Sector Focus: Manufacturing
Blachford Acoustics Group joins Made in Chesterfield
Chesterfield manufacturer, Blachford Acoustics Group, has pledged its support to the town’s campaign to get more young people interested in careers involving science, Technology, Engineering and Maths (STEM). A leading manufacturer of acoustic sound solutions,
the company is part of the global Blachford group and employs over 100 staff at its Holmewood facility. Blachford is one of a number of
businesses from the town’s manufacturing and engineering sector who have thrown their weight behind the Made in Chesterfield campaign, which is coordinated by Destination Chesterfield and Derbyshire Education Business Partnership. The campaign, which was
its Holmewood site and hosting behind-the-scenes tours. A number of Blachford staff are also STEM ambassadors and will be visiting North Derbyshire’s schools to deliver careers talks. Stephen Hutt, Operations Director of Blachford UK
‘The
manufacturing sector offers golden
established in 2014, is designed to bring together employers in the manufacturing and engineering sector with schools and education providers. It is run in partnership with University of Derby, MSE Hiller, United Cast
opportunities for careers’
Stephen Hutt, Operations Director of Blachford UK
Bar Ltd, Natwest, and Placing Futures and has already been credited with helping increase the number of students studying STEM subjects at Chesterfield College from 265 in 2017 to 440 in 2018. As part of their involvement in the campaign, Blachford will be welcoming school groups to
said: “The manufacturing sector offers golden opportunities for careers, unfortunately many young people are unaware of the breadth of job roles available. By supporting the Made in Chesterfield campaign we hope to reach out to young people in North Derbyshire and ignite their interest in manufacturing and in a career at Blachford and the sector as a whole.” Ivan Fomin, Managing Director of
MSE Hiller and Destination Chesterfield board member responsible for manufacturing and engineering in the Borough, said: “I am delighted to welcome Blachford onboard with the Made in Chesterfield
campaign. Getting more businesses from the sector on board and opening more lines of communication between businesses, education providers and schools couldn’t be more important.” Blachford’s commitment to recruiting new talent to
the sector doesn’t stop at Made in Chesterfield. It is offering three degree-level apprenticeships this year.
Visit:
www.chesterfield.co.uk/made
AFL expands into Rotherham factory
A South Yorkshire-based manufacturer has moved to new premises in order to accommodate a rapidly expanding workforce and growing customer demand. Architectural Fabrications Ltd
(AFL) design, manufacture and install architectural metalwork, secondary steelwork and large- scale balcony packages that are used by main contractors throughout the UK. It has almost doubled its headcount and its sales over the past three years. Founder and Managing Director
Chris Hadfield said the move to the new Rotherham site was designed to house more people and more equipment in order to ‘future proof’ the business, which now employs 75 members of staff and apprentices.
82 CHAMBERconnect Summer 2019
AFL has experienced rapid growth
since it received a £400k equity investment from UK Steel Enterprise (UKSE) in 2016, which provided the necessary working capital to enable the company to take on new customers, and create more job opportunities in the local area. Chris said: “The investment from
UKSE was vital in allowing us to make a strong move forward – ensuring that we were more competitive and that we could ultimately scale-up the contracts that we went after. “Further to that, the new
premises mean we are in a position to continue to expand in order to meet a continued growth in demand from our customers across the UK and Europe.”
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