West Midlands-based Alloy Wire International (AWI) (www.alloywire.com) — a leading manufacturer of wire, bars and wire rope — has recorded the best month in its 73-year history.

The company, which supplies more than 60 different nickel alloys, logged sales worth over £1.2 million in January, shipping 339 individual orders to customers in 27 different countries.

Boosted by a new quoting system, the company has seen strong demand for its wire from clients in the automotive, aerospace, oil and gas and nuclear sectors, with many saying that AWI’s three-week lead-time commitment is crucial to their manufacturing operations — and a significant number of these orders have come from within the EU.

Managing director Mark Venables said: “2018 was our best ever year, with about £11 million of orders secured and delivered. We thought that was good, but 2019 has got off to a flying start, culminating in the first ever month where we have enjoyed sales of £1 million-plus.

"We’ve just continued doing what we do best, providing over 60 ‘high-performance’ alloys in just three weeks — with repeated reliability.

This is our business philosophy — a strategy focused on the combination of a significant stockholding, a multi-skilled team and major investment in supporting our sales teams in more than 50 countries.”

AWI makes round, flat and profile wire in a range of materials that is growing by the month, with more than 60 currently available to choose from — each offering superior corrosion-resistance and/or excellent performance at high temperatures.

In order to build on the year-on-year growth, the company has made a £250,000 investment that will shortly see the arrival of three new machines to boost its capacity.

Sales director Angus Hogarth said: “There’s no point basking in what we achieved in 2018; we need to focus on where the market is going and make sure we are at the forefront of any changes.

"The spend for this year will go towards automating part of the process and bringing in new technology that will help us to produce high-quality wire — in varying sizes and volumes — even quicker."