Record year for PP Control & Automation as sales hit £28m
New opportunities in transport, medical and warehousing/logistics are helping one of the West Midlands’ fastest growing manufacturers record its best-ever year.
PP Control & Automation, which employs 230 people at its factory in Cheslyn Hay, is on course to post £28 million sales for the last 12 months, with a future order pipeline suggesting further growth is on the horizon.
The strategic manufacturing outsourcing specialist has seen demand for its services rise by 25 per cent on the previous year and bosses at the firm believe this is due to a combination of reshoring back to the UK and a desire for greater security of supply.
There has also been an increasing number of high technology businesses starting to engage, who are all keen to find cost-effective solutions for scaling up production after bringing a new innovation to market.
“I don’t think we’ve ever seen a year like it in terms of supply chain disruption and uncertainty, yet, at the same time, enjoying a tidal wave of interest in what we do,” explained Tony Hague, chief executive of PP Control & Automation and one of LDC’s Top 50 Most Ambitious Leaders for 2021.
“We work with over 20 of the world’s most successful equipment builders and have built a strong reputation for delivering a strategic manufacturing solution that helps our clients focus on their core business whilst we do what we do best.”
He continued: “This means we provide production and assembly capability – spanning automation, electronics, electrical control, hydraulics, mechanical and pneumatics. The idea is that we can provide access to capacity, greater customisation and value-added design, whilst de-risking the supply chain in the process.”
PP Control & Automation, which is owned by Ardenton Capital Corporation and is part of the Manufacturing Assembly Network, has been fully operational throughout the entire pandemic, providing strategic outsourcing solutions to customers involved in food and drink, packaging, renewables and medical.
The company’s expertise in control and automation and contract manufacturing, combined with the ability to quickly set up new production cells, saw it supply critical wiring harnesses to the VentilatorChallengeUK consortium and a host of new Covid-19 inspired technologies designed to protect people and reduce the spread of the virus.
It is now setting its sights on further growth in 2022 and has plans in place to make a senior sales appointment and kick-start an investment plan that will see it incorporate more automation in production inventory management.
Mr Hague added: “Although there is a lot of supply chain disruption affecting all parts of the economy, we are keen to press on and take advantage of a multi-million pipeline of opportunities.
“We expect to see a gradual improvement in the supply chain challenges as the year progresses and, if this is the case, I see no reason why PP C&A should not be seeing double digit growth in 2022.”
