EuroFab
Case Study
Starting a new company in Poland
Haycock & Hague (Pipework) Limited based in Selby in North Yorkshire are a medium sized company carrying out turnkey projects and pipework fabrication for the oil / gas and petrochemical industries. In the past 5 years the company has experienced significant growth by offering a wider range of services to their clients. During this period it became obvious that the high cost base for pipework fabrication in the UK was limiting opportunities that the company could otherwise have benefited from.
In 2004 Haycock & Hague decided to investigate the possibility of forming a Polish subsidiary to be able to fabricate pipework and feed their UK operations with competitively priced components to enhance the overall position of the company. Altea Management assisted Haycock & Hague in all aspects of the project.
An opportunity existed at that time to acquire an existing pipework fabrication facility from the Polish governments privatisation scheme. Although the facilities were excellent, potential liabilities and the slow progress of negotiations precluded this option. In May 2005 the management of Haycock & Hague decided to start a new company and find an independent facility. It was decided that the start up time should be a short as possible and that up front capital investment should be minimised.
We worked closely with the management of Haycock and Hague throughout the project. The new company was called EuroFab, which symbolised Haycock & Hague's strategy of using the new Polish subsidiary to expand their business out of their traditional UK base into a European and international operation.
Immediately after the criteria were finalised and the management of Haycock & Hague had decided to proceed we started all the necessary tasks to create the new company. Temporary accommodation was found, the first steps were taken to create the limited liability company and the search was started for permanent premises. It was decide to rent a brown field site in order to limited start up time. A suitable hall was found close to center of Katowice, giving excellent transport links and being close to a skilled work force. After the factory was located a recruitment campaign was started to find the key managerial staff.
Due to careful selection of the factory, renovation / adaption work was limited to building new social facilities for the workers, office renovation and the installation of a new overhead crane on to existing steelwork. Planning permission was obtained quickly due to good co-operation with the City authorities.
Towards the end of October the first manual workers were taken on and in early November the facility was in production. From the decision to proceed, to the start of production took 6 months. By renting an existing hall the project was executed very quickly, with a limited up front capital investment.
In 2007, after the first full year of production the project has been an outstanding success, an ISO 9000 certificate was awarded, a second heavier overhead crane was installed and additional workshop space was rented. Not only did EuroFab provide competitively priced components for the UK market, it also enabled Haycock & Hague to win more contracts and be more competitive with their traditional customer and with new clients. So far all of the projects have been exported, not only to the UK but place as far afield as Nigeria and India.
We have assisted Haycock and Hague complete their investment in a very short period and with in a tight budget which has resulted in a successful and competitive company.
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