Steve Lawrence

Dudley Associates Ltd

Dudley Associates are a UK manufacturer of mould tools and injection moulded components. Our highly automated toolroom enables us to offer industry beating quality and lead times on design, prototyping and full production which are all done in our fully integrated injection moulding facility onsite.

Get in touch if you're looking for a highly skilled team to help develop your next concept, or if you're looking to transfer your technical moulding to a supplier who know what they're doing

Business Owner

Techmarkets

Techmarkets are a leading supplier of plastic components to the construction industry. With our 24 hour UK manufacturing facility, and hundreds of product lines held in stock for next day delivery we're here to keep your building project moving.

If you're looking for spacers for the concrete sector, insulation fixings or safety items for scaffolding, we've got what you need.

Responsible for sales execution and long-range strategic planning for a £15M+ Business Unit with product brands made in UK, New Zealand, Bosnia and Taiwan. Manufacturing methods ranging from Injection Moulding, Sewing and Semi-Automated assembly of electromechanical parts.

Following the “local for local” and 80/20 corporate manufacturing approach, work with a cross-functional regional team to design the organisation around the customer while maximising use of capital.

EMEA Regional Sales Manager

ITW Envopak

Responsible for sales strategy, creation and execution of actions in line with annual operating plan for £8M+ injection moulding business. 

Aligning product design, manufacturing competencies and simplifying structure to ensure resource is deployed to growth areas throughout the business.

Head of Sales

Business Development Manager

Looking to buy injection moulding businesses | 80/20 Enthusiast

In the UK there are around 1200 injection moulding companies, and 40% of them are owned by people aged 55 and over. This means that in the next decade, 500 business owners will be looking for a safe pair of hands to take over their company, and protect their staff and customers as they look to retire.

With a shortage of credible buyers and lack of succession planning in the smaller end of the market, we're looking to use our injection moulding backgrounds to allow owners to sell up, knowing their business is in good hands and that they got a fair deal.

With years of experience in injection moulding, 5 recent acquisitions under our belts and 2 manufacturing locations with 45 employees in our group, we're hands-on experienced moulders who also know how the business sale process works.

If you’re considering selling your business, please get in touch for a no-hassle intro chat.

Send me a LinkedIn message or check out http://www.uncomplicatedgroup.co.uk to learn more about the sale process

Owner

We’re looking to buy injection moulding businesses from exiting or retiring owners.

As hands-on operators, we’re not just suits in a boardroom and we’re not looking for perfect big-bucks factories to manage from afar. 

We prefer niche companies which are often "rough around the edges” where we can get stuck in and work with the local team to make a difference.
 
Get in touch if you're considering retirement and are worried about finding someone who knows the industry and can protect the legacy of the organisation, while giving you a fair deal.

http://www.uncomplicatedgroup.co.uk

This is what happens when you give the shop floor a voice 😍

9 months into our EOS journey at Dudley Associates Ltd, it was the moulding team’s turn to introduce weekly “Level10” meetings, and judging by Muhammad Ali’s face it was a success: 

- everyone on the shop floor has a weekly measurable (that they chose themselves)

- issues are discussed openly and once the solution is agreed a “to-do” is created and due within a week

- everyone has a quarterly project to deliver, and checks in weekly with progress 

- everyone can see all activities so there’s no secrets  

- same time, same format, same team every week

Over time the scorecard measurables will be standardised, but for now we just want engagement.

In the early days these boards bring up small operational issues - we’ll take the little wins now, and free up our headspace for the bigger ones later.

While integrating an acquisition you spend so much time doing “invisible” work with spreadsheets, stock policies, employment contracts and sales strategies etc…these moments where the team fully engage with what you’re trying to achieve really bring it to life and make it all the more fun.

Kudos to everyone involved 🙌

Building a group of injection moulding businesses

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Yesterday I had the privilege of speaking about acquisitions on a panel at the Festival of Entrepreneurs. We covered:

- how “normal” growth is like linear addition (1+1 approach) whereas acquisitions are more like multiplication 

- what it’s like post-acquisition (spoiler alert…it’s very hard work)

- the importance of having your own due diligence criteria as well as standard legal/financial/operational compliance checks

- what to look for in a decent broker. Hint: vanity valuations are a huge red flag 

- that £1 deals do exist, but you’ll need nerves of steel and deep pockets after completion 

Great to share the stage and learn from Charlie Norton and Clive Margetts, and a huge thanks to Gary Lennon for inviting me

It’s week 105 since completing my first acquisition. Yep…it’s been 2 years. Here’s an update:

- big chunk of acquisition debt now fully paid off 😍

- the bolt-on deal we did in August has bedded in well, with surprisingly little drama 

- social media campaign launched. Give Techmarkets Ltd a follow if you wanna see behind the scenes factory content (and occasionally get pitched to buy construction components)

- need to start thinking about an ERP and shop floor software, we’ve matured beyond our accounting package and millions of Excel reports

- was recently complimented by 2 other moulders on how tidy, well run and orderly everything was…couldn’t imagine hearing that 730 days ago 😳

This whole journey started as “I wonder if I can buy a business to get out of my corporate job.” 

2 years later we’ve completed 5 deals, manufacture in 2 locations and have a team of 45. 

The focus for the next few months will be on maturing our approach, and developing a “HoldCo/ Parent company” mindset rather than switching hats between the operating businesses all the time…

…I have zero intention of going overly corporate, but we do need to standardise our group reporting, work out where each business can learn from each other and get much better capex planning in place

…oh and we’re still looking for new injection moulding acquisition opportunities of course. Just saying. 😉

People of Guildford and surrounding areas - doing anything fun tomorrow morning? Cancel it, and join us to chat about EOS instead.

Huge thanks to Kieran James who has invited me to speak about how we've implemented EOS as our "Business Operating System" to acquire and modernise manufacturing businesses...while staying (mostly) sane in the process.

Completely free to attend for everyone, whether you're already running on EOS, or just EOS-curious. 

Link below.

Open article: EOS UK users regional community event - Guildford by eventbrite.co.uk

EOS UK users regional community event - Guildford

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