A Black Country manufacturer that supplies critical components to iconic London buildings, New Street Station, sport stadiums and the world’s power stations is celebrating a big birthday in style.

Hague Fasteners, which produces non-standard fasteners and bespoke bolts, turned 50 last week and marked the milestone by investing more than £100,000 in a brand new three-axis CNC lathe to help it deliver more complex parts and increase its capacity.

The XYZ CT 65 LTY, supplied by Devon-based XYZ Machine Tools, was commissioned at the start of the month and is already being used to deliver contracts for the oil and gas sector, with the company hoping the additional turnover will help it move towards its target of £2 million sales by the end of the year.

It marks what has been the busiest period in the family-run firm’s recent history, with managing director Jon Hague joined at the helm by his wife Claire and sons Jack (technical director), Tom (customer service) and Max (finance).

“My father John started the business 50 years ago and back then it was founded on technical expertise, the same technical expertise that is still crucial today in helping us supply parts to more than 30 countries around the world,” explained Jon, who joined Hague Fasteners straight from school in 1989.

“I think he would be very proud that we have been able to withstand global recessions and the recent pandemic and the fact that the business now has the third generation of Hagues working here.”

He continued: “The family ethic extends to all members of our 16-strong workforce. They have been fantastic during Covid-19, allowing us to remain operational and ensuring we continued to provide critical fasteners and bolts to the NHS and for power stations all over the world.

“The new three-axis CNC machine is a perfect way to celebrate five decades in business and puts a marker in the sand for the technology we are trying to embed into our future capabilities.”

Hague Fasteners has been manufacturing in the Black Country for the last fifty years, its most recent move to its 8,500ft Willehall factory took place in 2017.

From here, the company produces specialist fasteners, headed bolts, studs, nuts and milled components in high integrity materials and critical nickel alloys.

It has built an enviable reputation for supplying products that cannot be bought off the shelf in small to medium batch quantities and in very fast lead times. Working with high integrity steel and superalloy bar, the company can work to customer drawings to produce parts ranging in size from 2 to 250mm in diameter.

Company owner Claire Hague added: “We also wanted to do something in our 50th year that left a lasting positive legacy, so made the commitment to become Carbon Neutral by 2024. This has seen us create the ‘Hague Forest’, where we will endeavour to plant and grow 200 trees every year in Haiti, Kenya and Madagascar to offset the 75 tonnes of CO₂ we create manufacturing specialist fasteners for use across the globe.

“It is our little way of giving something back and this, when combined with investment in apprenticeships, will hopefully ensure we start the next five decades in a positive social shape.”

Hague Fasteners, which holds the ISO9001:2015 and Pressure Equipment Directive (PED 2014/68/EU) quality accreditations, has expanded by 30% this year with sales already passing the £1.6 million level.

Future plans will see it target £2 million over the next twelve months, with new jobs expected to be created if the vision become a reality.