A start-up agricultural engineering business has ramped up production of an innovative attachment designed to enhance safety during the transportation of stacked vegetable boxes, thanks to a West Northants Rural Business Grant of £25,000.
J Engineering Group Ltd’s flagship product, the Teli-Squeeze, is described as a “telescopic box clamp” and the UK’s first for transporting stacked vegetable boxes. The Northampton-based company also designs and manufactures various other agricultural telehandler attachments.
Elliot O’Brien, the driving force behind EJ Engineering, has extensive expertise in design and product development at agricultural engineering firms. At first, the start-up outsourced production to third parties, but with the extra costs that entails, the goal was always to establish in-house production facilities for EJ Engineering. This meant setting up a new workshop with the equipment required to expand telehandler attachment production.
With the Teli-Squeeze attachment gaining traction, the future looks promising for this innovative start-up, with the company planning to hire four additional staff members once their start-up phase is complete and the business is fully operational. These roles will include workshop operators, a welder, and eventually an engineering graduate to support various functions within the business.
All of this means that with the help of the West Northants Rural Business Grant, which is funded through the Rural England Prosperity Fund, EJ Engineering has enhanced their production capabilities, created jobs, and continued to contribute to the local economy.
Elliot O’Brien commented: “The Rural England Prosperity Fund has helped EJ Engineering Group in its initial company growth by funding equipment and workshop machinery to ensure that everything from design and manufacturing can be completed in-house, leading to increased productivity, efficiency, and the range of jobs that can now be taken on.
“With this expansion of machinery within EJ Engineering Group, our customer base has grown, directly impacting the jobs we can handle. We’ve also hired additional employees to manage the increased workload, which was the primary goal of the project. Overall, the Rural England Prosperity Fund has accelerated the growth of EJ Engineering Group and created a stable environment during uncertain times.”
The Rural Ngage programme, run by Ngage Solutions, provided advice and support through the application process. Will Dallimore, Rural Programme Manager at Ngage Solutions, said: “It’s great to see how the West Northants Rural Business Grant can make such a difference so quickly to a business. I am sure EJ Engineering will continue to grow and create innovative products which make the agricultural working environment safer.”
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