BELMAR ENGINEERING REACHES A SIGNIFICANT MILESTONES AND SHOWS REAL PROGRESS

BELMAR HALF YEARLY UPDATE JULY 2024

“A journey of a thousand miles begins with one step”. Belmar took that step and began their journey towards a new Belmar back in early December 2023 when, after almost 50 years in business, decisions were taken to review the whole business model and create a business that would respond to changing market pressures and engineer for excellence.

The thousand miles are not nearly complete yet and there may be even more than a thousand, but significant progress has been made.

That first step was to appoint an interim team. Mark Patterson of Mansefield Investments was appointed Interim Chairman and with his team set to working with senior management to ensure the changes identified happened and at a pace that would secure the business in the short-term and support it medium and long term. This was and is a strategic journey of some significance as the team worked from the top down to the bottom up and back again. No stone left unturned, the priorities were identified and resourced, and this continues.

As a great springboard there was already a commitment to the purchase and instalment of two brand new Horizontal Boring Mills worth ￡1.1m, and this was a foundation for the work to begin.

Thankfully the reputation of Belmar and its unique offering in the market, allowed discussion with clients that led to their commitment to supporting the Belmar plan, and commitment to quality and delivery became paramount as a return on that support.

A new approach to the production team resulted in a reduced team of identified ‘experts’ and people with the potential to become experts, and a plan to recruit and progress people through a clear road map to their skill achievements and success. This has been supported by investment in award winning software – Onboard Tracker – that allowed Belmar to build skills and competence specific to their needs and providing a meaningful structure for personal growth and reward.

The system also supports best practice in People Management administrated and guided by the appointment of an Employment and Welfare Manager to the senior management team. This ensures the greatest of secure transparency and immediate access to information required to support the workforce and Belmar. Part of this effort has been to add the benefits and reward packages now offered to Belmar employees. Including a profit share scheme and some innovative approaches to personal benefits, including a car maintenance package with reduced rates for employees. The hourly rates have been increased and added to with ‘plus’ rewards for additional responsibilities and capabilities. Belmar are modernising their approach to employment and are now looking closely at their recruitment and progression effort, with apprenticeships forming a very important part of the drive to create the specialists required of the highly bespoke activities within Belmar, including non ‘machining activities’.

All of this is the force behind the ultimate goal of Quality. Belmar’s Quality performance is managed by each individual involved in delivering a product to the client. Our operatives take a pride in the highest levels of production and ensure they and their colleagues are ensuring this at all times. Key process checks all the way through from the enquiry/quote stage to the final inspection and delivery. Working closely with clients on any changes to specification or materials ensures the client and the product match in terms of both quality and delivery times – no surprises, just quality product and services. Where there is a cause to consider the progress and standard for the product a full root cause analysis is carried out looking at the key factors – specification, people, material, machines, and a culture of learning by continuous improvement at the heart of all planning. Sharing these improvements with clients also assists best practice and collaborative working practices, and the further investment in upgrading IT and scheduling software means we can combine all our improvements into our planning for different work scopes and increase productivity.

Belmar clients and employees have seen undeniable benefit from all our efforts. We are back in profit, albeit small, but considering the substantial losses in previous years, this is a considerable achievement that sees us on target to hit ￡9m revenue (50%) up on last financial year

Client reporting and audits have shown an increased confidence and commended the plans we are implementing, and Belmar are under consideration for additional contracts.

But we are only half-way through the year, and we have many more steps to take, but feel confident we have the milestones and the direction clear for the journey ahead.

Our aim for the end of 2024 is that the business will look different in terms of its structure and culture, and very different to our customers in terms of excellence in engineering and delivery, and a heading towards a 50% increase in revenue this year. With this matched with further investment, we look forward to seeing Belmar become the largest and first in class engineering house for exotic material and precision engineering!