Member Article

£15 million heading to East Yorkshire as bee product specialist sees sales rolling in

Over £15 million of work is heading back to the UK after an East Yorkshire nutraceutical specialist sealed a number of new contracts.

Bee Health, which manufactures capsules, creams, liquids, powders, sprays and tablets, has secured the orders after impressing its global customer base with flexibility of supply and world class levels of quality.

The company, which has received funding and strategic support from MAS, is now more competitive than a lot of its international rivals, with work previously completed in China, India and even the US now heading to the UK.

Thereshoringwork is made up of £7 million of tablet manufacture that is currently underway and a further £8 million of tablet and soft gel production set to start shortly.

A significant slice of these orders have come from Holland & Barrett, who have cited local sourcing as key to boosting supply chain efficiencies and helping it react quickly to market demands.

Steve Ryan, managing director of Bee Health. said: “These recent wins will account for 70% of ourpredicted turnover and has already seen the workforce increase by 60 to 130 with the potential of a further 70 by the end of the year,” explained

“Although we manufacture our own brand products, pretty much all of the new contracts will be completed under license to other global customers who had been manufacturing in low cost countries.”

“These organisationshave experienced gradual rises in costs, disruption in supply and unmanageable lead times. This has caused some clients to hold million pounds of stock at any one time, something that really impacts on cashflow.”

“All of these factors have contributed to a more positive view of UK manufacturing and this, coupled with our efficiency savings and investment in state-of-the-art equipment, has led to us securing the new orders.

“A significant part of this is for the production of soft gels, where we are actually cheaper than low cost countries. With this in mind, a £2 millin investment in additional plant to cater for this area of the business is just being installed and commissioned.”

Bee Health has been working with MAS for more than three years, accessing specialist support and funding towards management training and the implementation of new IT infrastructure to improve efficiency and workflow.

John Dodgson, manufacturing advisor at MAS, concluded: “The popularity of low cost countries is ebbing away, with the UK now a popular location for companies looking to place production.

“Bee Health has done a fantastic job in improving its manufacturing operations and it is now in a position where it outstrips international rivals for quality and can even beat them on price.”

Nicholson Consultancy has been brought in by MAS to work with the company on streamlining planning processes and upgrading its manufacturing systems to cope with the increased volume and range of products.

Managing director Andrew Nicholson commented: “With the right people and processes, companies like Bee Health can manufacture here in the UK as efficiently and cost-effectively as anywhere else in the world.

“And of course for customers in Europe, the logistics are much better, cheaper and faster, there are no trade barriers and product “localisation” is much easier.

“It’s great to work with forward-looking, innovative clients like this, who have the vision and ambition to bring manufacturing back to the UK”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Clare Burnett .