The Brierley Hill-based firm will benefit from a £10,000 grant to help it develop a new strategy

November 3, 2015

A Black Country manufacturer is setting its sights on a share of the £60bn nuclear sector after securing a new funding boost. Alloy Wire, which makes round, flat, shaped profile and electrical resistance wires in a range of exotic nickel alloys, has become one of the first companies in the West Midlands to start the Fit For Nuclear (F4N) journey.

The Brierley Hill-based firm will benefit from a £10,000 grant to help it develop a new strategy for targeting this market and ensuring it meets exacting health and safety and performance standards required by the major contractors.

It is anticipated that this funding – combined with ongoing support from manufacturing experts at the Business Growth Service – will unlock nearly £750,000 of potential contracts.

Mark Venables, Managing Director, commented: “Some of the specialist wire we produce is used within component parts, seals and in springs destined for the nuclear sector – especially where they need to operate effectively in corrosive and intense high temperature environments.

“With £60bn of civil build projects and billions more involved in de-commissioning existing plants, there is a significant opportunity for us to grow our sales from 8% of our current turnover.”

He continued: “It’s not the easiest sector to penetrate so when we decided we want to do more, we turned to Fit For Nuclear for additional support to help us review our operations and identify where we could make improvements.

Alloy Wire will spend the next five months working its way through the Fit For Nuclear programme, working with assessor Huw Jenkins and expert consultants Start 2 Finish Marketing and Initiative Quality and Safety Ltd.