Helipebs Controls was recently pleased to host a visit from The Lord Green of Hurstpierpoint, the former Minister of State for Trade and Investment and a former Group Chairman of HSBC Holdings plc.
Lord Green was accompanied by the Gloucester MP, Richard Graham, who continues to take a keen interest in the fortunes of the company. Geoff Davis, Managing Director, commented "It is always a pleasure to welcome Richard to our Sisson Road facility as he is one of the few MP's with real experience of working in industry". It was an informal visit and the pair had specifically asked for a factory tour in order to meet the workforce as well as view at first hand the range of products made and exported by Helipebs Controls.
The visit started in the engineering department which employs a total of seven design engineers including two female engineers, before then moving to the machine shop and assembly areas where the visitors saw a variety of products destined for the subsea oil & gas, pharmaceutical, aerospace and tooling industries as well as a complex fatigue testing rig.
During the past 24 months, the company has made use of the Government's capital allowance and R&D programmes and the Directors have sanctioned a number of large capital investments to help improve efficiency, reduce costs and improve deliveries. The result has been record home and export sales and projected record profits in 2013 and an above normal order book for 2014.
Lord Green was the guest speaker at the Gloucester Business Club dinner in the evening when he spoke about the need for British companies to be much more proactive in the export market. He went on to refer to his visit to Helipebs by saying "I visited a small SME this afternoon and feel really energized by the work they are doing in the export field".