EuroWire November 2016

News Corporate

Growth, development and expansion

It has been a busy five years since Robert Brown, Chris Nettleship and Douglas Hunt took over the helm of high-performance lubricant specialist Metalube. This diligent trio has made huge strides into the wire and cable market and evolved into new market sectors, while the infectious ambition has firmly integrated itself across the whole company. Not only has Metalube grown in size, it has also been awarded two of the UK’s highest business accolades with a Queen’s Award for Enterprise in International Trade 2013 and a Queen’s Award for Enterprise for Innovation 2014. This year it was also awarded the ISO 14001 certification, the international standard for environmental management systems (EMS) and the most widely used in the world. Managing director Robert Brown said: “Metalube was already in a great position when we bought the business back in 2011 and we are very lucky to have its founder, David Lee, still working with us today. David represents our interests in South East Asia and is a non-executive director. He adds enor- mous value to the company and we are grateful for his continued input and support.” One the of first priorities back in 2011 was to update Metalube’s corporate identity with the launch of a streamlined logo, new barrels and brochures as well as a modern, well-designed website available in English, Chinese and Portuguese. The company’s ‘Global Specialists in High-Performance Lubricants’ promise was

▲ ▲ Directors, from left, Doug Hunt, Robert Brown and Chris Nettleship

overseas. Over the past five years, the company strategy has been to expand via country investment. The existing Shanghai, China, office has grown significantly and there are now new offices in Dongguan and in Hong Kong. Amit Gupte set up Metalube India in 2011, which has gone from strength to strength with India now being one of the company’s biggest markets. A former development chemist in the Manchester laboratory, Mohd Shahrin Abu Bakar returned to his home in Malaysia in 2013 and has proved a valuable addition to the South East Asia team working as a technical sales engineer in the region. After a long and drawn out process in 2014, an ANP Licence to trade in Brazil was granted with a subsequent office opening in São Paulo led by general manager Ricardo Neves. This year, Metalube Arabia was also launched with an office in Dubai headed by Nick Pomeroy, and a partnership was made between Metalube and Fusion Chemicals in the USA. Douglas Hunt, commercial director, said: “We are really pleased by how well our strategy to invest in local people on the ground in our key markets has been. Our customers can now be assured that they are receiving a full service from individuals who understand our products, speak their language and understand their business cultures.” It is the Metalube team that is the backbone of the company and in the past five years the work force has nearly doubled from 21 to 40 staff.

also unveiled. This new branding is now visible across all the company’s literature as well as at the many trade shows it attends worldwide. The company also invested in SAP ERP, software that is specifically designed for worldwide organisations. SAP now encompasses all areas of the business from accounts, sales and customer relationship management to material resource planning and quality control. Metalube sends over 90 per cent of the lubricant it manufactures in Manchester, UK, Principally an exporter,

▼ ▼ The new premises at Metalube in Manchester, UK

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November 2016