Canopies firm expands with fresh funding
Kinver Canopies has been helped to expand with support from the Managing Growth Programme.
Manufacturing growth manager for the Black Country Region, Helen Fortune was able to support the business and help it gain capital grant funding.
The funding was used to part fund the purchase an Orion Flatbed CNC table and arm. The new equipment will predominately assist with the repeat manufacture of material elements of wooden garden structures with removable hard-wearing covers.
Kinver Canopies historically made bespoke narrowboat and wide beam boat covers, and hoods for automotive.
It now has two divisions – marina and garden – and has extended the product portfolio to light goods, canvas covers for leisure craft, outside covers and seating.
The business has experienced a vast increase in sales during 2021 with managing director Ian Underwood putting this down to fewer international holidays being taken and people buying boats to holiday in UK and also refurbishing boats already owned.
The business also manufactures covers for aeroplanes and garden gazebo sides for members of the public with home bars.
Due to their rapid growth and desire to expand on their garden furniture production, the business sought help from the programme to overcome their challenges to growth.
“With this new equipment Kinver Canopies can mass produce identical canvas covers for their own designed wooden garden pods, plus they can digitise all their duplicate work they already have. Alongside this they can speed up the manufacturing time as the staff who would be cutting out can now be assembling the products," explained Helen Fortune.
