Wolves in Business

These continue to be challenging times for us all, however we are committed to continuing to provide the best support we can to businesses and jobseekers. We are here to help you plan your current and future workforce needs as you navigate the current  economic difficulties.

Wolves at Work business services are ready and available to offer support to businesses looking for assistance on the following:

• Recruitment - we can advertise and promote your vacancies and assist with sourcing new talent through the highly successful Wolves at Work project
• Redundancy support
• Advice on upskilling your workforce to meet future business needs
• Useful connections to further business support

Please don’t hesitate to contact us for recruitment or workforce support: recruitment@wolverhampton.gov.uk

Or call the Business Support line: 01902 290242 between 9am and 5pm from Monday to Thursday or from 9am to 4.30pm on Fridays

Useful links

There are several useful websites to further explain the support available to businesses and their employees:

• GOV.UK
• Black Country Chamber
• Institute of Directors (IOD)
• Business Support
• Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD)
• Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service (ACAS)
• CBI Events

Black Country-specific advice and support for businesses is available through the Black Country Growth Hub.

The Federation of Small Businesses has also published guidance on what you can do to protect your business and employees.

The Black Country Chamber of Commerce have also published a number of interpretative and advice documents on the Government support schemes.

Guidance for food businesses reopening and adapting their businesses during COVID-19 can be found on the Trade with Confidence website.

The University of Wolverhampton Business School has a range of courses for managers and a dedicated COVID-19 Business Support Hub.

AGTV is a local independent broadcasting and media production company who has worked with a range of sporting companies including Wolverhampton Wanderers. Earlier this year they joined the Black Country AIM for GOLD programme and worked with City Council Officers to secure a grant to help purchase new equipment.

Alex Gage, owner of the business added,

“What I can say is that the grant allowed me to ensure that my company was able to remain competitive at the very top end of my industry. The purchased kit put me in position to compete for many jobs, at all levels of production”.

Aldridge Trimming Ltd is an Employee Owned business based in the heart of Wolverhampton and have been trimming classic cars since 1931. Over the years the business has expanded and evolved. They have gained a world-wide reputation for high quality British craftsmanship, supplying the major Jaguar, Ford and Triumph restoration companies around the world.

The company was started in a shed in 1931 by Don Newcombe, he provided a general trimming service for cars and coaches. In the Eighties it was taken over by his grandson, Simon Aldridge, who had helped his grandfather since 1963 during his time at school.

 Aldridge Trimming has always catered for classic cars, but moved into the mail order market in 1980 after Simon purchased a Jaguar E-type and needed parts for it. It was when Simon started making new trim for his car that he realised there was a big market for replacement interiors that customers could order via phone or internet, and be shipped straight to their door.

The company’s latest growth plans were based on investing in a Low-Pressure Polyurethane Dispensing Machine, otherwise known as a foam making machine. This machine has provided the innovation for Aldridge Trimming Ltd make the foam for all makes of classic cars. It has also helped in reducing costs, improving production time, increasing efficiency, and allowing the company to increase its product range. It also allows for expansion into other industries that are not necessarily car-related. A successful £10,000 AIM for GOLD grant supported by the City Council has enabled the company to make the full £33,000 investment in the new machine.
 
Simon Aldridge , owner of Aldridge Trimming Ltd, commented, “We have again had a positive experience dealing with the City Council and have had the same high standard of service as on previous grant programmes. The machine has been a fantastic addition to the company. In truth it has delivered more than we were initially hoping for, it has reduced our lead-times and our dependence on unreliable suppliers. We have created jobs as a result of this and have also massively increased the range of products that we offer. We are looking forward to working with Wolverhampton Council again in the future.”

Ceandess (Wolverhampton) Ltd has been operating in Wolverhampton since 1924 and is a well-established manufacturing company supplying component pressings to the automotive, agricultural and plant machinery industries.  The company is ISO 9001 accredited and manufactures a range of fuel and oil filters, base and filler assemblies and also fuel, engine and hydraulic oil filler caps.  These products are distributed globally, and the company also offers a range of services to local businesses, such as sheet metal forming, powder coating, drilling, tapping and machining. The company supplies to a range of well known businesses including JCB, Caterpillar, Garret Motion GTX, Kuehne & Nagel, Kingspan Water & Environmental, Rolls Royce and Volvo to name a few. They have also recently started supplying filters to the electronic and technological sectors.
 
The business approached the Council for support in a growth strategy based on investment in new equipment to reduce waste and energy and to improve the quality of the finished product. Their existing capstan manually operated lathe was old, damaged and with limited functionality impacting on business productivity. A new CNC lathe would dramatically increase the accuracy and quality of all of these products and allow the company to bring all of the turning back in-house. In addition to turned products, a new CNC lathe would also enable the company to start offering services in tool-making and concept tool development.
 
