Engineering company celebrates thirty years with confidence
A County Durham engineering company that started out in a small
garage has just celebrated thirty years in business.
Triple T Engineering, based in Shildon, is still a family-run
business run by Paul and Marilyn Tarn, but has grown to be one of
the North East's most successful sub-contract precision engineering
companies. It has a turnover of £1.5m and an enviable client list
that includes major international companies.
The company's expertise and substantial range of specialised
equipment, some capable of lifting 30 tons, draws customers from
all over the region and beyond, including companies such as
Komatsu, Caterpillar and JCB. Triple T works with every industrial
sector from sub-sea to construction and manufactures everything
from parts for aluminium shipping containers and tanks to briquette
moulds and chassis sections down to tiny 2 mm pins.
The company, now housed in a 55,000 sq ft purpose built factory
on the Hackworth Industrial Estate that includes the original
railway tracks as an historical feature, is proud of its highly
skilled workforce of more than 20.
"Our aims have always been to provide customers with a
competitive price, top quality and speedy delivery," said Paul
Tarn. "It is that, along with the expertise we have built up, our
workforce and the specialised equipment we have here, that has led
to our continued progression. We were determined to be the
'complete sub-contractor' and have taken the many different
opportunities that presented themselves over the years."
Praise for the company on its decades of successful growth came
from Robert Macleod, Managing Director of Investors in People North
East. In 1996, Triple T Engineering was one of the very first
companies in the North East to be awarded IIP, now recognised as
the UK's premier business improvement tool, and its 30th
anniversary coincided with the fourth successful re-assessment that
will be marked at an IIP event at the end of this month.
"We were recognised with Investors in People long before most of
the major companies in our sector or in the North East," said
Managing Director Marilyn Tarn, whose business expertise and work
with the Training and Enterprise Council and local enterprise
agency SASDA led to a five-year appointment as an independent
adviser to the government.
"Maintaining a professional and skilled workforce is an
important part of our success and every individual is important,"
she said. "We have always been committed to training and some of
our apprentices went on to degree level with us, many completed
HNCs and everyone here is trained up to a minimum of NVQ level 2.
We have built up a great team and there is a genuine family
atmosphere here."
"When we began IIP it was heartening to discover that we already
fulfilled many of the criteria. We have built a close relationship
with our IIP adviser and his feedback from a position 'outside' the
company is so valuable. There is no doubt that IIP principles help
to keep us on track and in a strong position, especially when the
economy is going through difficult times."