Centre of excellence to push Pegler to new level

At its Rotherham-based distribution centre for example, hi-tech cranes move stock at six metres per second before goods are sent to more than 4,600 locations every week in the UK and in key export markets.

The centre, which is 100,000 sq ft and has a storage height of 12.75m, was the subject of a £10m investment by the company.

And a £5m programme is currently under way at the firm’s Leeds manufacturing site to develop it as a centre of excellence for its push-fit technology. These are high-performance metal components which join pipes together and are a key growth area for the business.

At its Doncaster manufacturing site, meanwhile, a £12m five-year investment scheme began in 2009, with Government backing, bringing improved efficiencies.

Phil Jackson, marketing and business development director, said: “To be globally competitive you have to have the best facilities, if you don’t invest in the latest technology you are going to struggle to keep up with the Chinese and countries like that.”

Doncaster-headquartered Pegler Yorkshire manufactures products such as fittings, taps and valves, supplying to builders’ merchants including clients such as Travis Perkins and Wolseley.

It has manufacturing plants in both Doncaster and Leeds and is part of a group which also has manufacturing sites in Hungary and China, for lower volume items which are more labour intensive.

Mr Jackson said that the firm is unique in the sense that it takes the raw material, in other words scrap metal, which comes from merchants as well as the company’s own waste material, through the whole journey to a fully finished product. It goes through a series of processes including melting, extruding, stamping, machining, chrome plating – the largest such plant in Europe is at Pegler Yorkshire in Doncaster – and assembly.

Stuart Anderson, group managing director, said: “We redefined the strategy of the business in the last year or so. We are embracing much more new technology, new technology methods of connecting pipe work systems in heating and ventilating systems.

“A big focus now is where we were selling very basic components into the industry before, we are now much more selling systems into the industry... and then we are also pushing them to a newer technology, so where they (the installers) would have used an old-fashioned soldering method to connect things together, we are now showing them they can push things together or they can press things together which speeds up installation time for the user.”

Dutch engineering giant Aalberts Industries NV acquired two well-established Yorkshire businesses, Yorkshire Fittings and then Pegler, later merging the two to create Pegler Yorkshire in 2007. The investment in the distribution site in Rotherham was made in an effort to bring together the two companies’ distribution sites – previously in Doncaster and Barnsley.

As well as a focus on investment in technology, Pegler Yorkshire’s strategy is also geared towards making the most of export markets. The firm currently sells to more than 100 countries, making use of its sister companies around the world which are part of Aalberts Industries NV as well selling directly into countries.

Mr Anderson said the business is focusing on North America with its push-fit components, as well as Germany, the Nordic countries and Benelux.

Economic conditions in the UK, however, have been tough, with the market remaining “static”. The company employs about 700 people in Yorkshire, but it has reduced its headcount.

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