20% Increase In Workforce For Aldridge Firm

S Jones Containers, based in Aldridge, is bucking the currently depressed economic trend with a recent influx of orders totalling over £600,000.00 for the modification of shipping containers into a variety of equipment and accommodation enclosures. Additional projects, likely to proceed in the near future, would take that figure up to an approximate net value of £1,000,000.00 should they proceed.

This means that the company can now create up to 6 new positions which is approximately a 20% increase in the overall work force.

The new work is coming from a variety of sources and is not confined to any one customer or industry. In general the projects are related to: opportunities created by the Olympics; export equipment, petro-chem projects and power generation. 95% of the current order value is from new customers, and over 80% is for export.

Andrew Jones, Managing Director, said: "We have never been as busy as this. It is very encouraging that projects we have been discussing over many months are now moving forwards to live orders, and at the same time we are still receiving new enquiries for immediate requirements. Many organisations, from small specialist companies to major international 'blue chip' operations, are seeing the value in utilising shipping containers to enclose their process or equipment as a working unit that can be manufactured and tested in their own works and then be delivered to site as a tidy package for easy 'plug and play' installation and commissioning. We are specialists in this area and one of a very few companies that can offer such a broad range of experience and expertise to discuss and develop serious projects with professional engineers from a variety of backgrounds."


The company works across all industries and in the past has designed and/or produced units for such diverse projects as: oil exploration laboratories incorporating specialist equipment; a TV camera mixing studio for mobile sports events; switchgear, pump, generator and compressor enclosures; mobile workshops; artists' retreats.

Les Newick, Senior Technical Sales Engineer, said: "In many instances the different uses a container can be put to is only limited by peoples' imaginations – we get enquiries for all sorts of ideas, and one of our main roles is to act as a design and consultancy service to help customers turn their ideas into reality."

Andrew Jones concludes with the thought that: "Ultimately a lot of our work is in support of UK domestic industry so we believe that the increase in our levels of activity must be linked to increased industrial activity in general, and hopefully that increase is heralding the start of a bigger turn around for the economy overall. S Jones Containers is certainly looking forwards with optimism and the intention to take advantage of future opportunities."

S Jones Containers is a family owned and run business which has been operating in Aldridge for nearly 100 years. Other business activities include: container sales; container rental; and self storage.

For further information visit: www.sjonescontainers.co.uk



Image Shows A High Volume Water Pump Enclosure