A West Midlands industrial fan maker is expanding and creating new jobs – in part helped by a boost in business from Jaguar Land Rover.
Birmingham Fan has switched from Alcester to 4,800 sq ft premises at 30 Dunlop Road in Hunt End, Redditch – helped by property agents John Truslove.
A small firm with a big reputation, it designs, manufactures and services all types of industrial and commercial fans and ventilation systems.
It specialises in larger industrial units especially for car and aircraft plants, metal rolling mills, concrete and tarmac plants and pitch ventilation in sports arenas, which include the Emirates, Millennium and Wembley stadiums.
About 40 per cent of its products go to the auto sector including JLR, General Motors and BMW.
Around 15-20 per cent of Birmingham Fan’s sub-£1 million turnover is exported including to China and India.
It employs just six people with the move adding two to the payroll and jobs available for another couple of sheet metal workers.
Managing director Adrian Harvey said: “A number of our clients are expanding and we have won back some old ones. In addition we have been benefiting from engineering contacts taking up new positions.
“The success of Jaguar Land Rover has been important – I would describe it as a bonus for us.
“We have worked for JLR for ten years but only in a limited way. However the company has been taking on lots of engineers, many of whom we have dealt with in the past. They know us well and have been saying to JLR – ‘why aren’t you using Birmingham Fan, especially as it’s on your doorstep’?
“The result has been an increase of 5-10 per cent in our turnover in the last three months alone – a fantastic result.
“But we would still have expanded even had we not won the extra business from JLR because we needed bigger premises particularly given the size of some of the industrial fans we make.”
Other clients include Siemens and Rolls-Royce Aerospace.
Ian Parker, partner in John Truslove, said: “Birmingham Fan is a great little business – the sort of bedrock firm of which there are so many in Midlands industry.
“You don’t have global customers like JLR without being good. I wish it every success.”
Birmingham Fan, a family owned and run business established in 1971, has taken a five year lease on its new factory with landlord, Royal Bank of Canada Trust Corporation.