ACFS unveils £1.7m investment

Family-run Advanced Cold-Formed Sections now operates from three units at Manders Estate, of Old Heath Road.

Chairman Dr Alan Rogan and managing director Oliver Rogan officially opened the new unit on Tuesday, June 6.

The company, part of the Gloucester-based Metek group which has a turnover of £17m, originally opened in 2000. It has grown to have annual turnover of £5 million and now has 3,000 sq metres of units on the estate.

ACFS supplies its light steel frames for buildings primarily to the residential, hotel and student accommodation markets.

The new unit was bought in December and work to refurbish it and provide new offices and facilities including a staff kitchen, canteen and shower block was completed this month.

It is now the home of ACFS's framing division where off-site manufacturing is also carried out.

A £500,000 thick gauge off-site framing mill from New Zealand is due to arrive in two months time to complete the investment.

Opening the new unit, which also houses the company's offices, Oliver Rogan said: "This new facility is a testament to the hard work of everyone that has been involved. I am pleased to work with you all. Let's have a phenomenal 2017."

A third unit on the estate now houses the company's hot rolled steel division which was set up three years ago.

The investment has also given the company a new 2,500 sq metres yard where completed light-steel systems can be stored before being despatched to customers all over the UK. It can accommodate up to five articulated lorries.

ACFS, which is supplied with steel coil from the nearby Tata Steel Steelpark at Wednesfield, has taken on six new members of staff with the investment and now employs 30 across its sites but is beginning a recruitment drive.

Mr Rogan said it was currently looking for four new designers, experienced in Revit building information modelling software, three welders and roll setters.

"One of the key reasons for coming to Wolverhampton was that it is the heart of the rioll forming industry and has skilled people.

"All of our workforce is from within a five-mile radius of our sites," he added.

"It is a testament to the team of designers here that we have managed to keep growing the business. We are immensely proud of all our team here," he said.

It has retained its original unit which will now focus on hot rolling big sections including thick purlins, C-sections, studs and tracks. Its long linear shape allows it to accommodate an overhead crane.

Mr Rogan said the investment will ensure ACFS continues to offer the very best customer service to increasingly demanding clients.

"We will look to supply projects including large residential schemes more efficiently giving us the platform of improved competitiveness for growth. As an aside, with the proximity of the adjacent canal, we have even been asked to ship steel frames to London projects by water which is certainly giving us food for thought," he added.

When ACFS was set up the intention initially was to supply Metek UK, who design and build multi-storey hotels, student accommodation and residential schemes for leading developers and contractors as well as supplying leading facade companies in the UK and overseas, but as it has grown it has begun to supply other companies as well.

The sales team is looking to build up orders further following the new investment.

The experienced ACFS team is led by general manager Mike Causer and has a broad range of expertise in steel manufacturing and steel construction.

He is also looking to expand the team in a number of departments such as tele sales and administration and is also looking at the possibly of employing local apprentices.