Newtown based manufacturer, RM Group, designs and builds both manual and automated machinery used to process and package items for sectors including food and drink, construction, energy, utilities and general industry.
The firm was founded over 20 years ago as a small packaging business, initially focused on animal feed.
The company exports its products to more than 15 countries, including Iceland, Australia, New Zealand, Iraq and the USA. Exports account for more than 20% of turnover, and this figure is climbing year on year, underlining the value of exporting to its continued growth.
International success
In early 2022, the business opened its first American office in Delaware, in response to an increase in enquiries from the US. The new office enabled clients based there to speak to sales representatives and advisors in their own time zone.
The ambitious move has been a huge success for the company and as a result most of its international work in recent years has been within the vast US market.
Since the opening of the Delaware office, RM Group has picked up a significant number of deals across the US, with contracts in Delaware, Illinois, Arkansas and Utah, among others, as well as a significant order for an automated bagging system for an industrial salt production company in Florida.
In Chicago, one deal of note includes the development of an innovative £750,000 mobile packing plant made from shipping containers to create a modular factory, for a client operating in the bulk materials handling sector.
Due to its ongoing success in the US, the company also attracted the attention of a US automation company which now orders RM Group equipment under its own branding and sells them across the Utah belt, in a deal that is forecast to be worth up to £10 million in the next five years.
Welsh Government support
RM’s ongoing export success has been assisted by the Welsh Government, which provided financial aid to support company representatives to attend trade missions, as well as conducted detailed research into potential new territories, including the US, to determine the appetite for its products.
Several representatives from the company have just returned from a visit to Australia, backed by an Overseas Business Development Grant from the Welsh Government, where they attended APPEX - Australasia’s Processing and Packaging Expo in Melbourne, an exhibition that represents all sectors of the industry, including machinery, ancillary equipment, materials and packaging, food processing and industry services. Whilst in Australia, RM Group directors also met several new in-market partners and contacts.
The visit to Australia is part of RM Group’s wider expansion into the territory after the firm recently employed a full time sales manager there. At present, the company is on the cusp of signing several new deals in the country, in what will be a major entry into its market.
Kevin Humphreys, Export Manager at RM Group, said: “Unlike the UK market, which is extremely competitive and hugely cost driven which drives profits down, international export markets are far more open and provide a huge number of opportunities for a specialist manufacturing company like ours.
“This means that we are far more innovative, efficient and profitable when it comes to our overseas trade, which naturally means that we want to do more of it!
“Over the years we have achieved much of our export success with the support of the Welsh Government, who have provided guidance and backing wherever and whenever we needed it, every step of the way.”