As of January 2019, Alpha Manufacturing begins a new chapter in its relatively short but successful history, as Paul Clews takes a leading role as Managing Director.
Paul will continue to build on Alpha’s recent successes, growing the company as part of the Bri-Stor Group as well as developing its own sub contract customer portfolio.
The appointment comes as part of a wider strategic re-structuring across the Bri-Stor Group which will also see Simon Webb become Bri-Stor Systems Managing Director. Group Managing Director Andrew Humphrey will retain his position with Paul and Simon reporting into him.
The appointments reflect the outstanding growth of the respective companies over recent years and allows both Alpha Manufacturing and Bri-Stor Systems to fully capitalise on solid foundations through individual stewardship, whilst still retaining a Group focus through Andrew’s leadership.
For Paul, this latest appointment is the culmination of a rapid career assent since joining Alpha Manufacturing 9 years ago. Having started out as an apprentice engineer with another midlands-based manufacturer, Paul went on to become design engineer, production engineering manager and eventually manufacturing manager over a 17-year period, before making the switch to Alpha in 2010.
Originally bought to Alpha as manufacturing manager, he quickly set about improving all aspects of production and such was Paul’s impact on the company, having introduced lean manufacturing principles and a dedicated professional ethos, he was appointed Operations Director in 2014.
Again, Paul excelled in this role, leading the company to record turnover and award-winning service levels. After nearly 5 years in this role, it was decided that Paul would be the ideal candidate to lead Alpha’s continued evolution over the coming years.
Paul commented on the key objectives in the coming years and vision for the company overall:
“My primary focus is to deliver our 2020 vision, this is our five-year plan that will see us double the turnover as was in 2015, whilst also achieving world class levels of service to our customers. In line with our business goals we will continue to develop our manufacturing facilities with state-of-the-art automated equipment, underpinning our position as one of the most technically advanced Sheet metal facilities in the country.
Developing the engineering knowledge within our workforce is key to our success, we will further improve the training we give to our current employees and increase our intake of engineering apprentices to ensure we continue to have a robust engineering knowledge base within our business.”
Staff and employees are currently settling into a new £600k modern office and welfare facility, completed late in 2018, while 2019 is already looking extremely bright for the precision sheet metal fabricators, with excellent sales forecast and various developments planned throughout the year.
Final preparations are underway ahead of a £1 million installation of a brand-new Salvagnini P4 Lean panel bender which will bolster Alpha’s existing CNC fold department. In addition, detailed plans are currently being finalised which will see a dedicated stainless-steel fabrication cell added to existing factory facilities.
