A significant player in Dundee’s industrial heritage closed its doors with the loss of 23 jobs yesterday, after seeing its trading hit by foreign competition.
Managers at Dens Metals said they had taken the step following significant changes in markets for its continuously-cast bronze-alloy products, which are used in the engineering, automotive and water-fitting industries.
Nicholas Cunningham, chairman and joint managing director of parent firm Malcolm, Ogilvie & Co Ltd, said the closure of the group’s subsidiary marked “a very sad day”.
“It is with sincere regret that the company has made the decision to cease trading, and therefore run down the activity of the foundry,” he said in a statement.
“The demand for continuously-cast bronze products has altered very dramatically.
“This has become a business with a very significant volume market, primarily supplied from the Far East and other locations in the world and by those working on considerably larger scales than ourselves.
“The loss of one of our major customers last year has contributed significantly to the downturn in volume. This will result in the loss of all employment at our site.”
Mr Cunningham said the firm had been run down “in an orderly fashion” over the last three months, with staff, suppliers and customers long-since advised of the closure.
Management took the decision to shut the doors before the company got into distress, he added, having based their decision on forecasts of “unsustainable and adverse” likely future trading conditions.
“The company has been run down strategically, and we have managed to continue to supply all our existing customers in the interim,” Mr Cunningham said.
“We are indebted to the workforce for their cooperation, and to our customers, who have expressed their regret at our waygoing.”
The firm had originally been established in a boiler room of the Malcolm, Ogilivie & Co jute mill on Dens Road, in 1960, as the result of commercial cooperation with Strathclyde University’s metallurgy department.
It moved operations to a purpose-built factory in the city’s West Pitkerro industrial estate in 2003, following significant investment in up-to-the-minute casting technology.
Latest accounts for the Malcolm, Ogilvie & Co group, for the 12 months to the end of October, highlighted “difficulties” for the foundry, which had a staff of 34 at the year-end.
Turnover at Dens Metals fell by 15% to £6.2m in the period, with the division making an £88,000 loss after the exclusion of management costs.
However, the group’s other interests in the manufacture of insulating sealed glass units and supply and installation of solar panels both performed strongly.
Turnover at Ravensby Glass, with a monthly mean workforce of 71, rose by 8% to just shy of £7m.
Income at Discovery Solar Systems, which employed an average of five people in the year, rose by 83% to £1.36m.
Malcolm, Ogilvie & Co said overall group turnover had been consolidated, with a year-on-year reduction of 1.8% to £14.5m accounted for by loss of sales following the disposal of its ophthalmic lenses business during the previous financial year.