Port Engineering Celebrate Double Success 

Port Engineering scooped two awards recently at the 2007 Annual Pembrokeshire Business Awards (www.pembrokeshirebusinessawards.co.uk), which was held at Folly Farm.

The Pembrokeshire Business Awards were established in 2004 as a collaborative initiative between PBI, the Western Telegraph, Pembrokeshire College, Texaco (Now Chevron) and Radio Pembrokeshire. The aim was to acknowledge and reward the success of local companies by celebrating, recognizing and encouraging the thriving business community in Pembrokeshire.

Steven Arnold (Managing Director) was initially short listed in the Pembrokeshire Entrepreneur of the Year Category along with Karl Long of Haven Colourprint and Debbie Forrest and Helen Mathias of Happy Days Childcare (Wales). The judges were looking for individuals who have demonstrated exceptional vision and leadership in the establishment and development of an owner led business based in the county, together with the ability to recognise and exploit opportunities, and the drive and determination to sustain and develop a thriving business for the future.

Says Steven, “We were delighted to have been shortlisted in this category, however knowing the background and capabilities of the other nominees, we knew that we faced very stiff competition and I have to say that I was genuinely surprised  when my name was read out. “

Steven goes on to say, “Despite the title of this award, this is without doubt a team effort and our success is on no small part testament to the skills and exceptional hard work of our workforce, without whom we would not have achieved the success which we have enjoyed to date.”

The company also won the Special Energy Award, which is aimed at recognizing the hard work, determination and commitment demonstrated by a Pembrokeshire company in meeting the high standard set by the Energy industry.

Nicola Arnold (Company Secretary) commented, “Steven has already mentioned the efforts of our workforce, however we also have to thank our ‘extended team’ within the PBI and WAG who have been invaluable these past two years in terms of the business support they have afforded us which has undoubtedly been a contributory factor to our success.”

23rd November 2007

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June saw the delivery and installation of a new CNC Thermal Cutting system supplied by Esprit Automation based in Nottingham.

The state of the art machine incorporates the latest developments in oxy-fuel cutting and will enable the staff at Port Engineering to accurately cut profiles from a comprehensive library of pre-drawn shapes or their own computer designed creations, in varying thicknesses of steel plate up to 300mm.

Steven Arnold, Managing Director comments, “This machine offers us major benefits in terms of  increased productivity, reduced costs and improved quality. Much of our profiling work was either contracted out which proved expensive and or we often cut out shapes by hand which was time consuming and didn’t always provide the required accuracy.”

Several of Port Engineering’s staff have attended training courses both in Nottingham and on site at their workshop at Milford Docks in order to familarise themselves with the complexities and capabilities of the new machine and have already had the opportunity to put that training to good use.

The purchase of the profiler was made possible with grant assistance from Pembrokeshire County Council and also from the Welsh Assembly Government. Says Adrian Owens, Port Engineering's Business Development Manager, “We are indebted to Richard Hill of Pembrokeshire County Council, Stuart Walder and Richard Smith of PBI and Colin Kaijaks of the Welsh Assembly Government, all of who provided invaluable assistance in terms of helping us with the grant applications. As a relatively new company it is gratifying to know that there is a comprehensive support network for new and existing businesses. The purchase of this machine will not only improve efficiency, but it will also enable us to diversify into other markets.” 

 28th June 2007