A Coventry businessman is going ‘back to the future’ after launching his own engineering firm. David Cooper founded Pro-Mach Engineering in Aldermans Green last summer, and he has won several contracts using the tried and tested formula of knocking on doors. He recently bought a new machine — thanks to Enterprising Coventry and the city council’s New Deal for the Community programme — and he is planning to take on staff in the next few months.
“I did my apprenticeship at Dunlop Aerospace and have been in engineering for more than 25 years, so as well as building up a level of expertise, I have also got a good range of contacts. I have used those to the full, and it has not been scientific — I have just gone around and kept on knocking on doors and telling people what I can do. I have had it in my mind for a while to branch out on my own and realised that, while there is still a demand for top-quality engineering, there is plenty of machinery around at good prices, which has allowed me to get up and running.”
Mr Cooper has already won work from local design and manufacturing companies, as well as larger firms and educational institutions further afield. “We concentrate on development work and prototyping, and we do a lot of work for design companies. A lot of medium-size companies pass work on to small specialist companies, and I have managed to gain work through them. I am just commissioning some new machinery and hopefully will be taking someone on in the early part of the year.”
Enterprise coach Alan Malin — based at the Chamber of Commerce — helped Mr Cooper with a business plan and cash-flow forecasts, plus the New Deal for the Community grant application. The £5,000 awarded through the NDC has been invested in the new machinery.
Mr Malin — pictured (right) with Mr Cooper — says: “David is a very experienced engineer, and it is great to see him go out on his own and winning work. Not all stories about the state of industry are positive, but David is showing that, with the right experience and contacts, there is work to be had. He has approached setting up his own company in the right way and is working extremely hard.”