A manufacturer that goes to the wire

School. As part of my course I had a 15-month placement at Elida Gibbs, part of the Unilever Group, which was manufacturing toothpaste and shampoo at a new facility they had just opened on their site in Seacroft.”

This sparked a fascination with manufacturing and forced him to re-think his long term plans.

He said: “I decided I didn’t want to become an auditor, I would rather be involved in generating the numbers and driving businesses forward.”

Mr Thurley loves to see the outcome of manufacturing processes in everyday settings.

“On graduating in 1989 I went on to work at British Steel in Scunthorpe where I was fascinated to discover that their cast billet steel ended up in car wheels.

“I later worked at Bridon PLC in Doncaster – the firm that made the ropes for the Humber Bridge.” Siddall & Hilton has always moved with the times. In the early 20th century, it started making wire products associated with the textile industry, and during wartime it made control wires for aircraft.

“It later moved into wire milk crates and coat hangers,’’ Mr Thurley said. “At one time, it was the largest coat hanger manufacturer in Europe.”

Following the MBO in 2019, the company decided to stop chasing volume because it was creating a price war that was becoming a race to the bottom.

It now focuses on a narrower range of products. You will never see products with the company’s name on it, because it concentrates on supplying welded mesh panels without a logo.

“Our customers turn that into fencing systems and guarding products. There has been strong demand on the industrial mesh side of the business. “What’s also driving us is demand for warehouse space, which is probably due to the growth in online shopping. Some of our mesh is incorporated into fall arrest systems to prevent accidents in highbay warehouses.”

He added: “We have continued