A COMPANY formed from the collapse of Floform in Welshpool has re-employed 21 people, doubled its order book, and is on course to turn over £2 million this year.
Floform went into administration last February with the loss of 80 jobs and its assets were acquired by Hertfordshire based Dawson Shanahan Ltd in March.
The new venture – Dawson Shanahan (Wales) Ltd – which operates from Floform’s former base on Henfaes Lane Enterprise Park has benefited from a range of support measures from the Assembly Government including the ReACT programme that provides employers with funding to train new staff who have been made redundant.
General manager Dave Howells said this highly targeted support had been invaluable and enabled them to take on 21 former Floform employees and upskill them.
He said: “It meant we were able to offer them work and are training them in a number of areas so we now have an extremely flexible and highly trained workforce that can be employed in a number of areas within the facility.
"The Assembly Government's support has been a major help, equipping our staff with numerous skills which ensures we are as efficient and effective as possible which is essentially in a highly competitive market.”
Lesley Griffiths, Deputy Minister for Science, Innovation and Skills, said Dawson Shanahan (Wales) Ltd was one of a large number of companies in Wales to benefit from ReACT, an EU backed scheme.
“It's great news to see how effective this programme is in helping and encouraging companies to take on and train people who have been made redundant - it is proving to be an extremely effective measure to counter the economic downturn and extremely beneficial to companies and their future prospects and also to so many individuals.
“The ReACT package of support has been proven to significantly improve the chances of a redundant worker returning to work quickly and I am delighted to see how it is benefiting Dawson Shanahan (Wales) Ltd.”
Mr Howells, who worked for Floform for 35 years, said the collapse of the company with so many job losses had been a tremendous shock for everyone.
He said: “It has been an extremely difficult period for all concerned and I certainly did not anticipate that just 11 months later a new company would be up and running and successfully winning back business and taking on former staff.
“We have seen a major increase in business which is much more buoyant than we could have expected and hope to take on more people as more work comes in.”
He said the new company had sold off parts of the business in order to concentrate solely on its core business, which is the manufacture of fuel injector sleeves for lorries and commercial engines.
Dawson Shanahan has also invested in a new 600 tonne press which will be fully commissioned by the end of February.