GJD Manufacturing victory

16 Jul 2013

An insight into GJD's recent success

Success is Secured at GJD Manufacturing

Company: GJD Manufacturing

Location: Heywood, Greater Manchester

Established: 1983

Sector: Advanced Engineering

Type of Business: Manufacturer of exterior security equipment

No. of employees: 23

Background

GJD Manufacturing is an industry leader in the design, manufacture and supply of security electronics and motion detectors, which are used to trigger CCTV and other security systems at commercial and high end residential properties. GJD has secured a contract worth £5M over the next three years to make motion detectors for a global company headquartered in America. The contract will double GJD’s turnover over the next two years and will boost the local area, enabling the company to recruit several new employees in the short term and hopefully even more in the future.

On Hand any Time

GJD first came into contact with Business Link five years ago, when Mark Tibbenham bought the company and got in touch for some business support. He was linked up with Adviser, Yvonne Grady, who has been a valuable source of guidance as Mark strove to drive the company forward and secure larger contracts. Yvonne, an Advanced Engineering Adviser at Business Link Northwest, has supported Mark in areas including website development, leadership and management training, and recruitment and has only ever been a phone call or email away when he has wanted a second opinion on a business issue.

Business Link Benefits

Mark says: “I had accessed the Business Link service at the company I ran before I took over GJD so I knew the benefits and got in touch once again.”

The company’s recent success has made Mark and his management team keen to ensure that the image the company portrays does justice to the professional work going on behind the scenes.

Yvonne Grady, a Business Link Northwest Advanced Engineering Adviser, says: “After securing such a large contract, Mark is very keen to ensure the company image is as professional as the team working in the background. For this reason, he wanted himself and two of his senior managers to take part in some marketing and public relations training to allow them to confidently market the company at a high level.”

Yvonne put GJD Manufacturing in touch with Business Link Northwest Skills Adviser Elaine Allcroft, who came to see Managing Director Mark to discuss the options available. With Elaine’s help, GJD has accessed funding through the Train to Gain: Leadership and Management Advisory Service for Mark, Sales Manager Carl Fletcher and Business Development Manager Greg Stuttle, to be put through their paces by a public relations agency.

As the new contract win has also brought the issue of recruitment to the fore, Yvonne has provided support in this area. She has put Mark in touch with the Futures Programme at the University of Central Lancashire (UCLan), which helps employers to tap into the graduate pool, as well as Rochdale Development Agency’s Employment Links Service.

Mark says: “Sometimes running a business can be a lonely place and it is great to have someone with Yvonne’s experience of managing a company on hand to bounce ideas off. Yvonne is an expert in all the government initiatives that are available for a company like ours and will always let us know if there is something that she thinks we can take advantage of.”

Key to Success

As a well established company that has clearly found the key to success, GJD does not require such intensive support and Yvonne now meets with Mark every six months to up date him on any new schemes or initiatives and to check if there are any areas that she can be of assistance with.

In the early days of the business, Yvonne’s assistance centred on supporting Mark’s plans to get the basics right. One of the first things Yvonne helped Mark with was the company’s Material Requirements Planning (MRP) software – a programme that provides companies with sales forecasts and lead times on orders. Yvonne provided Mark with a list of software vendors who could provide the system. She also helped him to access some funding that was available at the time towards the cost of purchasing and installing the software from the company on the list that Mark chose.

Another area that Yvonne was able to help Mark access funding for was his website. Again, she put him forward for grant funding available at the time and he successfully secured some money to help with the cost of designing and building the company website.

If you think your business could benefit from free support and guidance from Business Link Northwest call 0845 00 66 888 or email [email protected]. For more information visit Business Link Northwest’s award-winning website at www.businesslink.gov.uk/northwest