Company Director Ed Davies noted, “As a company we are extremely pleased to have been able to take part in the AIM for GOLD Programme, develop a growth plan, and secure the grant towards the purchase of a CNC turning lathe. It has really changed the culture and attitude towards modern methods of manufacturing and as a team has pushed the boundaries of what is achievable for our customers. The lathe has enabled us to reduce tool down time by at least 75% and we are now able to manufacture tooling components in house reducing cost and regaining control over the process”.
 
As well as having an immediate impact on the culture and on productivity levels the new lathe is also providing the opportunity to develop a stronger offer to existing customers. Ed added, “In terms of winning subcontract work for the lathe it is still early days but it has allowed us to win larger scope work as we have been able to take the whole job of Manufacturing TV brackets for camper vans as we were able to put accurate Radiuses on the hinge pin rapidly and repeatedly accurate. This encouraged the customer to put the whole assembly with us as we now had start and finish processes and this made savings in transportation. We are also in the process of quoting for fastener bosses on coach seats as we already do the powder coating of these. The next step will be to add a bar feeder so that we can rapidly manufacture large volume components. It has been extremely encouraging to have received such support throughout the AIM for GOLD Programme and to also meet and engage with others taking part in the process.”

Future Genetics is a precision medicine research company focused on the discovery and development of disease biomarkers in areas of unmet clinical need. Set up in 2007 by Dr Mohammed Kamran who has a PhD in Molecular Science from Imperial College London, the business is based at the Wolverhampton Science Park.

Dr Mohammed commented, “Future Genetics has immensely benefited from the Relight Business Programme. The staff running the scheme form a highly knowledgeable and skilled team that are truly effective supporting small businesses. I would have struggled to proceed and likely given up without the excellent guidance and support provided through the entire process. We are grateful for his expertise, professionalism and flexibility. The start to end support provided to our organisation”

The business were accepted onto the Relight Business Programme and then approached the Council with the outline of a growth plan based on the purchase of £160,000 DNA Sequencing Machine. We quickly recognised the value and impact of such an investment so worked with the business to develop the growth plan and develop an AIM for GOLD grant application. The DNA Sequencing Machine would enable the company to offer a new product in the form of DNA Testing leading to an additional revenue stream. This would not only add resilience and underpin growth but it will also perform a crucial role in funding the ongoing research and development the business carry out in relation to the long-term endeavour of identifying and validating a biomarker associated with treatment failure. This creates a virtuous circle where a successful biomarker could be patented and sole to a pharmaceutical company to not only secure funding for more research and development for the company, but it would also allow pharmaceutical companies to develop more effective drugs and treatments, improve health outcomes for patients and improve efficiencies within the NHS in the future.
Dr Mohammed added, “as a small business we are not that experienced in carrying out high quality grant-quality financial reviews. The well-structured support systems provided by the Relight Business Programme, where again Ross Edgley along with Stanley Ugwueze were great in educating and guiding us to successfully complete our financial reviews”

The company were successful in their grant application and secured over £40,000 toward their investment. As the business were also on the Relight Business Programme they also benefitted from a Digital Review from MNA Digital, as well 12 months free membership of the Black Country Chamber of Commerce.

Meji Media are an award winning events company led by Gurmej Singh Pawar that is based at Wolverhampton Science Park. Graduating with a Masters in Economics, Gurmej traded the volatile world of investment banking for the even more unpredictable world of events management. Having discovered a real talent for creating exciting experiences the business now organise events globally for tens of thousands of customers a year.

A guiding philosophy for Meji Media is that creativity and innovative thinking must be supported with good financial and business acumen to ensure very event achieves a tangible return for the customer. It was this mix of innovation and business return for the customer that led Gurmej to develop his unique brands of firstly the Moonlight and Misteltoe Christmas parties and the team building focused Banter Experiences; and then more latterly the venue and conference finding Venkey system. It was the development and adoption of this latter system that the City Council part funded through the ERDF backed AIM for GOLD Programme. After supporting Gurmej with his growth plan we went on to work up the grant application and then successfully secured a £20,000 grant toward his £60,000 investment.

Company Director Gurmej Singh Pawar commented, “it was tough during covid but we used the time to invest in technology; the grant support really helped us, and now we have gone from 4 staff to 9”.

Venkey with its comprehensive database of venues and its innovative search engine now helps thousands find the right venue at the right price at the right time – adding real value to the marketplace through the provision of its free venue finding arm.