< Previous20 Business Link www.blmforum.net COLLINGWOOD ENGINEERING Q&A Can you tell us a little about Collingwood Engineering? Collingwood Engineering was originally formed in the 1970s, based on Dam Road in Barton upon Humber owned by the Collingwood family for almost 50 years. The company was taken over by Trainload Ltd in November 2017, I was originally a long-standing client of Collingwood Engineering with over 25 years of engineering background, and I saw an opportunity to fine-tune the business, build on its already strong foundations, and build on a good reputation and service. This has seen new clients join us based upon the reputation and recommendations of existing clients. We have seen turnover increase five- fold in the last four years due to improving our service offering to clients, including planned and unplanned maintenance cover, focusing on a quick turnaround, and minimizing downtime for our clients. Being based on the South Bank of the River Humber, we can offer our services to both the North & South Bank industry with a good UK motorway network for National clients. What services does Collingwood specialise in and what business sectors do you serve? We are dedicated to being a first-rate engineering specialist that applies exceptional levels of skill, expertise, and industry knowledge to every job we undertake, including the machining and manufacturing of parts. We specialise in precision machining including Turning, Drilling, Welding, Vertical Boring, Horizontal Boring, Milling Slotting, Fabrication, and Screw Cutting in the following sectors, Manufacturing, Food, Water, Petro-Chemical, Steel, Marine, Rail, and Agricultural for local, national, and international clients. Our team of highly skilled engineers have a wealth of expertise in precision machining working with a wide variety of materials ranging from plastics to stainless steel and more specialized materials. What changes to the business have occurred since the takeover? We have invested £500,000 into a purpose-built workshop, offices, and machinery which includes new Lathes, Millers, Vertical borer, Slotter, Mig and Tig welders, 5-ton overhead crane, and forklift to add to our existing portfolio of machines to be able to cope with demand and to take on larger works. This has included implementing internal procedures, and in recognition of this, we have been awarded ISO9001:2015 certification which offers all our client’s full traceability from order to delivery complimenting the service with a new fleet of vehicles to offer a collection and Q&A Collingwood Engineering Following their takeover by Trainload Ltd, Collingwood Engineering has come under new management and a new direction. We were fortunate enough to speak with Jason Dear, Managing Director at Collingwood, about the business and their plans for 2022. 20-21.qxp_Layout 1 08/02/2022 09:53 Page 1www.blmforum.net Business Link 21 COLLINGWOOD ENGINEERING Q&A delivery service covering both the north and south bank daily. We have incorporated a fully networked jobs system to improve job planning, execution and increase efficiency across the whole team, which has resulted in a vast improvement in the organization and planning of works. Over the last four years, we have grown our team members from two to nine and created invaluable apprenticeships for two young adults. Further investment and training using Solidworks to be able to reproduce and create 3D drawings for our clients. What plans do you have for the future? When we purchased the plot of land on Humber Road Industrial Estate in Barton upon Humber from North Lincolnshire Council it allowed us to build our new purpose-built workshop and offices and allows us to extend our workshop to cope with further expansion. Further investment is planned in the coming years on both machinery and team members, which would include new CNC machines and a further intake of qualified workshop machinists and apprentices to support our growth. We plan to continually invest in engineering and the creation of more local employment, to be able to continue to support local industry and fuel the Humber economy. My plan for the near future is to offer a share option scheme to our employees for their hard work and commitment to the company, where we can all continue to build on the success of the last four years. We continue to strive to improve on our service offering to clients, continue to invest in training for our team, and expand our capabilities whilst remaining an SME. How can Collingwood help businesses in our region? Collingwood has for many years looked after urgent breakdown works and this has now been expanded to ensure that your urgent works are our priority, to enable a fast response enabling you to be back in operation as quickly as possible, in order to minimize downtime. As well as unplanned maintenance, we also work with companies on planned maintenance, which include supporting many local contracting companies with their on-site works. We are pleased