Exol completes £2.5m Wednesbury project

It has seen the introduction of a new warehouse, new laboratory and fleet wash facility at the All Saints Road site.

The project, which has taken 18 months to complete, involved the demolition of a dilapidated Victorian building and the construction of a new purpose-built environmentally friendly and energy efficient premises, fitted out with high level racking to aid the storage of Exol products before distribution.

The oil blender's Wednesbury site also now features a new entry/exit junction and a rainwater harvesting system has also been installed to improve the company's environmental performance with the eater used in the cleaning of the site and Exol vehicles.

Other investments in the business have included £350,000 on aMicrosoft Dynamics integrated system and a £1.5m expansion in its dedicated fleet of tankers and curtain siders.

Steve Dunn, Exol sales director, said: "Without having to relocate, we have completely transformed our production facility and at the same time invested in other key areas of the business such as computer systems and vehicle fleet.

"With greater storage capacity, new laboratory and quality control facility, we have been able to ensure customers continue to benefit from working with a supplier that is in complete control of its production process and, as a result, offers an even greater level of customer service through being able to react quickly to any requirements."

Exol employs 110 staff across four strategically placed UK locations with its Wednesbury head office and production site critical to its operations, storing more than four million litres of finished product and allowing for the fulfillment of bulk orders.

The Wednesbury site also has small pack filing lines for five and one litre bottles and later this year it will be installing a new eight-head filling line to cope with increased demand for the Exol brand.

Exol has also appointed Joe O'Shea as general manager of its Wednesbury production operation.

He has more than 30 years' experience in the automotive industry, having begun his career at Land Rover serving an engineering apprenticeship. After 12 successful years, he then moved to Birmingham-based van maker LDV and occupied various managerial positions.

In 2010 he began his first role at Exol Lubricants as operations manager before leaving two years later to join pressing supplier Sertec in a directorship position.

At Sertec, he was instrumental in doubling the Coleshill plant's turnover and implementing new product ranges to support vehicle maker Jaguar Land Rover.

In his new role at Exol, he will be responsible for all production and distribution processes at the Wednesbury site.

"I'm delighted to be back at Exol. The lubricants sector is highly competitive and we need to be at the 'top of our game' in order to meet customer expectations. Furthermore, we want to work even closer with customers to ensure we remain flexible and react quickly," said Mr O'Shea.

Mr Dunn added: "Joe's expertise and experience will prove vital in ensuring we remain a lean, highly productive organisation that supplies into numerous products sectors."