Focus on: Caparo Wire

Caparo Wire, a division of Caparo Steel Products, was first formed in 1971 under the name of Wrexham Wire, in order to exploit a revolutionary continuous wire drawing and “loopro” annealing process for the production of cold heading quality wire. Since 1984, when it was acquired by Caparo Industries, the company has grown into one of the premier wire producers in the United Kingdom and Europe.

In its first two decades, the business increased its market share in cold heading wire by extending its product range and by diversifying into high carbon wires for the furniture industry. The early 1990’s saw the start of a successful drive to develop the company’s export markets (mainly Europe), and by the mid 1990’s Caparo Wire had also expanded to its second site in Wrexham. During the consolidation of the UK wire industry in the early 2000’s, Caparo also acquired wire drawers Fairbright and HS Pitts, thus securing its expertise in a range of products for the engineering and recycling industries.

Today Caparo Wire produces almost 60,000 tpy of high quality wire for a wide range of industries including car, truck, rail, construction, furniture/domestic, white/brown goods, and general engineering. The available wire diameters vary from 1.0mm up to 25.0mm in plain carbon and alloy steel grades in a wide range of heat-treated conditions. The wire can be supplied with zinc and copper coatings. Exports constitute approximately 40% of volume, with the company’s products sold in over 25 different countries worldwide.

At present, the business consists of 3 production sites, each specialising in a particular wire market sector. The original Caparo Wrexham factory manufactures primarily high quality bespoke cold heading wire for the automotive, construction and white goods industries. This site also produces specialist electro-galvanised wire for applications such as blind rivets, and exports over 60% of its production into Europe, the Asia-Pacific and the Americas.

The second Wrexham factory is a high volume production plant for direct drawn high carbon wires, dedicated to the furniture and bedding industries as well as low carbon wires for general wire working applications. Exports from this facility exceed 45% of its volume.

The company’s Fairbright unit, based in West Bromwich, specialises in the production of baling wires for the recycling industry and also cut lengths for the engineering sector. Major markets are the UK and Ireland, although Caparo Wire is increasingly focused on securing a market share for these products in Europe.

During the last 6 months, the business has been concentrating heavily on the development of new products and the extension of its current product range into trading wire. Phill Earl, Managing Director of Caparo Wire, explains: “The successful growth of our business to date is due to our continued emphasis on new product, process and market development. We make a point of staying close to our customers in order to best understand their needs and develop solutions that will satisfy their requirements. At the same time, we are also implementing a number of process and productivity improvements which will enable us to compete even more successfully in our non-European export markets, such as China, the Far East and the United States.”

For further details visit www.caparo-wire.co.uk.