Gripple

Source: Exec Digital UK

Date :26/10/2007 17:01:10

Rolling product development

Whether it is a lighting system, buzz bar, air conditioning or Wembley Stadium, Gripple can hang it. Kevin St Clair tells us how growth is being driven by the company’s product development pedigree

Written by Doug Downing & Produced by Ben Weaver

Gripple’s industrial wire joiners were first marketed in 1989 and originally used for agricultural purposes including general joining of fences, viticulture and farming requirements. Then, ten years ago it broke into the industrial market and enjoyed significant growth. Gripple products have been installed in some of the most prestigious buildings in recent years, including Wembley Stadium, The Swiss Re Tower and the Millennium Dome.

Works Manager Kevin St Clair was brought on board in March 2002 to develop the quality systems and now manages the production warehouse purchasing functions. When Kevin joined Gripple, the company was an £8.5 million turnover business. Five years on, it is anticipating growth to £2 million. “We are currently seeing 25% percent growth a year. We are growing at a rapid speed and the last 12 months has been no exception.” Over the next six to 12 months, the company is looking to expand to a new additional UK site.

Product development

Gripple has three main sites, a manufacturing site in Sheffield, a sales office in France and an American office based in Chicago. The Chicago site started off like the office in France, but Gripple is now looking at developing a manufacturing outlet in America. The company has 200 employees, with 30 of those based in the European sales group, 20 in America and 150 in and around the UK site.

“The main growth is coming from developing new products; we have an objective every year that we generate 25 percent of our sales by products that have been developed in the last 3 years ,” St Clair says. “We are continually developing lots of new applications and moving them into the market. We have a very aggressive plan, where by 2012 we intend to grow the business to £60 million .

“We pride ourselves on being a solution based company. If somebody comes to us with a problem and we don’t have an offering , we will come up with a solution to hang it. We will take that new product to fullfill the need of other customers and become a source of new business . Our ideas and innovation department are continually looking out for new ideas,” St Clair says.

Gripple invests heavily in capital equipment to support that growth to support automation. The company is currently investing £1.25 million on new equipment to cope with the growth in demand. “We started with hand assembly at 2/minute and now have machines that make 60/minute with fully integrated quality control. We have capacity to build to order and therefore carry very little stock .

“The main body of the Gripple is made from zinc. In recent years we have been hit quite heavily with the cost of zinc, but we have carried out a lot of design work to reduce the weight of the product. The majority of the Gripple range has had its weight cut by 30 percent, this has enabled us to keep a hold on price and also has a positive environmental impact as well. “

New markets

Gripple aims to source its materials from local suppliers; the majority are sourced within a two hour radius. “Wherever possible we will keep to that but there are some exceptions where we have to source products from the Far-East ,” St Clair explains. “We also aim to single source. We develop very good relationships with one key supplier for each component type so we put a lot of time into forming good partnerships with them.

“. We are also environmentally aware and via out intenrnal systems have taken the necessary steps to control our impact on the environment. ; improvements include , reusable packaging, increased recycling , reduced waste , and reducing energy consumption,” he says.

Gripple is bringing new customers on board on a daily basis. “We have broken into new markets like America and eastern Europe. Both areas have seen an increase in the number of contracts.

The company is experiencing an increase in competition , but St Clair believes it can continue to develop the service and products that it offers to a point that it won’t affect it too heavily. “Obviously it is always a concern, but equally , other people out there promoting a very similar product to ours is not always a bad thing. But our biggest issue for the coming year is coping with the speed of growth and ensuring that systems, people and skill levels are all growing at the same rate.”