Numatic International Ltd is a British-owned company located in Chard, Somerset. We employ over 700 people in the design and manufacture of a wide range of cleaning equipment for the commercial and industrial markets.

Products range from a mop and bucket to a £10,000 plus ride-on Scrubber/ Dryer. Although commercial and industrial are our target markets, our best known product, Henry vacuum cleaner has made great advances into the domestic market as well.

The company was founded 40 ago years and has grown consistently every year, proving that manufacturers can be very successful in the UK.

Numatic passionately believes in UK manufacture and, wherever possible we source from the UK or Continental Europe. But today’s world is a truly global market place so we buy and sell in many countries.

More than 40% of our output is exported to markets throughout the world, either through agents or one of our four subsidiary companies. The factory is very far from being a ‘screwdriver plant’ where products are just assembled. Processes such as injection moulding, rotational moulding, laser cutting, robotic welding and powder coating are carried out in our modern factory covering a 25 acre site.

Such is the pace of change with new technology that we have to keep pace or lag behind at our peril. The skills, knowledge and experience of our employees are absolutely essential ingredients for our future.

Besides a very successful apprenticeship scheme we put great emphasis on developing and upgrading the skills of our entire workforce. We’re the second largest employer in the town and draw employees from a wide area so the skills and jobs we provide are vital to health of the local community.

We cannot see how the UK can possibly enjoy the high standards of living we do without a solid manufacturing base. We’re still the world’s 6th largest manufacturing nation and, with the right business environment and positive support from the media, there is no reason why we cannot maintain, even improve, on that ranking.

We see the key priorities for government are:

• Raise the public perception and awareness of the scale and importance of manufacturing (and not just new technologies) to our economic wellbeing.
• Encourage investment in both capital equipment and new product development, and not just for SME’s.
• Support skills development. Both the Manufacturing Advisory Service and the Train to Gain scheme have been very beneficial here.

Andrew Smith
Manufacturing Manager
Numatic International Ltd