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Success stories
Shipham Valves How a 225-year-old business successfully started over it had lost nearly all its staff, with a distinct lack of internal knowledge of the business. Rob Moulds, Managing Director The solution
How is Shipham Valves thriving? Shipham Valves has survived eight years of hardship to emerge stronger than ever. Under new ownership, the company has invested £4m in manufacturing and R&D, doubling revenues in 2023, with strong markets, great teamwork, skills and culture, and a 225-year reputation to draw upon. The challenge Shipham Valves is one of the longest established, highly trusted and most respected valves manufacturers in the world. Founded all the way back in 1798, the longevity of the business speaks of its track record, experience and quality of service and solutions. Through time, the firm has continued to adapt to cater to market needs. However, that is not to say that the company hasn’t faced tough times. Back in 2012, Flow Group (the former owner of Shipham Valves) was acquired by Hamworthy, then Hamworthy was acquired by Wartsila in late 2012, putting Shipham Valves in a precarious position. Internal frictions started to emerge and during 2018 the entire management team decided to leave the business, compounding internal conflicts as Wartsila had closed Shipham Valves’ machine shop and made many of its machinists redundant. Shipham Valves resultantly found itself in a position where
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EIC Survive and Thrive
Where Wartsila’s acquisition of Shipham Valves’ had not worked out as intended, the subsidiary was eventually put up for sale in January 2020, with Managing Director Rob Moulds, who had initially joined in July 2018, finding a buyer in October 2020. Resultantly, the company resumed operations as a standalone SME, Moulds having laid much of the groundwork ahead of the sale to ensure it could embark on this new chapter in the firm’s extensive journey successfully, bringing expertise back in house. The immediate focus post-acquisition centred around reinvesting to rebuild internal capabilities. Indeed, £3m was spent on machines, with a further £1m being invested in research and development – significant expenses that were made amidst the uncertainty of the pandemic. A new ERP system was also installed and the firm’s QMS system redeveloped, various audits being passed to reestablish Shipham Valves reputation as a market player with leading capabilities. Further, all of the company’s products had to be standardised once more. It was a prolonged and tricky period of rebuilding lasting 18 months in total, the company having to work hard to repair the reputational damage it had suffered during the previous eight years. The company had lost all its approved vendor lists (AVL) approvals, for example, while it also took two years for it to bring good engineers back on board. However, having worked hard to iron out a multitude of
2023