Fortieth year of trading

Emplas will celebrate its 40th year in business this year.

The company was founded by current chairman Kevin Johnson; its initial focus on retail, trading as T&K, switched to trade fabrication in 1985.

Now in its 40th year of trading, Johnson said despite growth and a rapidly changing market, the trade fabricator remained to the values on which the business was founded.

“We started out as an installer and we remain an installer at heart,” he said. “We know what you need from your supplier to be successful in retail and we’re committed to delivering the right product and service offer to our customers.

“I’m very proud of the growth that we have seen and that after 40 years, we’re still trading and continuing to grow, but probably what I’m most proud of is that we remain a family-owned business and absolutely true to those principles on which we were founded.

“That was to work hard, exploit the opportunities that technical innovation delivered to us and to our customers, to work in partnership with them, and to deliver the very best service to them that we could.”

Kevin said that £3.5 million has been spent recently on the company’s new factory extension and machinery.

Adding around a third again to its manufacturing facility and completed at the end of 2017, the new development houses new lines, loading bays and offices.

A £1.4 million spend on machinery last year also saw Emplas add a second Schirmer machining and cutting centre, multiple Rotox welders, and saws, bringing its weekly capacity up to 2,500 frames.

This was accompanied by a corresponding investment in its IT infrastructure and systems, increasing visibility of its service offer to its trade customer from the initial point of order right up to delivery.

Ryan Johnson, managing director, said Emplas would continue to pursue a sustainable growth strategy in 2018.

“The investment we have made in the last year puts us in a very good place in that it’s allowed us to improve our product quality and service to our customers, while delivering additional capacity in production.”

www.emplas.co.uk