AI Global Excellence Awards 2016

54 Acquisition International - Global Excellence Awards 2016 Naylor Drainage is a manufacturer of products for the sewerage, drainage and ducting markets. It is a fourth generation family business based in Barnsley, South Yorkshire, having been founded as a clay sewer pipe manufacturer in 1890. Considerable growth over recent years has seen Naylor diversify and launch new products, such that the company’s activities today encompass several materials- clay pipes for sewerage and corrosive effluent, plastic pipes for surface water and ducting; sister company Naylor Concrete Products manufactures complementary precast and pre-stressed products. Today’s turnover is some £50m and the firm employs 400 people across six sites in England and Scotland. Naylor is large enough to have good infrastructure and worldwide geographic reach but small enough to be flexible and responsive to customers’ needs for bespoke products or services. Decision making is quick and Naylor’s people and systems are flexible. CEO Edward Naylor tells us more about the firm and what sets it apart from the competition: “We aim to offer a much more personal service than our large corporate competitors. Our customers deal with named internal contacts, not anonymous call centres; many of our customer relationships go back decades.” The increasing international footprint of the business has attracted attention- and awards- over recent years: Edward provides the context for this: “Historically, Naylor manufactured commodity products, and their high bulk, low value nature meant that shipping them internationally was uneconomic. The development of our export business was partly a response to the cyclical nature of our domestic market and partly to the opportunities provided by the infrastructure investment of fast growing countries in regions such as the Middle East and Asia.” Naylor’s sector (heavy-side building materials), manufacturing locations (all UK) and product range (pipes- essentially tubes of air for shipping purposes) are not obvious platforms for development of an export business, but Naylor has now supplied products into 65 different markets and onto every continent. How has the company done this? Edward ascribes this to three main factors: “Partly by product-focusing on higher value, specialist products, where our expertise is world- leading and which carry greater value, diluting the effect of shipping costs. Partly by customisation - making easy to ship, flat-packed products or shorter lengths for optimal containerisation. And partly by flexibility - in logistics (packing smaller pipes inside larger ones to optimise container loading) and in production (meeting the certification requirements of a wide range of international bodies).” Naylor has developed two key areas of world expertise: chemical drainage and trenchless technology, which followed considerable development work involving UK universities. The resultant world-class, high performance clay pipes - Hathernware Chemical Drainage and Denlok jacking pipes - are now used worldwide. Whilst Naylor’s UK customers are primarily builders’ merchants who service many of the most prestigious construction sites and civil engineering schemes, internationally, the firm’s products are sold through a network of agents and distributors. Naylor is a long-standing Investor in People with Gold accreditation and Edward acknowledges that the team at Naylor plays a huge part in the firm’s overall success: “As a long-standing family business, we have fantastic long-standing employees: one of our employees has just retired after 60 years’ service! We have excellent internal communications, training and development. We give people opportunities and encourage them to fulfil their potential: management development and coaching have allowed us to “home grow” much of our top team. But we also have one eye on the future - our apprentice programme allows us to bring in and develop a next generation of management.” Company: Naylor Drainage Ltd Name: Edward Naylor Email: [email protected] Web: www.naylor.co.uk Address: Valley Road, Wombwell, Barnsley S73 0BS Phone: 01226 444350 Pipeline to Success A 1702AI48