to be able to support companies ranging from SME to PLC’s and welcome all inquiries. To see how Collingwood Engineering can help your company visit www.collingwoodengineering.co.uk Call our team on 01652 632388 or send your inquiries to info@collingwoodengineering.co.uk Follow us on Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter DRILLING BORING MILLING SCREW CUTTING WELDING TURNING SLOTTING FABRICATION 20-21.qxp_Layout 1 08/02/2022 09:53 Page 222 Business Link www.blmforum.net BUSINESS TRAVEL AND LEISURE © st ock. adobe .com/ jumlongch 22-25.qxp_Layout 1 08/02/2022 09:55 Page 1www.blmforum.net Business Link 23 BUSINESS TRAVEL AND LEISURE W hile it has long been commonplace for employees to travel the UK and globe for meetings and conferences, the past two years have seen business travel become much more complex. The COVID-19 pandemic, quarantines, testing requirements, and new variants, as well as less airlines and reduced transport timetables, pushed communication firmly into the virtual realm with video calls and online events turned to, to maintain relationships across borders, bringing benefits of time and cost savings. However as travel restrictions and requirements ease - with England itself for example scrapping COVID-19 tests for fully vaccinated travellers arriving in the country - the vaccine rollout continues, and in-person events return, travelling for work is slowly resuming, and businesses can look to re- establish and reinforce connections with suppliers and customers. This is good news for areas which rely on business travel for a chunk of their tourism, as well as the services, transport, hotels and venues which generate significant revenue from business customers. Pre- pandemic, business travel accounted for around 70% of all global revenue for high-end hotel chains while between 55 and 75% of airline profits came from business travellers, who made up around 12% of passengers. Business travel was more heavily affected by the Coronavirus outbreak than leisure travel due to the increase in workplace flexibility, a quick adjustment of corporate travel policies, and the lack of air connectivity, and is recovering slower. Though many have expected the death of business travel as a result of COVID-19, research has found that worldwide business travel is to reach two thirds of pre-pandemic levels this year. According to the World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC) report in collaboration with McKinsey & Company, called ‘Adapting to Endemic COVID-19: The 24 Á Reconsidering business travel With a reduction in business travel seeing cost and sustainability savings over the past two years, companies are reassessing the necessity and format of the trips their employees take. 22-25.qxp_Layout 1 08/02/2022 09:56 Page 224 Business Link www.blmforum.net BUSINESS TRAVEL AND LEISURE Outlook for Business Travel’, a modest boost for business travel with global business travel spend growing 26% in 2021 will be followed by a further rise of 34% in 2022. But this comes after a 61% collapse in business travel spend in 2020. Some sectors have fared better than others, including manufacturing, pharmaceuticals, and construction companies, while service-orientated and knowledge industries are experiencing longer-term disruption to business travel. Numerous factors, aside from obvious COVID health concerns, are keeping corporate travel down. There is simple nervousness and hesitance over a trip being cancelled last minute, perhaps due to a positive rapid lateral flow test, the chance of sudden restrictions and policy changes when abroad or even coming into place within the UK. Meanwhile many of us have grown accustomed to digital interaction, hybrid events and video conferencing, seeing the question arise of whether one really needs to attend every meeting in person that they would have previously. In addition, after companies have operated successfully with less trips, and made savings as a result, there is a likelihood of close scrutinising of travel spend and return on investment. An easy overhead expense to reduce, firms are cutting their travel budgets with the realisation that a larger number of interactions - whether it be with colleagues, clients or vendors - than previously thought can be done digitally. With a desire for employees to make fewer journeys and to make those taken count, then, we will also see more meetings organised within one longer trip to optimise costs. Though cost savings may be a key influence on the scaling back of business travel, concerns over carbon footprint are also minimising trips taken. During the pandemic companies were able to achieve significant reductions in their carbon footprint with grounded staff. In light of COP26 and general growing demand for firms to lower their overall emissions, there is a necessity for policies to be put in place to make business travel as sustainable as possible, and people are calling for these trips to only be made where absolutely justifiable. Once