After securing two new international orders, Barnsley-based pECM Systems which manufactures and exports Electro Chemical Machine tools around the world, has secured a £30,000 investment from Finance For Enterprise to fuel future growth.

The firm, which was launched in 2011, uses electrolysis to remove materials from products without physically touching them. This technology is typically used in the medical and aerospace sectors and pECM has successfully secured orders globally including from Italy, Russia, Asia and the USA.

Last year, the firm won two new orders with a value of more than £300,000 from companies in Italy and Thailand. However, when the Thai company proved unable to pay the large deposit typically required, pECM sought to offer alternative terms rather than risk losing the sizeable order.

Realising that negotiating alternative terms would place a considerable burden on the company’s cash flow, pECM founder Steve Duffield turned to Finance For Enterprise for help.

The loan provided by the organisation enabled the business to continue working on other sales while fulfilling the contract in Thailand, so safeguarding jobs and allowing pECM to further develop its international order book.

Steve Duffield explains: “The machinery we manufacture is always tailored to meet the specific needs of our customers. We support a wide range of industries across the globe, with some of our products such as titanium machining systems costing as much as £1 million.

“The cost of each machine determines the deposit amount we require from customers and as most contracts tend to be £200,000 or more, it often proves impossible for them to provide the deposit amount we need to manufacture the machine. We knew we would struggle with cash flow after releasing the machine in the Thailand contract and it potentially meant placing other new business activities on hold. However, the support we have received from Finance For Enterprise has helped to provide us with a short-term cash boost at a critical point in our business. The funding process was simple, straightforward, but crucially it has helped us to overcome the potential financial obstacles we were facing.”

pECM Systems was launched after Steve Duffield spotted a niche in the precision engineering sector – it is the only UK manufacturer of electro-chemical machining systems and provides precision components and engineering systems to the aerospace and medical sectors worldwide.