A FAMILY-OWNED firm has set its sights on creating one of the largest manufacturing hubs in the north west by consolidating its business in Wincham.

Engineering specialist Cygnet Group, which currently operates from premises in Northwich, Middlewich and a head office in Wincham, has revealed plans for a £6million engineering site at the New Cheshire Business Park.

The company was founded 38-years-ago by Colin Smith, under the name Texkimp Ltd, and first planted its roots in Northwich in the late 1980s at the Old School House in Manchester Road.

Initially specialising in machinery for unwinding technical fibres, the business focussed on the car tyre and carpet backing industries.

In 2009, the owners secured a site in Wincham and the company became a subsidiary of the wider Cygnet Group, overseen by managing director Matthew Kimpton-Smith, son of Mr Smith.

Mr Kimpton-Smith explained that the past two years had seen the company expand into Middlewich and, with employee numbers rising to the 100 mark, the decision was made to acquire a further four-acre plot in Wincham in May.

It also prompted proposals for a three-phrase development to construct a state-of-the-art design, assembly and machinery testing facility and new headquarters, due to begin in 2013.

“The new development quadruples our production, testing and office space, providing us with all the facilities we need to fulfil customer projects and achieve our growth targets for at least the next five years,” said Mr Kimpton-Smith.

“Acquiring and developing our own site gives us complete control over the project and the opportunity to design space that fits our exact needs.

“It will also allow us to consolidate all three of our business units on one site by 2017 and create our own centre of engineering excellence here in the north west.”

He explained the company’s current focus centred on designing and manufacturing engineering solutions for fibre and fabric processing, subsea, gas, aerospace and automotive industries.

And the Norley resident, aged 45, estimated that 99.9 per cent of this manufacturing takes place in the north west region.

Mr Kimpton-Smith added: “The success has come over the past 10 years and what we have seen in this 15 months is the fruits of that, in a way.

“What we want to do is ultimately consolidate and grow on one site.

“We don’t actually make anything, we subcontract the manufacturing out.

“We do the design and selling and the actual quality control but the actual components of our machinery are made by subcontractor manufacturers in the north west.”

Revenues at the company doubled to £16million last year.

Plans for the scheme will be submitted to Cheshire West and Chester Council (CWAC) for approval in September.

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