Magnetic print media manufacturer Anchor Magnets is celebrating 30 years in business by expanding its production and storage facilities to 2,787m2 via the acquisition of a new facility next to its current manufacturing base at Bankside Works in Darnall.
The additional 650m2 facility will be used to house extrusion manufacture and cutting equipment. It will also allow an extra 130m2 of mezzanine space for stock storage.?
Warren Turner, managing director at Anchor Magnets, said: " We are the only UK company to provide a bespoke engineering facility for magnet manufacture. Following the investment in new plant capacity and systems, the next stage of our investment plan is to underpin our growth with the expansion of our site.?This not only increases capacity but offers quicker stock and product access through improved warehousing. Our inventory has grown by more than 50% over the past five years."
Director Mike Burton has led the sales effort since 1987. He said: "Our markets have changed as design and products develop so we have had to continually evolve our products and solutions.
"For the exhibition industry, our extrusion lines once produced 15,000m of magnetic tape per day for pop-up systems. To meet demand from Europe and Scandinavia, we installed further extrusion lines throughout the 1990s. These machines now produce a much broader range of profiles for more diverse markets.
"Innovation in the printing industry has also presented opportunities to enter new markets. Whilst we once fulfilled the requirements of screen printers and sign makers, we now supply large-format digital printers whose technology has revolutionised market expectations of size and print quality on the High Street.
"Predicting this trend, we pushed for wider magnetic material that suited this large-format world. So now, our material can be seen in-store with displays of mouth-watering images that take seconds to change….that’s the magic of magnets."
Anchor Magnets has seen consistent growth since its start up and further business growth across the business divisions in the last year with a record turnover of £3.1m for the first half of 2014, up 10% on 2013.
A targeted capital investment programme of £250k has expanded machining and infrastructure capacity to streamline sales, manufacturing, purchasing and finance systems. The company has tripled magnetic sheet and extrusion conversion capacity material in 18 months and doubled laminating facilities in last 12 months.
Anchor Magnets offers a range of print solutions including its Digifilm ferrous media large-format, quick change graphics via a ready to print satin white PET surface for solvent or UV inks and vinyl laminated edge to edge magnetic sheet, suitable for screen, UV digital or solvent printing.
In response to customer enquiries, Anchor Magnets has extended its office working hours from 8.30am to 6pm to offer increased service levels and allow same day dispatch on orders for standard stock items taken up to 4.30pm.