Xamax earns success in the long term

Xamax has tapped into support from the Manufacturing Advisory Service (MAS) to help it understand new market opportunities and support its ambitious expansion plans.

The company has invested £400,000 in updating its Roundwood Industrial Estate site in Wakefield.

Turnover is set to hit £3.3m this year, and five jobs have been created to cope with demand.

Gareth Thompson, the operations director, said: “The banking crisis made us look long and hard at our business and where we wanted to go.

“A lot of the changes we were making were reactive to market conditions, and we knew we needed to adopt a more proactive approach.

“This is where MAS came into the equation. Working with one of the organisation’s manufacturing advisers and a specialist consultant, we were able to take a step back and look at the bigger picture and the sort of processes we needed to put in place to monitor growth and, importantly, profitability.”

He added: “We have come up with a strategic plan to take us to 2017. We’ve already secured shop floor efficiencies and a 40 per cent increase in sales.”

Xamax is one of the UK’s biggest manufacturers of embroidered and printed clothing for business, local authorities and the public.

Altogether, it has more than 10,000 different clients.

The company, which employs 43 people, produces more than 500 products, ranging from T-shirts and sweatshirts to hi-visibility jackets and footwear.

It also offers a ‘design your own’ service for bespoke orders.

Recent investment has seen it modernise facilities at its Wakefield factory.

It has replaced old machinery and created a modern frontage.

Mr Thompson said: “MAS has been a tremendous source of expertise and knowledge, as was Krys Szokalo of the ICE Partnership who worked so closely with us on shaping our strategy.

“We now have a solid platform that will ensure the business flourishes, and hopefully creates more jobs in the future.”