News
West Midlands’ manufacturer, Barton Coldform, has been hailed as a beacon of best practice in supporting the reshoring of manufacturing back to the UK from the Far East.
The manufacturer of bespoke critical fastenings and special cold forging which supplies into the automotive, construction, marine and military markets, received the high praise during a visit by members of a leading industry association.
The British & Irish Association of Fastener Distributors (BIAFD), which comprises some 80 member organisations based all over the UK and Ireland, held a fastener and forming seminar at Barton Coldform’s 55,000ft² factory on Stonebridge Cross Business Park, Droitwich.
BIAFD members source fasteners and parts globally for all industry sectors. As well as providing an insight to fastener manufacturing technologies, both in the seminar room and on the production floor, the event provided an opportunity for Barton Coldform to demonstrate how it satisfies the increasing demand to reshore critical parts manufacture to the UK.
“It was very much a badge of honour for us to be chosen to host the BIAFD and demonstrate what we are doing to drive the continued increase in reshoring of manufacturing back to the UK from the Far East,” said Andrew Nuttall, managing director, Barton Coldform.
“Prices and exchange rates in parts of the Far East have been increasing rapidly, and across Europe we are seeing a drive to reduce the carbon footprint of vehicles, so the impact of long distance shipping of components is seen as a major issue,” Mr Nuttall added. “There’s also an increasing awareness of global risk, so the vogue is to improve the supply chain resilience by manufacturing in two or three different parts of the world.”
“All these factors present UK manufacturers with opportunities to procure more work back to our shores,” he concluded.
