Business accelerates for Merseyside brake manufacturer

Nutexa Frictions is planning for growth at home and abroad after receiving guidance from the Manufacturing Advisory Service (MAS).

BRITAIN’S only commercial manufacturer of brake linings - Nutexa Frictions - is looking to achieve an increase in sales of 10% this year through improved production and organic growth.


The company, based at Hoylake on the Wirral, also sells high quality brake pads, drums and discs as well as clutches and lubricants.


It provides brake linings to the Ministry of Defence (MoD) which are currently used on every Bedford vehicle by the armed forces in Iraq and Afghanistan.


Nutexa intends to achieve growth of 10% through increased domestic sales and exports as well as by improving its production techniques following assistance from the Manufacturing Advisory Service (MAS).


Paul Sergeant, Managing Director of Nutexa, said that sales leads continue to be generated from across the world.


Mr Sergeant said: “The exporting side of our business is fundamental to achieving growth - and it is also immensely satisfying from the sales team’s perspective to be able to say that they have just clinched a deal in Australia or another corner of the world.


“We’ve got very good coverage across the world but, at the moment, we don’t sell our products into Russia - although we have recently had several sales enquiries from companies operating there.”


Nutexa Frictions’ products are also available across the UK through many distributors.


Earlier this year, the company called on the services of Invest Wirral - which subsequently introduced the firm to the MAS - to help introduce improvements.

These are intended to help it take advantage of further opportunities in the UK market place as well as Europe, America, Korea, Australia and the Far East.


The MAS adviser, Bob Unsworth, who was sent in to overview the business, has many years expertise working with similar manufacturers.


Mr Unsworth initially examined Nutexa Frictions’ products for potential improvements in tandem with the company’s engineer and production team and together improved the manufacturing operations for bus, coach, truck, trailer, mobile crane, tractor and ship winches.

The meddings drill was subsequently re-engineered to reduce labour times and improve safety while the CNC drilling and turning machine was reprogrammed to reduce costs by 20% and substantially improve production.

The introduction of a production planning board to identify bottlenecks has also resulted in a substantial reduction on the order backlog.

Following the overview, the brake lining department was also examined and, as a result, a redesign of the workshop layout was suggested.

The MAS programme involved the entire staff at Nutexa and the consultation also sought to discover whether there were any operational aspects of the business which needed to be addressed.

Mr Sergeant said: “I can’t praise the contribution of Invest Wirral and the MAS team highly enough.


“The full appreciation of our difficulties and the down-to-earth but nevertheless professional approach of the team were winners with us.


“My team was comfortable working with MAS and the inclusive manner with which they involved all staff meant the ongoing help we received was 100% genuine and not just out of a briefcase.


“I feel that the efficiency of the business has been improved by streamlining the whole production process.”


Business Link was also contacted to identify support for the upgrade of some of the machinery.


Mr Sergeant adds: “The manufacturing sector in the Northwest is alive and well - but it needs to continue being supported by the Government if it is to prosper.


“One of the main issues for most companies is the level of bureaucracy they face when compared to our overseas competitors.


“This needs to be changed in the future so that we are all competing on a level playing field.”


For further information on the services available to help manufacturers in the North West, please visit the Manufacturing Advisory Service’s home page at www.mas-nw.co.uk or call 0800 093 9077.