450 Years of Rolling Mill Experience Pooled
"During the mid-1930s, Czech immigrants to England established the name Loewy as rolling mill engineers
- a name that is traceable through to Kvaerner Davey in the metallurgical plant supply sector. On 1 April
1996, 60 years to the day later, Parkegate Engineering Consultants Ltd was established by four 'refugee'
mill engineers from the disintegrating office of Davy International at Poole.
Parkegate claims some 450 years of collective experience in rolling mills and process lines (both ferrous
and non-ferrous) from its four directors and 20 engineering staff - all ex-Davy personnel. Its business
strategy is to provide design, engineering and consultancy expertise is the flat rolled sector, concentrating
on the smaller projects up to around £2M in value initially.
This work involves modernisations and revamps, operational consultancy, used equipment upgrading and brokerage
, and expansion of existing plant capacity through engineering modification. The company claims particular
strengths in mechanical and fluid engineering.
Alan Uff, sales director at Parkegate, and formerly deputy general sales manager for Davy's rolling mill
product range, believes there is a niche for the company in servicing the smaller projects for which the
major players cannot, or are not prepared to, find economic solutions. Uff emphasises the advantages of
dealing with a small company which can react rapidly to client problems. With a larger corporation, he says,
the bureaucracy can really slow down the reaction time.
The order book currently holds some £6M of business in nine countries. Most of the business and enquiries
have been generated from personal contact using individual reputations to reassure clients of Parkegate's
ability. Uff reports that in many cases there is a seamless join between Davy and Parkegate, simply because
of that personal reputation. His co-directors are Neil Winkley (MD), Malcolm Townend (Engineering Director)
and John Meaden (Technical Director)."
Aluminium Today, May 1998