Council support made to measure for Procter & Chester

A great frustration of running an SME is when you are operating close to capacity and desperately need to expand but just don't have the space.

That was the situation in which Procter & Chester (Measurements) found themselves last year. But they now have the required space and are growing and taking on apprentices thanks to a small capital grant from Warwickshire County Council.

From its base in Dalehouse Lane, Kenilworth, Procter & Chester is a small business now truly punching its weight.

The firm has, if not quite cornered a market, certainly found a niche in which they offer very specialised services with an expertise which has attracted customers far and wide.

Strain gauge installations and highly specialised load cells are their stock-in-trade. They devise and deploy a vast range of strain gauges for use in almost any environment - from construction equipment and high-performance cars to more singular jobs such as assisting the acoustics at Birmingham Symphony Hall and measuring aerospace loading profiles.

With its workforce of 12, soon to rise to 15, at the family-run firm (managing director Gordon Chester is son of one of the co-founders) it is a real success-story. But there was a ceiling on that success until the county council grant enabled them to expand their premises from 3,000 to 9,000 square feet.

"The grant enabled to expand just when we needed to," said Gordon. "Last year we reached the point where every square inch of our premises was being utilised. Sometimes for visitors that didn't look optimal and it certainly wasn't ideal.

"We were at full stretch to do all the work that we had on and were certainly in no position to grow.

"Now we have the capacity to aim for growth in line with the pleasing amount of demand there is for our services. We are in the process of taking on three new staff, two of which will be production apprentices. Our work is very specialist, so they will receive bespoke training here while also being sent through college."

As well as the grant, Procter & Chester also received guidance from Warwickshire County Council business support advisor Jagdish Soor. This helped them with the application process but also opened up other areas of support including an environmental grant which enabled conversion of all the premises' lights to LED.

"Applying for support for a small business can be very time-consuming and paperwork-intensive so the support we have received has been invaluable," said Gordon. "The whole experience around the support has been superb and the advice first-class."

Jagdish Soor commented: "The vast array of diverse, specialised industry located around Warwickshire is just amazing. Procter & Chester are just one example of it and, as an engineer myself, it has been a pleasure to assist them in creating a facility to be proud of and one which will allow them to offer advanced accreditation services into the OEMs and local supply chain."

 * The advice for the company was delivered as part of the Coventry and Warwickshire Business Support Programme, which is part-funded by the European Regional Development Fund and Warwickshire County Council. 

• To find out more about the range of support available to grow your business, please contact the Growth Hub on 0300 060 3747.