Cleobury Mortimer firm marks 90th birthday with £500k contracts and jobs drive

Muller Holdings, which is based in Cleobury Mortimer and which has operations in Redditch, South Wales and Wednesbury, has landed £500,000 of sales to coincide with its anniversary.

It includes work for the automotive sector, for smart gas meters and producing parts for the GripIt building product.

The company was a key supplier to the Second World War effort, when it relocated from London to Shropshire during the Blitz.

Today, it specialises in CNC milling, turning, multi-spindle and CNC/Conventional escomatic manufacturing services, with its components ending up in the best selling cars in the world, in dental products and appliances that keep homes and factories warm.

“90 years of manufacturing is some achievement and we have a colourful history, from starting life owned by the Swiss and supplying the Ministry of Defence, to becoming Cleobury Mortimer’s largest employer and forging an exciting joint venture in India,” said managing director Paul Bethell, a key figure in a 1993 management buyout.

“Our business has been based on technical excellence and providing precision machining solutions and these two attributes have remained constant despite the changing economic and industrial picture.”

He added: “Whilst we are very proud of our history, the focus now is on the next nine decades and the first half of 2017 have been very good for all of our four sites in the UK.

"Turnover has increased across our key markets and our pipeline of enquiries has definitely received a boost from the drop in the price of Sterling.

“Our workforce stands at 150, but we expect this to grow by about 10 per cent between now and the end of the year. These positions will be experienced manufacturing professionals and the possibility of employing more apprentices.”

Following the end of the Second World War, Muller Holdings became a significant presence in high volume turned parts for the automotive, defence and medical sectors, using a range of multi-spindle automatics, rotary transfer machines and fixed head escomatics for miniature turned parts supply.

By the early 1980s, the first investments in CNC lathes and machining centres were made and 10 years later this was followed by the introduction of multi-axis lathes with power tooling and magazine barfeeds.

The £850,000 worth of investments made by the company in the last two years has been aimed at increasing capacity, with an eye on passing the £16 million mark for turnover by 2020.

Muller Holdings is part of the Midlands Assembly Network, a nine-strong group of sub-contract manufacturers who work together to win orders and share best practice and resource.