Member Article

Agricultural specialist targets £multi-million expansion boost through diversification drive

A North Lincolnshire manufacturer of grain processing and storage systems has posted an impressive 12 months after sealing over £2m of new contracts.

McArthur Agriculture, which employs 21 people at its facility near Scunthorpe, has seen sales rise 25% during 2018 after seeing demand for its specialised range of engineering services grow significantly.

The company has tapped into external support from the Manufacturing Growth Programme (MGP) to develop its leadership and management team, improve operational scheduling capacity and create a strategic financial plan to support future expansion.

Six new jobs were created last year as part of this drive, with a similar number expected to be generated if the move into the commercial processing and storage sector goes as planned.

“We can offer a complete turnkey solution for clients, starting with the design and procurement, through to project management, construction and final handover – this is proving extremely popular,” explained John McArthur, Managing Director of McArthur Agriculture.

“Traditionally, our clients have been in the agricultural sector, but there is now scope to take our grain storage and processing technology into the commercial market. Conservative estimates suggest that this could more than double our revenue over the next three years.”

He continued: “In order to scale up quickly, we decided to embark on a strategic review of the business with the Manufacturing Growth Programme to identify areas of improvement within the company.

“It identified the need to develop our Leadership and Management approach, the sales team and operations, putting in place a financial strategy to help us grow as projected.”

One of the key outcomes of the MGP project has been to create a new board within the business.

This has refined the decision-making process, ensuring the senior management are aligned with the company’s shared values, whilst also providing a forum to resolve disagreements.

John continued: “The Manufacturing Growth Programme has been outstanding, with the support proving very effective and delivered without lots of paperwork and with minimal amount of fuss.”

Neil Harriman, Manufacturing Growth Manager for MGP, added his support:

“McArthur Agriculture is a fantastic business, which should be used as an example to show just what is possible in a rural region like Greater Lincolnshire.

“Once a farming family, they have now diversified and built a successful business with huge potential utilising the expertise they had developed back on their farm.”

Support can be used for leadership and management, R&D, lean manufacturing, productivity and capacity, quality systems and supply chain development.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Russ Cockburn .