The Hadley Group is the UK’s largest manufacturer of cold rolled steel sections; and its operations in Dubai give it access to the high-growth economies in the east, an opportunity it is seizing with both hands.
The Hadley Group is not exactly a household name but its products are widespread. Cold rolled steel is used just about everywhere, from structural members in buildings to industrial construction in cable trays and the like to fencing and the framework that gives UPVC windows their rigidity. It even won an award from the Birmingham Chamber of Commerce last year for its vineyard pickets, or supporting posts, which are rapidly pushing aside the old wooden posts used in the famed Champagne and Burgundy districts.
Hadley turns over around £100 million annually and employs 450 people at its rolling and slitting mills in Smethwick, Germany, Dubai and Thailand, which between them occupy more than 10 acres and process over 125,000 tonnes of steel a year, 60 per cent of it in the form of bespoke sections. The company was founded in 1964, and grew quickly as a supplier of body sections to the West Midlands automotive industry. Sensibly, given the recent fortunes of that industry, it diversified and became the industry leader in high-performance long cold rolled sections that offer customers a more cost effective and environmentally friendly alternative to other materials.
Its versatility as a supplier to these markets rested to a large extent on Hadley’s early decision to build its own rollforming machines and design and manufacture its own tools. This means that it can, uniquely in this market, provide the customer with exactly the design and performance that it needs, rather than falling back on an off-the-shelf product, says operations director Ben Towe. “We do not always build our own equipment—but we can. That means that if a customer comes in with a requirement, and we can work out a way of meeting it but can’t find the right machine, we will go ahead and build it.”
The business succeeds on three principles, Towe says: scale, technology and UltraSTEEL®. “UltraSTEEL is a process that we have developed and patented over 20 years, which work hardens the material.” During the process, he explains, the pressure on the material deforms the minute metallic particles or grains in the steel which become longer, flatter and much stronger. This local stretching effect is known as work hardening: it either delivers enhanced performance from the same gauge material or allows the customer to reduce the gauge without loss of performance, thereby cutting costs and earning environmental credits.
Either way, the customer wins, which is no doubt why UltraSTEEL is now commonly demanded for just about every application, including those vineyard pickets which are lighter yet 20 per cent stronger than plain steel posts. “UltraSTEEL tends to be a large part of our business,” says Towe, “and together with our overseas licensees over one billion metres of UltraSTEEL product is manufactured each year.”
About 15 years ago the Hadley Group established a manufacturing plant in the Jebel Ali industrial area of Dubai as a strategic base to capture trade in the Middle East and beyond. “We have a bespoke coil slitting facility there which has real-time links into our international design infrastructure and technical suppliers,” says Towe. “If Dubai has a technical or production issue we will support them in real time from the UK. Equally if the Dubai customer requires information or wants us to host product information we can support them through our extranet and a variety of other communication channels.”
The Dubai operation was started in rented premises and about 10 years ago moved to a custom-built facility, and in the last couple of years its capacity has doubled. “Early this year we added a new bay that has increased production by about 27 per cent.” Logistically, Dubai makes for a great manufacturing base as it coordinates the growing markets of India, the Far East and even Australia as well as supplying customers within the wider Middle East.
It’s a global strategy of the Hadley Group to target the construction industry, in particular promoting the advantages of steel framing over traditional brick, block and concrete construction. To consolidate this business globally the group has now established a dedicated subsidiary, Hadley Steel Framing. If a developer wants to be able to tell a good environmental story, he has every reason to use steel, which has a much lower carbon footprint than most other materials and is entirely recyclable.
And no developer has a better story than the Abu Dhabi Future Energy Company, which is building Masdar City, backed by the Abu Dhabi government. This is planned to be the world’s first carbon-neutral city, designed to house cleantech industries—so steel framed construction will be a favoured building material there. Hadley Industries, as the Dubai subsidiary is called, has been approved and selected to supply steel sections.
A new production line is currently being commissioned at the Jebel Ali site to support the demand from this and other projects in the Middle East alone, proving that despite gloomy economic forecasts, this is still a vibrant and growing region. “We have a new high-speed press on order for Dubai,” comments Towe. “There has been sustained, significant investment in the Middle and Far East, despite the downturn.”
And as the markets further east continue to grow, more investment is being put in by the Hadley Group, Towe adds. “Last month we put a new production line into Thailand to support a major new products division there. There is a lot happening on that side of the world. The Thailand operation came about through a combination of strategic partnerships with some major customers, for which we are very grateful. And we have been able to expand that in a positive way: we are offering our customers a more robust supply chain. Where there was one production line there are now two or three; we are getting more machines; and the customers are happy because we have the ability to deliver on time within a short lead time.”
The Dubai facility is strategically planned to grow in influence and competence, concludes Towe: “There’s a growing level of investment in the markets it serves and growing confidence in steel as a material. That adds up to a major opportunity for the Hadley Group.”
Looking forward, Towe forecasts that Hadley’s scale, technological competence and its unique UltraSTEEL process will work together to sustainably exploit opportunities in traditional and emerging global markets. www.hadleygroup.co.uk
