Bin there and got the orders

AN Oldham company which began exporting only last year is cleaning up in the Middle East with its huge range of waste and recycling products.

Sellers Engineering Ltd, based in Drury Lane, Chadderton, manufactures every kind of metal bin and skip, from medium-sized bins used by hotels and shops up to large bulk waste carriers.

The company has an in-house design team to engineer bespoke solutions and offer containers to suit every kind of lifting equipment.

Established in 1975 and currently employing around 100 people, management at Sellers began to consider exporting in February, 2009, when the home market began to dip.

In this relatively short timeframe, the engineering team has built up an impressive range of contacts in Dubai, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and Kurdistan, and orders are flooding in.

Export manager Alan Pollitt said: “In the last five months we have taken orders in excess of £300,000 and next year we are hoping to exceed £2.5 million.”

Export demand is mainly for the company’s metal wheeled bins, which beat the lower cost Chinese manufactured bins because of Sellers’ flexibility in designing and providing exactly what the customer needs.

The metal bins also represent a long-term saving for customers compared with the cheaper plastic alternatives because of their superior durability — lasting up to 15 years rather than the two years or less of their plastic counterparts.

The firm’s export drive has been helped by UK Trade and Investment (UKTI), and supported by funding from the Northwest Development Agency.

Sellers began working with UKTI after signing up to Passport to Export, UKTI’s flagship programme for new and inexperienced exporters.

International trade adviser Peter Gawne-Cain helped Sellers focus on the markets with the most potential and accessed funding for the firm to translate its marketing material, DVD and presentations into Arabic, giving Sellers an advantage when it came to pitching to potential customers in Saudi Arabia.

Mr Pollitt has just returned to Oldham from a successful trade mission to Kurdistan with Sir Andrew Cahn, chief executive of UKTI, where Sellers Engineering has arranged to deliver sample bins which Mr Pollitt hopes will lead to a large order.

He added: “I can’t speak highly enough of UKTI, they have assisted enormously. As well as the Passport to Export programme we have also commissioned significant research from the Export Market Research Service, joined trade missions to Saudi Arabia, Kurdistan, Kuwait and Dubai and signed up for the Overseas Market Introduction Service to help us launch our products in Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and UAE.”

Mr Gawne-Cain said: “Sellers is making great progress in the Middle East markets where their attention to detail, emphasis on quality and versatility in meeting the exact needs of the customers is giving them the edge over competitors.

“Although relatively new to the export market, Sellers has been very proactive in researching new markets and meeting new companies and their efforts are really beginning to pay off, with exports now standing at 10 per cent and growing. Next year it is hoped the figure will be 25 per cent.”