Going From Strength To Strength
Article published in the Northern Echo, April 27, 2011
Family firm Finley Structures underlined its commitment to Newton Aycliffe this year by supplying steel free of charge to build a stand for the town’s football club.
The gesture ensured the club had the facilities required to confirm its promotion to the Northern League first division.
The stand bears the name of William Finley, the father of Finley Structures’ current managing director John who, along with his wife, Valerie, son, Gary and daughter, Julie, is building on the company’s solid foundations.
Like its rival firms in the construction sector, Finley has faced a very tough time in recent years. The decision three years ago to invest £1m in new machinery almost backfired. As the recession began to bite, the orders slowed down, staff were made redundant and vans taken off the road.
But when the business began to recover, the investment in the plant proved to be a shrewd move that has helped the company secure prestigious contracts to supply such as Nissan, car parts supplier Nifco and Sunderland Software Centre.
John Finley said: “When the downturn hit we were slack for about three months as contracts went on hold.
“I’d be lying if I said it wasn’t a worrying time for everyone. We dropped from having 65 to about 50 staff. Thankfully, the work came back on stream and we haven’t stopped since. It was a scary time, but the investment in the factory has made us a more competitive force in the long run.”
The workforce is now 74 strong and set to grow further as plans are in place to extend operations into a 39,000sq ft secondary steelwork facility adjacent to the current site.
The new Nifco plant in Stockton and supporting the construction of Nissan’s electric battery plant has secured more than £1.75mworth of business and helped to underpin Finley’s strong recovery.
Mr Finley said: “We are now going for contracts that we may not have got in the past. Bids have to be keenly priced because it’s a very competitive market, the margins are tight, but the key thing is that we are on an upward curve.
“We are winning business because I’d like to think we give our customers great service. It is also important is that we employ our own steel erectors, we have our own cranes, so that makes us self-contained, whereas most other fabricators sub-let. We can do everything.
“Aycliffe is the perfect location for our business. You can draw on a good workforce from the surrounding towns like Shildon, Spennymoor, Bishop Auckland and Sedgefield. Road and rail links are great, we have Durham Tees Valley Airport on the doorstep so keeping that all important face-to-face contact with our clients is pretty straightforward.”
Despite the Government cuts signalling the death knell of the national schools building programme, Finley has continued to pick up a solid body of work from the education sector.
Projects in Easington and Sedgefield are to be followed by school building work in Hull.
MrFinley said: “Schools have been our bread and butter work and it looks like they will keep ticking over for the foreseeable future.
“Nissan was a godsend. We lost out for the main build, but we picked up all of the secondary steelwork on the project. It kicked off at about £200,000-worth of work that went up to about £1m.
“We have faced a really hard spell, but we fought back and are now starting to get the rewards.”
Pictured above (L-R): MD John Finley, director Valerie, company secretary Julie and director Gary.
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Our 90,000 sq ft production facility is packed with state-of-the-art machinery. We provide a wide range of structural solutions to the construction industry and offer a range of in-house services – including estimating, design and detailing, steel fabrication, painting and installation – enabling a cost-effective and efficient all-round service to main contractors.
