‘You may not have heard of us but you will most certainly have seen the products that we have helped to manufacture…’
Cube Precision Engineering was founded in 2009 by Phil Bannister and Neil Clifton.
Phil, an apprentice trained engineer and Neil an engineering graduate with a sales background, both passionate about investing in British engineering, embarked on their journey together with their first contract to machine 25 engine protection parts for the rail industry.
This year marks Cube’s 10th anniversary and it couldn’t have been a better year for us….
We’ve just celebrated record breaking figures for the last six months, have managed to maintain a ‘business as usual’ mantra despite all of the current uncertainty around Brexit, and our latest achievement has seen us land asix-figure funding deal that has enabled investment into our multi axis work, increasing turnover and leading to our record order book!
To dig a little deeper into Cube’s story, we had a chat with our MD, Neil….
So, Neil, what’s been your biggest achievement over the last ten years?
Investing in the local area is of paramount importance for us, particularly through employment opportunities and supporting local suppliers… On a personal level, it was signing a 5 year agreement with a prime aero engine manufacturer to supply their complex fabrications department with tooling and duty fixtures.
We’re passionate about supporting our local area, we do that by not only employing people, a majority of which live within 15 miles from our main site. However, in 2018, 70% of purchases were made within a 40 mile radius of our factory.
What’s been your biggest challenge over the last ten years?
We’ve had two big challenges in the last ten years, one was in 2009 when we first started. Manufacturing was very unattractive to the finance world and the high street banks weren’t interested in investing in businesses like ours. We overcame that with some niche lenders that we still have a relationship with today, which is fantastic. They have really supported us over the years and having the support of Lloyds Bank, from our relationship manager to the head of manufacturing at Lloyds, they have helped us grow our business to where we are today.
Secondly, our biggest challenge right now is recruiting the skilled staff. There have been years of under investment through apprentices and apprenticeships by various governments. We’re looking to improve that in the future by working with local colleges to bring some younger people into this industry.
You’ve had a great year in 2019, would you say it has been your best?
This year has definitely been our most successful year, sales wise. We’ve won some new business from new customers, rebuilt some relationships with some customers that we haven’t worked with for a number of years and seen significant growth within certain sectors. In the first half of the year, the Automotive sector seems to have been taking charge and in the second half, it’s been all about projects from our Aerospace customers.
As well as that, you’ve continued to invest in 2019 too?
We have continued to invest in new machines, our team, and we have focused on diversifying into new industry sectors to drive our new business development forward.
To match the orders coming through, we’ve invested in a new CNC machine, due to be delivered and installed by the end of October.
and will immediately help with the capacity for a multi-national tier 1 customer who is a supplier to the Automotive Industry.
How do you intend to maintain growth into 2020?
The best way to build on the success we’ve had this year, is to work and deliver the projects we have on the table already. The last ten years have shown that this builds confidence with our customers, that we can deliver with confidence, capacity and capability.
We want to give the confidence to our customers that we are also investing in the machining process to continue to deliver to the high standards that we are known for in terms of our capacity and capability. The new BF3200 can’t be delivered soon enough, as we have projects now that could benefit, as well as a list of projects scheduled for when it comes into commission.
Through significant investment in the staff and the manufacturing plant Cube Precision Engineering has grown into a business with 42 employees and continues to grow from strength to strength.
22nd October 2019