British firms could be supply chain key

British manufacturing could emerge stronger out of the coronavirus crisis after the pandemic shut down supply chains across the globe, according to the boss of a fibreglass mouldings firm.
Ben Wilson, managing director of Moulds Patterns and Models (MPM).Ben Wilson, managing director of Moulds Patterns and Models (MPM).
Ben Wilson, managing director of Moulds Patterns and Models (MPM).

Ben Wilson, managing director of Moulds Patterns and Models (MPM), believes that the shutdown will lead to businesses looking closer to home when it comes to their supply chain.

Speaking to The Yorkshire Post, Mr Wilson said: “Manufacturing as a whole might come out of this whole mess quite strong because we might actually start seeing the importance of manufacturing in the country again.

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“Unless it’s critical on price or somebody can offer that better product abroad, just having it a little bit closer to home makes it a little less vulnerable from a supply chain point of view.”

Pudsey-based MPM, which has 40 staff, had to shut down at the start of the outbreak but a key customer still needed to be supplied.

Therefore, the firm’s three directors including Mr Wilson returned to the shopfloor and with a handful of other senior staff members helped fulfill the orders. It gave Mr Wilson a chance to return to the factory floor, where he originally cut his teeth - first at another firm in Skipton before joining the family business.

“I’m never afraid to do it because I’ve spent 25 years working on the shopfloor,” he says. “I still say that some of my happiest times at work are actually doing the work on the shopfloor.”

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Mr Wilson added: “I hate letting people down. I just didn’t want to see any customers let down or the rest of the team.”

Working on the shopfloor also enabled him and the other directors an opportunity to assess elements that were working well and processes that could be improved.

Coronavirus isn’t the first major disruption that MPM has faced in recent years. Two years ago the business was gutted by a major fire.

However, Mr Wilson says that the pandemic has been a far bigger challenge than the fire because the business just didn’t know what it was dealing with.

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He said: “It was a bit like getting in the boxing ring with Mike Tyson, after the fire. You sort of knew what you had to deal with. You’d have to be at your full strength but you knew what was coming at you.

“Whereas with this it was like getting in the boxing ring with a ghost. Nobody could severely say hand on heart what was going to happen. That was the biggest difference and what made this year a bigger challenge that 2018.”

Despite the initial disruption that saw business drop to 30 per cent of forecasts, MPM has made great strides in recent months

Mr Wilson said: “We’re now back to average monthly turnover of 2019. We had plans for a decent amount of growth this year. It slowed that down but we’re holding our own against last year’s figures.”

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The business recruited new staff a few weeks prior to the lockdown and staff numbers got up to 46.

However, that number has dropped back down to 40 as some of the sectors it operates in were hit hard by the pandemic.

“In hindsight, it’s interesting looking back at just how many people in the UK thought coronavirus was happening to the rest of the world and not us, including me,” Mr Wilson says.

With potential local lockdowns and a recession looming, Mr Wilson says that businesses face an uncertain immediate future.

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“We’re obviously heading into the winter and I think there will be a few twists and turns between now and Christmas,” he said.

MPM was established by Mr Wilson’s parents. He took over as managing director of the business in 2010.

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