Government officials from the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) recently toured Coventry-based Sarginsons Industries (www.sarginsons.com) — a world-leading lightweight-casting company — to broaden their knowledge of the sector.

The visit — organised by the Cast Metals Federation and supported by the CWLEP Growth Hub — comes after the Department for BEIS was formed last year, merging the Department of Energy and Climate Change with the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills.

Sarginsons is on track for sales growth of 30% (to £7.5 million) by the end of 2017, following a £130,000 investment in energy-efficient equipment including two new gas furnaces, a new air compressor and new LED lighting across its facility.

Managing director Anthony Evans said: “We were honoured to have hosted a visit by the BEIS just before they announced their industrial strategy, which I am delighted to hear focuses on investment into research and development, and the next generation of workers.

“These were two key areas we highlighted during the visit as being really important to Sarginsons over the coming years.

“The wider British manufacturing industry — including Sarginsons — needs to be better prepared for an increase in demand, in terms of more investment in developing workforce skill sets and innovative processes, which was acknowledged by our visitors.

“For example, Sarginsons has seen extreme growth in orders from North America for aluminium car parts, both as the material becomes more popular overseas and because of the weakness of the pound.

“Although these overseas orders are niche, all of the signs show that this is going to grow, and we need to be able to capitalise on this.”