A leading private-equity backed manufacturing firm has appointed two respected industry figures who will help steer the business towards future growth. Pryme Group has named Paul Brady as operations director for its North Tyneside facility, while Geoff Harmer has returned to the business as the area’s head of sales for fabrication and welding.

With headquarters in Dundee, and specialist locations across the UK, the company provides contract manufacturing and integrated engineering solutions to a wide range of industry sectors.

As well as driving growth in Pryme Group’s traditional service lines, the duo will play a key role in the continued diversification of the company into new markets around the north east and further afield, including the pharmaceutical and healthcare equipment sectors; a process accelerated by the Covid-19 pandemic.

Welcoming the new appointments, Kerrie Murray, CEO at Pryme Group, said: “We are pleased to welcome Paul and Geoff on board and they have certainly added fresh impetus to our North Tyneside operation over the past few challenging months.

“Their industry knowledge and combined years of experience are already proving to be important assets to our business and customers, as well as complementing the talented workforce we have in place in North Tyneside and across the rest of the group.”

Paul Brady has more than 15 years’ experience in the power generation and oil and gas industries and most recently was site operations manager for engineering giant British Engines Group – having progressed through various roles with its subsidiaries; BEL Engineering, BEL Valves, and Stadium Export Services.

He will now assume responsibility for the day-to-day operations of Pryme Group’s ‘state of the art’ facility in North Shields. Mr Brady said: “It’s great to be back in an engineering workshop and I look forward to working with my new colleagues to realise the potential that we have here at Pryme Group.

“Clearly, there are things that are out of our control as a business, but we’re taking a long-term view towards coming out of this crisis in as strong a position as possible. The key things that we can influence at present are building confidence, developing relationships with our customer base, and providing on-time delivery of quality, machined parts.

“I’ve been impressed with how the whole team has pulled together and risen to this unprecedented challenge and, over the coming months, we’re aiming to empower colleagues to make decisions, learn and develop so that we continue to have a sustainable business.”

Geoff Harmer brings a wealth of experience in managing specialist welding and fabrication divisions, having led and developed teams at several companies in the north-east of England.

He is a well-respected figure within Pryme Group, having previously held senior roles in the business between 2017 and 2019. During this time, he played an important role in amalgamating three distinct companies under the Pryme Group banner as part of its move to the new premises in 2018.

Mr Harmer said: “Our fabrication and welding workshop continues to experience strong demand – having seen activity ramp-up over recent months – and we are actively looking at ways of further enhancing our service offering in this area.

“The business has successfully adapted to accept and deliver projects in sectors that wouldn’t previously have been our primary focus. We’ve engaged with clients and listened to them to understand their challenges and how our skills and expertise can help them through this period.”

Located at the Tyne Tunnel Estate, North Shields, the site has benefitted from £4.5 million invested in equipment and CNC machinery since it was opened in late 2018; with new technology and increased efficiencies improving on-time delivery, whilst allowing Pryme Group’s customer base to bring innovative products to market.

Earlier this year, a strategic decision was taken to focus the North Tyneside facility’s output exclusively on heavy machining capability, producing parts between 600mm and 2,000mm in diameter; consequently, several smaller machines were re-allocated to other specialist units within the group.

Pryme Group has committed to investing in additional infrastructure improvements in North Tyneside, having also recruited four experienced welders during lockdown – with additional resource expected to be added this year.