Cutting edge

Lee (left) and Matthew

The pair with apprentice Darren Boulton (far left)

How hard graft has put two Hull lads at the top of the region's engineering industry

They started off with just a dream.
But three-and-a-half years later, a local duo have built an award-winning engineering company with customers all over the world.
Lee Sansam (28) and Matthew Branton (27) have now taken on three young apprentices – despite only completing their own engineering apprenticeships a short time ago.
"We want to train young engineers in our way of doing things, and make sure they have a commitment to quality and precision from day one," says Lee, a former pupil at Malet Lambert School.
And quality and precision is exactly what their business – Helix Precision Machining Ltd – is all about.
It supplies machine-finished steel and aluminium components for a wide range of uses.
That could be for military vehicles, or for industrial winches for the oil and gas industries. They also make parts for British Aerospace and the medical industry, as well as an industrial component that is now being used in the production of a well-known brand of men's razors at a plant in Canada.
"Other engineering firms go for the manufacture of high-volume, low-precision goods such as washers, but there's no growth in that market," says Matthew, a former pupil of David Lister School.
"Instead, we've set our sights on the higher-precision work which demands more skill – and where business is growing.
"The way things are going, we are going to get bigger and bigger, and take on more orders and more staff."

Humble beginnings

For the first three months after setting up, Lee and Matthew regularly put in 18-hour shifts, working from 6am to midnight to make sure they met orders on time.
They were renting a 900-square-foot unit on the Courtney Street Industrial Estate, east Hull.
But the company grew so quickly that one year on, Lee and Matthew moved into their present unit on the same estate, which is double the size.
"Just a year after we started we achieved our British Standards, and it's very rare to reach that mark in such a short space of time," adds Lee.
The company will shortly move again into purpose-built 3,800 square-foot premises near Clough Road.
And Lee and Matthew are investing in the latest technology, including a Swedish-made water jet, which shoots water at 66,000 lbs per square inch for high-precision cutting of metal.
Their success has brought trophy triumphs too. The MKM Acorn Business Enterprise Award 2006, which is backed by Hull City Council and the Hull business community, is now theirs.
"We started off as two lads who didn't have much money to spend. Nothing was handed to us on a plate - and everything we have achieved has come through our own graft.
"Engineering is a challenging but very rewarding industry, and we have proved that young people in Hull can make it in this business."

A true inspiration

After serving their apprenticeships with different employers, the pair met working at AP Aerospace, at Kingswood Business Park.
Before that, each had enrolled at the Humberside Engineering Training Association (HETA), based on Sutton Fields, which helped them to start learning their trade, and arranged work placements.
They are now training three apprentices through a scheme with Hull TEC and Hull College, to help enterprising young people forge careers in engineering.

Help from Hull City Council

Lee and Matthew's company has received help from Hull City Council's business development fund, or "Acorn Fund" as it's also known. The fund is available to businesses less than three years old, and are based within the HU1 to HU9 postcode areas.
Companies can receive cash through the fund, subject to proof that they can create sustainable jobs and that the cash is only spent on goods such as fixtures, fittings, tools and machinery.

For more information about the fund contact 300300, or ring Hull Chamber of Commerce 324967