“We have no shortage of young people wanting to join our company”
This was perhaps the most important comment made by Karl Hopkins, Director of Manufacturing for Vanguard Foundry, during his recent presentation to the West Midlands, Birmingham & Coventry Branch of the Institute.
Whilst part of his talk was around the history of the company, which is on a site that has been home to a foundry for over 100 years, the main focus was on the transformation of the company that has taken place over recent years – and which is continuing to take place – since Karl and his fellow director, Paul Kendrick, were able to take over the company through an amicable management buy-out some years back.
Reflecting on some challenging times, particularly during COVID and the aftermath, Karl spoke about the company’s ethos which is clearly around team work, working in partnership to build trusted relationships, open communication (with all stakeholders) and culture.
The attention to every detail of the company’s operation shone through, focussed around the bottom line, but not at the expense of other aspects – indeed it was clear that the focus on the creation of an inclusive and enabling environment where young apprentices are encouraged and enabled to take responsibility, and all aspects of production, are reaping rewards. Some changes had been significant and costly, such as new plant and equipment, whist others required the ability to think critically and see areas for improvement. The latter included housekeeping, starting with new flooring, zoning of work stations, painting of walkways, tidying up, safe racking and labelling of storage bays, dry storage and organising workflows.
What impression does leaking roofs, dirty walls and broken panes give, not just to customers but also to the workforce? The impression that we don’t care. But better lighting, proper walkways, attractive entrances and better welfare facilities, somewhere clean to wash, sit and eat, is the least that staff now expect – they get it in their local supermarket, for goodness sake – why not in the workplace where they are expected to spend hours each day? And these things do not need to cost the earth – just a focus on what matters and the drive to continuously improve.
The company is clearly focussing on all aspects of the business from goods inwards, to less waste and efficient use of raw materials and cost downs, greater monitoring of key parameters with visible and transparent tracking of results to engender team work and a sense of achievement in the workforce all aimed at driving down re-work and driving up productivity.
The bottom-line improvements are, in turn, enabling further investments in plant and equipment with plans for future spending of over £1M, to allow greater capacity and new projects, including in the production of compacted graphite iron castings to grow the customer base.
The company still has a long way to go but the vision is clear.
As one of the attendees, Nathan Tucker from James Durrans & Sons said, “Karl gave a fascinating talk on the history and future of Vanguard Foundry, highlighting just how much innovation and expertise continues to drive the foundry sector forward. As a supplier into the industry, it’s always great to hear first-hand how companies like Vanguard are evolving, adapting, and setting the standard for quality and performance.
“A big thank you to the organisers, the Institute of Cast Metals Engineers, and to Karl Hopkins and Paul Kendrick for such an engaging session — events like this really strengthen the relationships and shared understanding across our UK manufacturing community.”
Thanks are due to everyone involved in organising the event, including to Vanguard Foundry Ltd for sponsoring the buffet.
Please see below the link to access the recording of the Technical Lecture:
ICME West Midlands Branch Technical Lecture 3rd Nov 2025 – The History & Future of Vanguard Foundry
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=erTq2Cmz5CU&list=PLD-oGDKTfFsQWEWtnqy5ZvNCcm7jdT5td&index=2&t=3s
