Master of the honing and grinding market, delapena Group, this month celebrates its 10 year anniversary under the ownership of David Arthur.  Reporting a seven figure order book, the business continues to grow and has set its sights on doubling its turnover by 2020.

Despite the firm’s successful 89 year history in the honing market, David Arthur rescued it from financial disaster a decade ago and has invested heavily since then to bring the business into world-class standard.  Today delapena has grown into a successful group, specialising in surface finishing in the bore or on the shaft.  It boasts a portfolio of electronically-controlled honing and grinding machines, plus the tooling, fixtures, abrasives and oils to support their operation.

Explaining his vision for delapena, chairman, David Arthur, comments, “I bought this business believing that technology was ready to transform the honing market and that has been realised, to great effect.  We have grown through investment in research and development, plus implementation of industry-leading processes.  Whilst much has been added and changed, we benefit from the unmatched level of specialist expertise and experience held within the business and so we have unlocked the value of delapena’s legacy with a future-focused approach.”

Celebrating its anniversary with a party for all 38 staff, managing director, Martin Elliott, is in no doubt about the company’s strength, “Our success is built entirely on the efforts of the team,” he said.  “That begins with our talented workforce and extends to our strategic partners and 25 distributors and agents around the world.  They should all be proud of what we have achieved together and excited about what is to come.”

According to delapena, the firm’s success is also due to the breadth of its offering:  It supports every aspect of improving surface finish, from feasibility on a part, to specification and new machine manufacture, to special tools and services that include subcontract honing, application development, process engineering, maintenance and training. 

Ten years on, David Arthur now resets his vision; “The last decade has been about getting ready for growth and preparing every aspect of the business to really fly.  The next 10 years will be about capitalising on that and building the business further.  We have plenty more celebrations to enjoy!”