Wind of change proves success for firm

Rotary Engineering UK, which provides workshop equipment for the power generation industry and electro magnets for the steel and recycling sectors, expects to grow over the next 12 months despite losing work from key clients during the recession.

The Sheffield firm, first established as Rotary Electrical in 1952, is on course to increase turnover from about 1.4m this year to nearly 2m next year despite being hit by a slump in demand, particularly from South Yorkshire steelmaker Corus.

Robert Fennell, managing director of Rotary, said: "Work is already starting to stabilise. Work has started to pick up and we have a very good order book and we are very buoyant."

Rotary trained staff in solar panel installation and now sells, installs and maintains wind turbines and solar panels. The new trading arm, Rotary Renewables, has won clients, including farmers and land owners and manufacturers, and is expected to make up half of the group within 12 to 18 months.

The firm has also moved from an 11,500 sq ft building in central Sheffield to a 19,000 sq ft site in the south-east of the city as it looks to grow.

Mr Fennell said: "We are in the process of evolving. We are still going to be heavily involved in the magnet business.

"Keeping our staff was crucial to our ability to change direction and with their help, skills and flexibility the transition began. Most people here have a passion for renewables so it was an easy thing for us to do."

Rotary, which has 20 staff, now makes, sells, installs and services wind turbines ranging from 3kw to 900kw, with the highest ones standing 39m.

Its workshop equipment has been exported across Europe and to the Middle East, particularly Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar, and Mr Fennell said they are considering taking the renewable technology abroad.

"It is something we could take abroad in the long-run. Britain is lagging behind Portugal, Spain and France, because we have not had the Government support, al though that is not a reason why we could not compete."

Feed-in-tariffs, which were introduced under the last government and pay ordinary energy users up to 1,000 a year for small-scale, environmentally-friendly power generation, have provided a major boost for the solar roofing industry.

Rotary began to diversify after its work from Corus shrank during the global recession. The steelmaker laid off more than 1,000 workers from its South Yorkshire plants last year, during a slump in the global demand for the commodity, hitting scores of small Yorkshire businesses.

Mr Fennell said: "It was something we thought would happen. We knew it would level off but we had not anticipated how quick the decline would be. Whereas in previous years we picked up quite a bit of European work to complement UK trade, in this last year, Europe has been very quiet."

Simon Swallow, engineering director of Rotary, has been responsible for the firm's technical transition and said it proved the resilience of the industry.

"Advanced engineering manufacturing is alive and well in Sheffield. We see the development of innovative technologies, such as Rotary's production of a commercially viable Friction Stir welding machine, as one of the exciting keys to maintaining our growing, a sustainable business"

FROM MAGNETS TO ENGINEERING

Rotary Engineering UK was set up as an electrical firm in 1952 but its origins go back to a lifting magnet business in 1896.

The Sheffield firm began life as Rotary Electrical, established to provide motor rewinding and repairs, and today it includes Rotary Burnand and the engineering and renewables arms.

It is owned by Robert Fennell, the managing director, Simon Swallow, the engineering director, and Ian Walker, a non-executive director.

The three men have built strong links with Yorkshire universities and colleges and invested heavily in computer aided design to help boost their exports to blue-chip companies around the

world.