the large carbon footprint associated with jetting off for meetings was considered acceptable, but this pollution is no longer so easily overlooked by customers, investors and regulators. Companies have recognised that decreasing flights is a particularly effective way of mitigating climate change, however it is not just how many flights are taken that’s important, with business class seats responsible for more emissions than those in economy. Businesses are making new pledges to shrink and offset travel emissions, striving for new sustainability goals. Those looking to address travel emissions will limit trip frequency, keep more meetings online and optimise schedules to minimise transport used. Opting for more environmentally friendly travel options is also on the cards from using trains and hiring electric vehicles to selecting sustainable accommodation. Conversely, other factors are set to help 22-25.qxp_Layout 1 08/02/2022 09:56 Page 3www.blmforum.net Business Link 25 BUSINESS TRAVEL AND LEISURE business travel recover, simultaneously changing how we view these trips - particularly the rise of bleisure travel. An increased focus on wellbeing, flexibility, a desire to give employees extra perks from business trips and boost morale, and to make the most out of and reduce flights taken are bringing leisure and business together more frequently and seeing ‘workation’ requests accommodated. Business travellers want to add some fun and make the most of the destinations they visit. Trips are being lengthened for leisure purposes while in a reversal, remote work is being added to holidays - after all, we can now work from anywhere. Beneficial in a number of ways, bleisure trips have been associated with more productive trips and happier employees, and with travelling for work a tiring experience, a few days for leisure is a great opportunity to recharge and avoid burnout. As the world opens up, so do the opportunities for business travel, but with many restrictions still in place, new variants, considerations in cost and carbon savings highlighted during the pandemic, there will still be some time before full confidence in business travel is restored. However the Global Business Travel Association (GBTA) expects business travel to fully recover by 2024, and there will always be value in in- person meetings for building strong professional relationships. © st ock. adobe .com/Mariia K ornee v a 22-25.qxp_Layout 1 08/02/2022 09:56 Page 426 Business Link www.blmforum.net PRINTING & PACKAGING Investing in print might seem an outdated idea in 2022, but print marketing is actually still as powerful and influential as ever and a clean, sustainable, ethical print campaign can help a business improve its relationship with consumers. W ith lockdown being lifted and big conferences and corporate events finally coming back, it might be a good idea for businesses to take a look at their marketing strategies and invest in some new material to kick start the new season of events in the best way possible. When we are living in a time heavily dominated by technologies, and we are almost entirely dependent and reliant on online communication, social media and telematic marketing, it might seem foolish to invest in print marketing material. Online promotion is cheaper and faster, it reaches more people with the simple click of a button and it might also seem more easily targeted to a determined demographic group or the other. While that might be true, it is also true that print media is far more effective than its online counterpart and it creates a deeper, stronger connection with the consumers. Having a physical, tangible piece of paper has a completely different, and more powerful influence on a person than an online ad or an email could ever have; emails go into spam folders and get It’s all about print It’s all about print 26-29.qxp_Layout 1 08/02/2022 09:57 Page 1www.blmforum.net Business Link 27 PRINTING & PACKAGING deleted without even glancing at them, and people now have ad and pop-up blockers in their computers that make sure all those ads don’t even get close to them. Print marketing material reaches people in a different way and affects consumers, whether voluntarily or involuntarily, in a more influential way. Print might seem a little outdated, but it still holds a great amount of persuasive power; first, print is tactile, it is tangible, and it is perceived as real by people and, hence, consumers will be more prone to trust the ad, the product and the brand. Print helps creating a trusting relationship between the business and the audience, but it also makes the business stand out; a print advert gives people the impression a brand has put more time, effort and money into their marketing strategy and will lead the consumers to think the brand is reliable. Because it helps creating more trust and it makes the brand look more reliable, print also creates a unique connection with the audience. People can see it, touch it, and read it