Yorkshire manufacturer increasing international trade with partnership

A Sheffield based manufacturer of machine knives and industrial blades has, through a local partnership, increased its international trade by 15 per cent and saved thousands of pounds in the process.

Durham-Duplex on Petre Street, exports approximately 50million components a year to more than 40 countries worldwide.

To deliver the products it has joined forces with freight management company 512 (Sheffield), based at the Sheffield International Freight Terminal (SH-I-F-T), to handle all its importing and exporting needs.

Durham-Duplex employs more than 100 people around the world, with two factories in Sheffield and has more than 14,000 products.

Carl Foster, international sales director at Durham-Duplex, said: “As an international business we need to make sure we are getting the best deal when moving components around the world and have the confidence that our products are reaching customers for exactly when they need them.

“We have one individual, who has a variety of other jobs, working on supporting the administration process of our international trade. 512 handle everything else. Its online tracker allows us to monitor the movement of any components at any time we wish.

“As our products are specialist cutting blades, a lot of our work involves a huge amount of small and medium-sized orders. It’s therefore ideal to work with a freight management company to handle all the work.

“We’ve worked with 512 since 2009 and in the first year of working with them we saved more than £25,000. The partnership now allows us to keep costs at a level which are appropriate for the activity required.”

SH-I-F-T, based on Grange Mill Lane, is one of only two bonded warehouses in South Yorkshire. It allows companies, including Durham-Duplex, to import products into the country, be stored at the warehouse before being shipped out again to countries outside of the European Union without paying tax duty.

Carl added: “Through the bonded warehouse, we are able to bring in components such as plastic mouldings from South East Asia facility before adding Sheffield blades and sending them out around the world. This has significantly aided our business and provided cash flow savings.”

Durham-Duplex has a proud Made in Sheffield heritage and the company’s city factories continue to create products for markets around the world.

“Sheffield is still seen as the centre of the universe when it comes to steel, so having products made in the city is very important to us,” says Carl.

“In addition, our hub in South East Asia not only allows us to get products to countries in that region very quickly, but it affectively makes us a 24-hour operation. To be able to transport items between the two locations quickly and effectively is very important to us.

“Asia is a huge growth market for us at the moment as companies recognise the need to have quality versatile products which have a longer-tool life and can work with various materials.”

Karen Mosley, head of business development at 512 (Sheffield), said: “It is fantastic to see a historic Sheffield company doing so well in terms of its international trade. Durham-Duplex has been a great company to work with and we have established a strong partnership with them over recent years.

“A successful relationship is critical to ensuring we can work seamlessly alongside a company’s operations and perform as effectively as an internal export management team.”

512 offer a full range of export and import services to businesses. It manages up to 200 export consignments a day to thousands of locations around the world, providing support with airfreight, seafreight, courier, trailer documentation and insurance.