Anchor Magnets attracts expansion for 30 year mark

2nd October 2014

A Sheffield-based magnet manufacturer and supplier is celebrating 30 years in business by expanding its production and storage facilities to nearly 30,000 sq ft.

Anchor Magnets, the UK's only manufacturer of flexible extruded magnets and a specialist supplier to sectors including retail, automotive and engineering industries, will begin its fourth decade in business with the acquisition of a new facility next to its current manufacturing base at Bankside Works in Darnall. The additional 7,000 sq ft facility will be used by the industry-leading manufacturer to house extrusion manufacture and cutting equipment. It will also allow an extra 1,400 sq ft of mezzanine space for stock storage. Warren Turner, managing director at Anchor Magnets, said: "Following the investment in new plant capacity and systems, the next stage of our investment plan is to underpin our growth with the expansion of our site. "We are the only UK company to provide a bespoke engineering facility for magnet manufacture and when the opportunity to expand our facilities with a unit next door to our current site presented itself we leapt at the chance. Our main priority was to streamline the operations to improve operational efficiencies. "This not only increases capacity but offers quicker stock and product access through improved warehousing. Our inventory has grown by more than 50 per cent over the past five years." Anchor Magnets has been at Bankside Works, in the city's traditional manufacturing heartland in Darnall for nearly all of its 30 years in business. Director Mike Burton has led the sales effort since 1987. He said: "We installed our first extrusion line in 1987. Our markets have changed as design and products develop so we have had to continually evolve our products and solutions. "A similar story prevails around the exhibition industry. Our extrusion lines once produced 15,000m of magnetic tape per day for Pop-up systems. To meet demand from Europe and Scandinavia, we installed further extrusion lines throughout the 1990s. . These machines now produce a much broader range of profiles for more diverse markets. "Innovation in the printing industry has also presented opportunities to enter new markets. Whilst we once fulfilled the requirements of screen printers and sign makers, we now supply large format digital printers whose technology has revolutionised market expectations of size and print quality on the High Street. "Predicting this trend, we pushed for wider magnetic material that suited this large format world. So now, our material can be seen in-store with displays of mouth-watering images that take seconds to change.that's the magic of magnets." Extrusion department facilitator Simon Lee, whose father was one of the original founders of Anchor Magnets, added: "Over the last 30 years we have seen expansion and diversification. The technology has not changed as much as the material. Our product base has become so varied and the deadlines much tighter, but our enthusiasm is still there. I still love the challenges. "There is still something very mysterious about magnets - it's like dealing with an invisible force!" Anchor Magnets has seen consistent growth since its start up and further business growth across the business divisions in the last year with a record turnover of £3.1m for the first half of 2014, up 10% on 2013. A targeted capital investment programme of £250k has expanded machining and infrastructure capacity to streamline sales, manufacturing, purchasing and finance systems. The company has tripled magnetic sheet and extrusion conversion capacity material in 18 months and doubled laminating facilities in last 12 months. Anchor Magnets boasts bespoke engineering facilities for specialist design and manufacture of class leading magnetic products to a wealth of sectors, including retail, automotive, print and engineering industries. In response to customer enquiries, Anchor Magnets has extended its office working hours from 8.30am to 6pm to offer increased service levels and allow same day despatch on orders for standard stock items taken up to 4.30pm.