more carefully than they would do with online advertisement. Additionally, it has been proven that people tend to have a longer attention span when looking and reading 28 Á © st ock. adobe .com/E nrique del Bar rio 26-29.qxp_Layout 1 08/02/2022 09:57 Page 228 Business Link www.blmforum.net PRINTING & PACKAGING print material than they do with online. This connection inevitably results in a higher conversion rate as people will remember that ad, trust it and look for the brand when the occasion presents itself. Finally, although it might feel like print marketing is not meant to any specific target group, it actually targets different demographics depending on the type of advert. There are a wide range of print media that can be used to reach customers, like flyers, leaflets, billboards but also magazines, newspaper ads, and direct mail. The way these products communicate with the audience is unique and different from each other and they all reach different demographics. Similarly, packaging, and specifically branded packaging, represents a very powerful and communicative marketing opportunity. The main purpose of packaging is to protect and preserve the product, but also to present and represent the brand itself; good packaging is a great opportunity to give the consumer a good picture of what the brand is, what its values are and create a trusting relationship with people. Even if a consumer does not know the product, the packaging will give them a little window into the business and, if the promotion is successful, the customer will invest in the brand. Despite their incredible communicative potential, the one issue that could rise from the use of print materials and branded packaging for marketing purposes is their impact on the environment. People worldwide are increasingly becoming conscious and concerned about the current environmental crisis and littering and polluting are currently one of the main issues. As much as they hold a significant communicational power, print products and packages do not last forever and do create a considerable amount of material that will require to be disposed of. When planning a marketing strategy, it is important to keep in mind the environmental impact of the campaign and make sure measures are taken to mitigate that impact. It is always a good idea to show interest in the environmental impact the business and its product have on the planet and promote ideas and values that reflect a commitment towards cleaner and more sustainable practices. The excessive use of print promotional materials, like leaflets, flyers, or excessive packaging, could have a negative impact on the image of the business and break the trust between the brand and the consumers. It is fundamental to plan a good marketing strategy that shows interest in environmental issues and that shows people clear actions. © st ock. adobe .com/ Ole 26-29.qxp_Layout 1 08/02/2022 09:57 Page 3www.blmforum.net Business Link 29 PRINTING & PACKAGING Print and Design to promote your events this year Like many businesses, Lincoln Print & Copy Centre are looking forward to the return of business and cultural events in 2022 and are well placed to help organisations of all types to promote themselves and their programme of events this year. Leaflets, brochures, programmes and posters are ideal ways to inform and connect with customers, visitors and members old and new; especially those who are looking for new places to visit; new sports and activities; and new suppliers and customers. Why not try fresh design and print ideas from their graphic design team, using the latest printing presses and finishing equipment to create information leaflets, sports club handbooks, theatre programmes or product brochures. Perhaps try new ideas in shorter print runs, to enable businesses that are building up again to order smaller quantities as trade returns. Call, email or drop in to discuss your print and design needs for the year ahead. For more information visit www.lincolncopycentre.co.uk The use of ethically and sustainably sourced materials could reduce a business’s environmental impact, but it also shows effort into reducing that impact. Supporting campaigns and good causes will improve the image of a brand and help better communicating the values and beliefs of a brand to the public. A sustainable and ethical marketing strategy will have a positive influence on the audience and will create a stronger connection with consumers; it will also make the brand more reliable, honest and caring to the eye of the public, which will make the consumers trust businesses more in the long run. Print is not dead, it is actually still very influential and effective. Investing in print marketing strategies and material will not only help creating a better relationship between businesses and consumers and target audiences, but it will also help increasing the return on investments in the long run. © st ock. adobe .com/ zef ar t 26-29.qxp_Layout 1 08/02/2022 09:57 Page 4Next >