Middle Eastern boost for Todd Engineering
A Staffordshire spraybooth manufacturing firm is about to ship parts to Bahrain as part of a major business win in the Middle East this year.
Todd Engineering, in Rugeley, has won the work with the Behbehani Group, a Bahrain-based business that includes car dealerships for brands including Volkswagen, Audi, Porche, Fiat, Chrysler, Jeep and Dodge.
The company is supplying and installing spraybooths for two service and repair bodyshops. When work is complete, there will be six Todd Engineering booths on each of the two sites.
One is in Bahrain and Behbehani is currently in the middle of constructing a new five-storey site in Kuwait.
Lee Todd, who founded and runs the business with his fellow director brother Chris, has already been out to visit both sites and the company has already started installation work in Kuwait.
The booths for Bahrain are due to be shipped next month ready to start installation in September. Full installation and completion for both sites is expected to be completed by the end of this year.
Todd Engineering is celebrating its 30th anniversary this year and, thanks to a string of major contract successes, has already been able to recruit around 10 people this year, boosting its workforce to around 55.
This comes on the back of the company’s most successful year in its history, with work from one of the UK’s biggest car dealership groups. Todd Engineering’s work is also in demand in Italy and in the Middle East.
Todd Engineering had started working with the Pendragon group two years ago on a series of pilot projects, installing paint spraybooths at 20 of its dealerships. The car dealership group includes the Evans Halshaw and Stratstone brands.
The success of this project had now seen Pendragon commission Todd Engineering on a £1.5 million project to install new spraybooth facilities across its network over the next two years.
“We’ve been growing steadily over the years, building our reputation, and we are now working at capacity. Even after recruiting around 10 people we could take on another 15 if they have the right skills because our busy work schedule ahead,” said Mr Todd.
Based at the Gregory Works in Armitage Road, Rugeley, the company started out providing services for industry, installing and maintaining spraypaint equipment. “We then started to manufacture our own equipment and have been growing ever since,” said Mr Todd.
In 2017 it posted record turnover of £4.5 million.
While the bulk of the company’s work is around the UK it has built a strong name in the Middle East, with work successfully completed in Bahrain and Dubai. It has also created a large super yacht spraybooth, 30 metres long, for Italian company Cantieri Di Imperia, in northern Italy.
To keep up with the workload, the company is looking to recruit sheet metal workers, installation engineers and electricians. Anyone interested in find out more should visit the company website at toddengineering.co.uk
