It’s always great to meet up with people that you only usually speak to on the phone. ATF Professional took the opportunity to take a trip up to Derbyshire once invited by the guys at Chesterfield Recycling Ltd to check out their new facility and to find out what they are planning for the future.
Set within a newly built unit on an industrial estate in Clay Cross near Chesterfield, a place which was easily navigated after a quick phone call to find out exactly where! The first face we saw when opening the office door were two of the trio of Directors, Pete Cantrill, shortly followed by Tim Crosby. We were told their third partner, John Lennon is on business in China and Canada related to mining.
Chesterfield Recycling Ltd, along with manufacturing, selling and servicing the Vortex depollution product range, offer their comprehensive design and build service for complete recycling systems. Pete has over 15 years engineering experience, mostly with the Vortex range and Tim has had over 18 years experience with JMC. And when they started their business together they admit that ‘coming in blind’ to business has been a good thing as their engineering experience allowed them to sell their products to like minded customers and they are able, not only to explain their product in detail but they will build it, install it and service it.
Tim got straight down to explaining their move to the new place and how it came about. They’ve come along way in just under 2 years, from a 1500 square foot work space in a building – shared with another business, to the current 5500 square foot area solely utilised by themselves, a move which took place at the beginning of May. The recent influx of business gave them the perfect opportunity to make the move.
So far they are happy with their financial outlook which is spurring them on to develop their business further. One aspect they are focusing on is training, something that they have done for other larger companies already (CoPart, U-Pull-It and Sims to name a few) but now the idea is to set up within their own facility, where a nice office space prevails. As engineers, both Tim and Pete are very much hands-on in their approach and this practical knowledge needs to be transferred to those requiring to train in this field.
There are currently 5 staff, Greg, trainee engineer, Mack the accountant and the three directors. But they are hoping to add another member of staff, not for the workshop but in an administrative capacity. They like to have a presence in the office, something which is becoming increasingly difficult between Tim and Pete as they are usually ‘out and about’ working on projects. This is part of the ‘next growth step’. They are also on the lookout for an engineer but finding someone who can do Pete’s job is proving more difficult than anticipated but this should be in place by next year.
Something else in development is their website, a feature will be a video section of their products, which will be coming soon. They are currently in the process of building a 10m midisystem for the Nottingham based company, Megavaux – a product we’d like to cover in a future issue of ATF Pro.
We asked Tim and Pete, since working for themselves, what the biggest challenge has been so far, they told us that becoming business owners and working for yourself, instead of being given tasks by others has been challenging. Tim said, “Having to deal with business as a whole – it’s a 24 hour operation”. But there is a confidence about the close team, Pete said that ‘although he’s not a salesman, he’s an engineer foremost, he has the ability to know exactly what their customers want’. They pride themselves on their after-sales service, they commit and perform to their mandate and make a product that’s reliable and supported by reliable people. They are in the fortunate position of having repeat business and have had no complaints. As Tim said, “You get what you see on the tin”. With their years of experience, companies trust them, so the business is building well.
The facility was quite empty when we visited but they had only just moved in but Tim said that in the next couple of months, along with the shaker unit, separator and cable chopper, the workshop area will be up and running. Whilst in the workshop, Tim showed us one of the applications designed by Vortex, which is a fuel tool, a method which, using air, claims to punch into the fuel tank and suck out the entire contents pulling the hole outwards therefore not leaving any residue inside the tank. A product which is proving popular.
As for what they would like to achieve, they said, “Over the next five to ten years, to be number one in supplying and manufacturing their depollution equipment” is on their agenda. They offer quality; a safe and reliable production with an efficiency backed by a good service and with the upcoming CARS-expo, which they are looking forward to, it will give them an opportunity to show themselves or as they said, “it will define them”. They build their customer relationships on trust and an extensive knowledge of their products, something which we are looking forward to seeing action at the CARS-expo on July 11th-12th.
If you’re heading along to the event, see Chesterfield Recycling Ltd at their stand C4. Alternatively, you can contact them on +44 (0) 1246 589601 or email info@chesterfieldrecyclingsystemsltd.co.uk
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