by AWI coincides with the culmination of what has been the most challenging 12 months ever for the business, with staff going above and beyond to support the global fightback against the pandemic.

“Despite the challenges, sales have held up well at our site in Yorkshire and demand for our specialist profile wire has surged since January 2021 and this bodes well for our big anniversary year.”

He continued: “We’ve got some really big plans for our birthday celebrations, including making a positive social difference. With sustainability on many people’s agenda, we felt the time was right to become ‘carbon neutral’, a significant commitment when you consider across AWI we produce wire and export to over 65 countries.

“’Wired for Good’, which also marks Alloy Wire International’s 75th birthday in 2021, forms the basis of many of our activities and we’re looking forward to announcing more positive projects in the coming weeks.”

Precision Shaped Wire, which manufactures profiles from 0.4mm to 12.7mm in ‘High Performance’ alloys and in order quantities from 3 metres to 3000kg, has also boosted its workforce recently by adding Hayden Teasdale to its production team.

The 25-year-old, who is trained in CNC programming and forklift truck driving, will be responsible for operating wire rolling machinery, CNC lathes and the cylindrical grinder, as well as inspecting tooling and final products.

With much of PSW’s wire being used in high-tech applications, Hayden joins the team specialising in the production of precision profile wire destined for sectors such as medical, aerospace, oil exploration and subsea.

Alloy Wire International
www.alloywire.com