SECTOR FOCUS: MANUFACTURING
Zero Clips secures future following staff buy-out
BY PHILIP PARKIN A
Birmingham engineering company is celebrating after a successful
management buy-out. As a result, four of the company’s
five staff have gone from being employees to shareholders. The company is Zero Clips, based in Charles Henry Street in High Gate, and the four employees are brother and sister John and Lynn Lymer, Kvieta Dixon and Imran Munawar. All four have worked for the
company for many years, and embarked on the buy-out when they heard that the previous owners were selling up to a rival.
‘We did it to save our jobs and keep them in Birmingham’
BUSINESS INSIGHT BY JAMES O’BRIEN
The political conference season has now passed but detecting any real nuggets in the torrent of words which could encourage manufacturing has been another abortive exercise. It is understandable the three main parties want to talk themselves up and tell the electorate what great ideas they have to save the economy, manufacturing, the financial sector and anything else viewed as a potential vote winner.
New management: John Lymer, Kvieta Dixon, Lynn Lymer and Imran Munawar
Kvieta said: “When we found out we decided to have a stab at it ourselves. We felt we had a lot of working years ahead of us and knew the job inside out, so we did it to save our jobs and keep them in Birmingham.” Zero Clip has been in business since 1978, and is a
manufacturer and distributor of clips for use in a huge range of industries, from automotive to white goods. The company exports to a wide range of countries
including Ireland, Denmark and Malta. Having completed the takeover, which was funded
by a combination of personal savings and an Enterprise Finance Guarantee loan, the new owners are not only looking forward to the challenge of running the business, but expanding it. Kvieta said: “It’s early days, but we want to increase sales, and create jobs. We want to build the business up and keep it for the rest of our working lives.”
Armed for Art Deco trellis revival
One of Birmingham’s oldest manufacturing companies is using high-tech engineering to recreate shop blind and awning components not made since the 1920s Art Deco period. Aston-based Hopkins is using 21st century engineering to manufacture the complex trellis arms used in 1920s shop awnings. Originally developed after the First World War, the
trellis arm awning was found on many premises in the period between the wars. Traditionally made of bronze, most trellis arms were
plundered for their scrap metal value, but now Hopkins is reviving their manufacture, making them in their original bronze or from steel.
The arms are milled on computer-controlled machines in Hopkins’ precision engineering department, assembled with modern parts and plated to the customer’s specification. Each trellis arm is made to order, with high levels of strength and durability. As well as manufacturing new trellis arms to original or bespoke patterns, Hopkins also reconditions original arms, bringing them back to full working order.
‘Our staff at Hopkins have become extremely adept at producing these complex shop blind arms’
During the restoration process Hopkins uses a wide range of techniques, including physical and chemical cleaning, painstakingly polishing the individual components and patinating the bronze to give it a beautiful antique finish. The company also offers a range of finishes to suit any shop front or specification. Hopkins’ Brian Averill, who developed the revival of
the trellis arm system, said: “Our staff at Hopkins have become extremely adept at producing these complex shop blind arms. Using modern technology, we are able to produce accurate and consistent parts and there is yet to be a challenge we haven’t met.” Hopkins has seen the renaissance of the old-
Back to the twenties: Hopkins’ Brian Averill with the bronze-finish trellis arms
fashioned shop blind and is now getting orders from companies all over the UK. Hopkins has been supplying traditional awnings for several years, but spurred on by this latest retro development, sales of shop blinds and fittings have trebled in the last year alone.
‘The days of political conferences being high on drama have been buried’
The days of political conferences being high on drama have been buried by party managers and the politicians themselves who do not want errant members speaking out. When a party conference had motions for discussion there was every chance that speakers would tell the party bigwigs what they did not want to know.
But the parties did not want that so motions were binned and in their place was cheering and flag waving, imported from the US. The parties soon found that such antics did not lend themselves to the British political culture and they were dropped. But let it be said that motions against this that and the other were very troublesome. Those delegates who had supported successful motions said the results bound their party, if it were in office, to carry out conference’s wishes. Instead of flags and kiss-me-quick style headwear to be worn by delegates it became spin doctors and sanitisation. And it still is. So in what state are the
conferences now? They are not democratic because there is no vote from the floor, there is no message for the wider public to digest apart from that coming from the political establishment. Perhaps the day of the annual party conference has come to an end.
James O’Brien runs Writing and PR for Business:
www.jamesobrienuk.com and
james@jamesobrienuk.com
NOVEMBER 2011 CHAMBERLINK 43
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