Aycliffe Today Business Aycliffe Today Business Issue 38 | Page 9
The magazine for Aycliffe Business Park | 9
/NEWS
BUSINESS BRIEFS
FIRM MAKES ADVANCES
Aycliffe-based conveyor manufacturer
Advance Automated Systems has
recently increased its engineer
headcount at its manufacturing facility on
the town’s business park.
The firm says the move comes due to an
increase in sales and a greater level of
bespoke, turnkey projects.
Advance Automated Systems, which
celebrated its 15th anniversary in 2018,
added four new starters to its line-up
after a positive 12 months.
Crafter’s Companion founder Sara Davies is
excited about the firm’s latest US expansion.
Crafter’s to expand US presence
N
ewton Aycliffe-based global craft
retailer Crafter’s Companion has
announced plans to move its US
headquarters to a larger space in Corona,
California, following a huge growth in sales
from $12m to an estimated $22m over the
past two years.
The new office and warehouse, which will
be 31,000 sq ft, has been primarily driven
by increased demand from key accounts
including the Home Shopping Network
(HSN), Notions Marketing, Amazon.com and
fellow retailers such as Tuesday Morning and
Hobby Lobby.
Founder Sara Davies MBE said: “It’s
fantastic to see such an increase in demand
for our products in the US market.
“When we opened our office in Santa
Ana, California, in 2016, I could not have
envisioned this level of growth, although I
always knew our products would be well
received by customers in North America.
“A big part of our success in this market
has been down to a great partnership with
HSN. Its team has supported our brand for
many years and enabled us to bring our
innovations to their well-established and loyal
customer base.”
The company is currently recruiting for
several new positions across customer
service, compliance and design to join the
existing team of 30.
Among Crafter’s Companion’s new
appointments are two senior recruits who
will both be based in the company’s new US
headquarters.
Crafter’s Companion is a market-leading
craft retailer, headquartered on Aycliffe
Business Park.
Founded in 2005, the company now
employs over 150 staff and exports products
to Europe, Asia, South Africa, Australia, New
Zealand and North and South America.
Having traditionally sold its products online,
through independent retailers and on TV
shopping channels across the world, Crafter’s
Companion opened its first three UK stores
between 2016 and 2017.
For more information visit
www.crafterscompanion.co.uk or
www.crafterscompanion.com.
Senior manager retires from Aycliffe firm Roman
N
ewton Aycliffe-based international
shower designer and manufacturer
Roman has wished a long-term
employee a happy retirement.
Geoff Ingram, Roman’s Northern contract
manager, has retired after 50 years in the
industry.
Geoff started work as an apprentice
heating engineer at the age of 16 and has
worked his way up since, spending his entire
career in the bathroom industry.
After his apprenticeship as a heating
engineer he went to work at Baxi Boilers and
then to Myson as a sales representative.
He then spent 21 years working for
Aqualisa, first as a sales representative, then
to Northern regional contract manager and
later as national contract manager.
Roman’s Northern contract manager Andy
McLeod with managing director David
Osborne, Geoff Ingram and sales director
Marc Teasdale.
Gabriele Akstinaite joined as a project
design engineer following a project
manager role and graduation from
Northumbria University, Craig Leadbitter
joined as a design engineer following
a similar position at Roman Showers,
Emma O’Leary joined as project engineer
having gained industry experience at
Hitachi Rail and Jaan Anwar started as a
design engineer following a previous role
as an industrial engineer.
HITACHI’S PARTNER BID
Two northern engineering powerhouses
have formed a partnership to bid for a
£500m contract to build new trains and a
depot for the Tyne and Wear Metro.
From 2022, the existing metro fleet
will be replaced with brand new high
technology trains and maintained at
a newly-constructed site at Gosforth,
Newcastle.
Hitachi and Spencer Group will harness
their footprint in the North for the bid.
Hitachi has invested over £100m in
its train factory in Newton Aycliffe,
supporting thousands of jobs in the
North East.
DUTCH DEAL FOR TEKMAR
Tekmar Energy has been awarded a
contract to supply its cable protection
technology to a Dutch offshore wind
farm.
Dutch maritime contracting firm Van Oord
has selected the patented Tekmar Cable
Protection System (CPS) TekLink for the
Borssele 2 (site III and IV) offshore wind
farm.
Borssele 2, consisting of 77 turbines
and a total of 731.5 MW, will go into
construction off the coast of Zeeland, the
Netherlands, in 2020.
AYCLIFFE TODAY BUSINESS
During his career, Geoff has forged very
strong relationships with the main plumbing
contractors in the North of England and is
very well known across the housebuilder
sector and with the major merchants.
For the last three years Andy McLeod has
been working alongside Geoff and he is now
taking over his role.
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