Carfulan's £2.5 million ‘state of the art’ demonstration centre

A surge in demand for advanced manufacturing and 3-D printing systems has paved the way for a record year for one of the East Midlands’ fastest-growing industrial specialists. Derby-based Carfulan Group, which helps more than 500 companies to work smarter and faster, has seen revenues rise by 14% to £19.2 million, creating six new jobs as a result.

Significant investment in boosting its sales team and several new product releases by its OGP UK, Zoller UK, SYS Systems, Metrios and Vicivision brands have been behind the expansion, with the family-run business now setting its sights on meeting a £40 million turnover target by 2030.

Chris Fulton, (pictured), joint managing director alongside his brother Matt, said: “Manufacturing has entered a new era of global competitiveness and our customers, whether they are OEMs, Tier Ones or companies further down the supply chain, they are all looking for ways to save costs, increase capacity and improve quality.”

“This is where we come into the equation. Our range of advanced metrology solutions gives them the opportunity to reduce the amount of downtime in their machining operations and the confidence that the parts they are producing are going to be right, first time.”

He continued: “Then we have SYS Systems, the UK’s dedicated platinum partner to Stratasys, the world’s largest commercial 3-D printing brand. Our growing range of solutions helps industry harness the full power of additive manufacturing (AM) to design, refine, iterate, create and manufacture parts for clients in a range of industry sectors, including automotive, aerospace, fast-moving consumer goods, medical, nuclear and renewables.”

Founded in 1989 by the brothers’ mother and father, Andrew and Angela, Carfulan Group has evolved into a critical partner to industry, helping it design freely, manufacture efficiently and measure accurately. The company has invested more than £2.5 million in creating a ‘state of the art’ demonstration centre in Derbyshire, which showcases all six technologies and software solutions including Prolink and Discus that helps with real-time data monitoring and ballooning complex drawings into First Article Inspection Reports respectively.

From this base, the company can also explore how its advanced metrology and 3-D printing systems can be tailored to suit the end-use of the customers, as well as offering extensive after care support, training, servicing, and maintenance.

Chris added: “Getting the right people into our business has been really important to our growth, with the workforce now topping 60 for the first time. Recent recruitment has seen us take on experienced specialists in our field and more apprentices that are making the most of our partnership with the JCB Academy.

“This involves enrolling budding engineers into a three-year tailored programme where they attend the JCB Academy for their general engineering qualification and then have access and learning to all our different technologies. It has been a real success story.”

Carfulan Group is now setting its sights on having a major impact at MACH 2024 which takes place next week at the NEC, Birmingham (Hall 20, Stand 320). The company will be launching three new high-performance multi-sensor measurement systems: the Fusion 400, the Shapegrabber Ai620 and the E-Series E7, all of which provide accurate, precise, and industrial quality control measurements. They will be joined by Zoller UK, which will be adding to its tool presetting range by taking the wraps off the powerShrink, a new advanced heat-shrinking solution.