Member Article

Oliver Valves announce £700k R&D investment

Manufacturing giant Oliver Valves has announced a £700,000 investment into a new R&D facility in Knutsford.

The Cheshire-based company exports valves to China, Brazil and Qatar, and was given the Queen’s Award for Enterprise in international trade in 2012.

A 5,300 sq ft building will be entirely dedicated to product development and improvements after a string of successful contract wins and positive financial results last year.

Oliver Valves said it secured a £7.2m contract with a Brazilian energy firm and a £12.6m project to provide valves to three Qatari offshore platforms at the end of 2012.

Ten R&D engineers will work in the firm’s new facility, and the company said it will now aim to turnover £100m within the next 12 to 18 months.

Last year the business posted record sales of £65.5m for the 12 months ending 30th September, which has resulted in further plans to add 47,000 sq ft to its manufacturing space.

All three Oliver Valves companies, Oliver Valves, Oliver Valvetek and Oliver Twinsafe, will benefit from the R&D centre, which will be equipped with testing rigs that simulate real conditions that valves will be exposed to.

Michael Oliver OBE DL, the firm’s founder and chairman, commented: “The rapid growth we have achieved to this point is thanks to the R&D investment, leading to new product introductions, that we have made in the past and the edge this has given us over our competitors internationally.

“The enhanced development capacity this new facility gives us will help ensure we retain our hard-won position at the forefront of valve technology in the years ahead.

“We are also proud to be carrying out this world-leading development work in Knutsford, providing jobs for some of the extremely talented engineers that we are lucky to have in the North West.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Miranda Dobson .