Local manufacturer tells MP: “When manufacturing thrives, the nation thrives”
A leading Leighton Buzzard engineering company has told MP Alex Mayer what’s needed to unlock the potential of the area’s small and medium-sized businesses.
Hone-All Precision, based on Cherrycourt Way, manufactures specialist tubular components used in everything - from 'supercars' to space exploration, medical devices to Malteser manufacturing . The family-run firm employs skilled local workers and supplies more than 4,000 customers across the country.
Director Andrea Wilson gave MP Alex Mayer a potted history of the company’s three decades when she stopped by the factory for a briefing and tour before discussing the Government’s new strategy to boost small and medium-sized firms like Hone-All.
That Government plan includes tackling late payments, supporting high streets and giving entrepreneurs and local firms better access to finance.
Ms Wilson said she welcomed these steps but wanted to see further measures to boost businesses in Leighton Buzzard and Dunstable constituency and beyond, including calling for a dedicated strategy specifically for SME manufacturing, and an experienced 'Manufacturing Champion' to be appointed to deliver it.
Director Andrea Wilson said: “When manufacturing thrives, the nation thrives. I am pleased to welcome our local MP to the factory to give her the Hone-All story and show what we’re all about.
"It’s encouraging to see small firms climbing the agenda with the launch of the SME strategy – now we need to make sure manufacturing is at the heart of that. We have the expertise, the experience, the ideas and the innovation. We need Ministers to listen to the smaller businesses within the SME bracket when making policy decisions and give them the tools they need to grow. We do not need more support; we need better support which is simple and easy to access.”
Alex Mayer MP added: “I was pleased to visit Hone-All – a great example of a local firm with world-class expertise, providing skilled jobs in Leighton Buzzard and making a real contribution to major growth industries across the UK.
“Small and medium-sized firms like Hone-All are the bedrock of our local economy and vital for growth. Andrea is absolutely right on the need for stability and no more short-termism and knee-jerk decisions like we saw under the last government. The Labour Government is providing stability – including a £4 billion finance boost for small firms and new measures to bring empty high street premises back into use. But we should always be listening to local firms to hear what they think. I’ll be taking Andrea’s ideas, like her suggestions to better help firms train and upskill local workers in-house, to ministers.”