Security of supply

Anglo European can guarantee security of steel reinforcement supply even in a local lockdown, the company has announced.

This is thanks to its manufacturing capability and distribution across two sites.

Leicester became the first city in the UK to go into a two-week local lockdown at the end of June, reinstating and extending the Covid-19 restrictions, which were being eased at the same time across the rest of the country.

With the R-rate up again in England and hitting the crucial value of ‘1’ at the beginning of July, and an average of more than 100 local outbreaks a week, analysts have said that more local lockdowns are likely.

These give authorities in a locally locked down area the power to temporarily close any business where there are a cluster of cases, which would have a negative impact on that company’s ability to supply its customers.

Paul Sullivan, managing director of Anglo European, said: “We’ve already seen disruption to the steel reinforcement supply chain impact on many fabricators, with a number of suppliers reporting stock-outs.

“Clearly any additional disruption to supply because of a local lockdown, or worse temporary shutdown of production, is going to compound that, something that at a time of high demand represents a very real risk to window and door supply.”

The R-rate is the Covid-19 reproduction number, key to keeping transmissions levels at a manageable level. This represents a calculation of how many people an infected person is thought to transmit the virus to on average.

Anglo European has maintained supply of its steel reinforcement and ancillaries offer throughout lockdown. It buys steel from UK manufacturers, which means its own supply has been uninterrupted, while its model of supply direct to fabricators has meant it has maintained pre-Covid-19 service levels.

These are manufactured across two sites: Anglo European’s primary manufacturing facility in Manchester; and its second steel rolling facility, Marybern Steel, in north Wales, acquired by the group in 2015.

It also acquired aluminium component specialist, Aluminium Shapes, at the end of July last year.

“Operation and distribution across three sites means that should we see a local lockdown, we have the flexibility to redirect manufacture and distribution between them, guaranteeing supply to our customers,” Paul said.