Extra space takes fastener supply to higher level

Edited by the Engineeringtalk editorial team Jan 19, 2006

Northern Precision has formally opened its new GBP 500,000 headquarters on the Durham Lane industrial zone in Doncaster.

The grand opening of Northern Precision's new GBP 500,000 headquarters on the Durham Lane industrial zone, Doncaster, reinforces the company's position as the UK's only truly independent fastener supply company and leading specialist single-source supplier of sheet metal fasteners as well as special-purpose turned and cold-formed parts.

With purpose-designed and specially constructed administration and sales offices complemented by "flowline" product receipt/quarantine, storage and dispatch areas, as well as dedicated product inspection and test, as well as meeting/training facilities, the new building offers a total floor area of 750m2 and is claimed to be unrivalled in the fastener supply sector.

Describing how sophisticated IT support systems and procedures, complemented by high-speed communications networks, enable Northern Precision to offer unmatched levels of customer service and support, as well as responsive fastener supply and application engineering support - to generate cost-down benefits for users across all industry sectors - Sales Director Steve Smith also points out that the new headquarters enables the company to set in motion further progressive plans for its strategic development.

"Our new facility will be the springboard for yet more exciting news", he says, "and, as always, these developments will be driven by our ability to identify, then satisfy, the needs of our customers and our growing network of overseas distributors".

The company has come a long way since it was established in 1996 by directors Arthur Smith and Tony Mortlock in a back bedroom.

Trading started in 1997, using stock held in another room in the house - there simply wasn't any space for stock in the bedroom after two desks had been squeezed in there.

The third director, Steve Smith, joined in 1997 and by the Easter of that year, Northern Precision had moved into its first commercial premises - a 90m2 industrial unit.

Those days seem light years away from where the company is now - housed in an impressive and spacious facility with quality procedures accredited to BS EN ISO9001 and 5000 standard stock lines of fasteners covering most applications and materials.

The company supplies self-clinching fasteners, rivet bushes, sheet nuts, high-strength and broaching fasteners, weld nuts and studs, cage nuts and blind rivets, as well as special turned and cold-formed components to customer requirements.

Its end user and distributor customer base accounts for 44 million individual fasteners and an annual turnover of GBP 1.75 million, 27% of which is represented by overseas sales.

Northern Precision fasteners are exported to companies in the USA, Chile, Portugal and Russia, for example.

The success of the company has always been based around the premise of providing superlative customer service - underpinned by a high-class and dedicated workforce - and not only through the ability to promptly deliver a cost-effective product but, crucially, also by bringing an unmatched level of engineering expertise to every enquiry, if appropriate.

The fastener is very often the smallest component part in terms of both sise and cost of any finished product.

But it can often create the biggest headache if it is not accurately specified, manufactured or used correctly.

Northern Precision has built a highly successful business by basing its company mission around this philosophy, and the substantial investment in the new facility is the latest evidence of how the directors intend to not only continue this trend but also to expand on their current level of success at both home and abroad.

"We've always said that successful fastener supply is based on exceeding customer demands in terms of both piece part cost and application requirements", comments Smith.

"We now have the extra space and facilities to take that philosophy to the next, even higher level".