Welsh manufacturer eyes Polish branch as sales near £1m

A Welsh engineering firm is looking to set up a new Polish distribution arm as it races towards £1 million in sales just months after launching.

Continental Diamond Tool (CDT) set up a sales team in Poland last May and surging demand has already led to plans for a permanent base in the country.

The rapid sales growth coincides with a major expansion of the operation in Kinmel Bay, where the company has opened a huge new 30,000 sq ft factory on the Tir Llwyd Industrial Estate – three times the size of its old site half a mile away.

The move is part of a £4 million investment that will see the workforce jump from 48 to 80 over the next couple of years.

According to the company, the expansion is needed to keep up with the flood of orders for its ultra-precision tools, used in industries ranging from aerospace and automotive to medical and steel manufacturing.

CDT  designs and manufactures precision tools for machining hard materials such as ceramics, composites and carbide.

Production manager Justin Hughes and general manager Troy Giacherio outlined the firm’s growth to Ken Skates MS, the Welsh Government’s Cabinet Secretary for Transport and North Wales, during a ministerial visit.

Mr Skates was given a presentation by sales manager Craig Cox to update him on the firm’s future ambitions, followed by a tour of the site.

Mr Giacherio said foreign markets would be a vitally important area for growth for the company, especially in Poland which has become a manufacturing powerhouse in recent years, with its aerospace industry particularly strong.

He said: “We expect to be at £1 million in sales in Poland — that is our goal by the end of this year. The country is just a booming market for industry.

“I would say the market potential there is probably well over £10 million for the products we manufacture here.

“A lot of companies and some huge customers are moving plants to Poland and expanding operations.

“As a result, we are looking to open a branch of the business in Poland which will be supplied from Kinmel Bay.

“It will make the logistics of shipping products in and out of Poland so much easier.”

He said the new distribution operation will likely create a couple of jobs initially and added: “Obviously as our customer base expands and sales grow, depending on the market there, we might add additional sales staff.

“Depending on the customers and their requirements we might have to open up a space where we actually stock or store products there.

“That will make the trade and the movement of tools so much smoother for the companies in Poland.”

The Kinmel Bay CDT site makes specialist grinding wheels and rotary dressers for high-precision manufacturing.

The factory was first set up in 1984 as Consort Precision Diamond, focusing on the production of diamond-coated rotary tools.

In 2018, the business was acquired by US firm Continental Diamond Tool Corporation and rebranded. The company is based in New Haven, Indiana, and employs around 275 people.

Justin Hughes said the commitment and dedication of the staff had been key to the successful growth and expansion of the North Wales operation.

He said: “We are a very skill-dependent business so without our people, none of this would be possible.

“The expansion and sales growth give our workers security — the larger the company becomes, the stronger the long-term prospects.

“Better prospects and growth opportunities also help us attract great people.”

Mr Hughes said he was delighted to welcome Mr Skates back to the company for another visit, after meeting company leadership during a visit to its former site in 2019.

According to the minister, he was impressed by what he had seen at the company’s high-tech site.

He said: “The phenomenal progress that has been made here is just remarkable.

“Since I last visited, we have seen incredible expansion and we have seen the future of this company become even brighter.

“It is an exemplar employer and is a great business in advanced manufacturing, utilising very high levels of skills and capturing some really big deals around the world.”

During his visit, Mr Skates asked management how the Welsh and UK governments could help support its growth.

He said: “What we all appreciate I think is the importance of economic and political stability, and enhanced skills training to make sure young people are introduced to the world of work earlier in life.

“We also need to be making sure that the basics are in place — making sure that the area is attractive for people to move to, making sure that transport infrastructure and the transport network meets people’s needs, these things are just fundamental.”