Member Article

Keighley clamping solutions firm goes from strength to strength

Holding things together is key to any successful business – and one local company that is better at it than most is West Yorkshire clamping solutions manufacturer Teconnex.

Not only is the Keighley-based firm now the town’s largest private sector employer with a 400-strong workforce, but it is also cementing its presence as a world leader in jointing technologies, with an ever-growing global footprint across an evolving diversity of automotive and industrial markets.

Teconnex’s expertise is in offering engineered solutions and business has grown so rapidly in latter years that the firm has recently undertaken a major expansion programme at its two-acre Bronte Works site in Chesham Street.

The factory covers 90,000 sq ft – big enough to house several football pitches – including a new office and administration block, along with an additional warehousing facility.

“We have invested extensively, over £2million in the last two-and-a-half years, in our Keighley head office operation across all areas – plant, equipment, manufacture, test, in-house computer-aided design, quality assurance – and, importantly, in our people,” explained Teconnex managing director Paul Sleaford.

“What makes us unique in our industry sector is that while we manufacture clamps – around 200,000 a week at the last count, of different shapes and sizes and for a multitude of applications – we design and make them specifically to our customers’ specifications. We first look at an application and then design a clamp for it. This sets us apart from our competitors and gives us a cutting edge.

“We have long felt that we represent one of the town’s business success stories. As Keighley’s largest employer, we have a major impact on the local economy – one that will be further cemented, as we are now actively seeking to recruit more people across-the-board to fulfill both current and planned future growth potential,” declared Mr Sleaford.

Teconnex’s roots in its home town run deep and are directly linked to two former well-known local clamp manufacturers, Smith & Johnson, established in 1954, and Connectors, founded in 1968.

In 1987, Hexadex Limited, a privately owned group holding company based in Gainsborough, Lincolnshire, acquired Connectors, merging it with Smith & Johnson a decade later to create Teconnex.

Also under the Hexadex umbrella in the UK are two further subsidiaries, Eminox, which specialises in exhaust and emission control solutions, and Ceramex, a leading international supplier of DPF (diesel particulate filter) cleaning services and technology.

A measure of Teconnex’s phenomenal progress in recent years is clearly illustrated by the fact that in 2008 the company employed 172 people in Keighley, which in itself is a robust workforce, but one that has now blossomed to 400 employees, with three shifts operating 24 hours a day, five days a week.

Over the same period, turnover has virtually doubled and is forecast to hit £28million in the current financial year.

Mr Sleaford explained: “While the business of designing and manufacturing clamps to specific customer applications and operating conditions is key to our success – we have over 6,000 individual clamp designs on the books - it is also pertinent to note that no single customer represents more than 15% of company turnover.”

With modern premises and well-planned manufacturing facilities, Teconnex has both the capability and capacity to meet the precise demands of customers around the world, and from its manufacturing base in Keighley, the company now exports over 80% of its production to worldwide markets across Europe, the USA, South America, Japan, China, Korea and Australia.

Its potential to further expand global market share took a big step forward in 2012 when Teconnex set up a joint venture company in China with Funwick, already an established Chinese manufacturer. Now known as Teconnex Funwick Engineering, it provides clamping and jointing solutions and is making a significant impact.

“It represents a important milestone in our continuing evolution and presents us with key future opportunities to make further inroads into the Eastern markets via our Chinese gateway.

The potential appears to be vast,“ said Mr Sleaford. Teconnex’s global markets are, however, already diverse and, among others, include automotive, aerospace, power generation, locomotive, marine, construction, agriculture, food, and filtration.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Robert Beaumont .