The original 'components' of SAL Group!
Automotive Supply Limited
Automotive Supply Limited (ASL) was established in 1994 by our current Group Managing Director, Tony Elliott.
Originally working for Ford Motor Company, and based in Seoul, Korea, Tony was responsible for the sourcing and procurement of tractor components from The Far East. In 1992, he decided to establish a procurement company specialising in introducing Eastern manufacturers to Western buyers in the automotive industry.
By 1994, Fiat had acquired Ford Tractor Operations and the Korean sourcing operation was acquired by ASL. Responsibility for overall business development, including supply base selection and management, product development and supply chain management was all part of an original contract which continues, very successfully, to this day.
ASL has taken a great deal of pride in creating major successes for our customers, and this could not have been achieved without the support and dedication of the truly world class procurement and engineering team who elected to join ASL at that time, and who continue to play a vital role.
For the remainder of the 90’s, ASL further developed this business model and rightly established themselves as a specialist in the niche market of long distance procurement of agricultural and commercial vehicle components. We can now count among our clients the world’s foremost producers in these markets.
During this time we quickly recognised, also, that we could only provide maximum value to our customers if we control the entire supply chain. We therefore developed a logistics arm for our business and pioneered a variety of highly sophisticated supply chain management systems; all customised to best suit the needs of our customers. These systems have all been developed in-house by the combined efforts of our high calibre, global supply chain management and IT professionals.
Today we count ourselves amongst the foremost providers of global supply chain management solutions, including Just-in-Time deliveries. We are also approved by HM Customs as an official clearance agent.
Sigma Corporation/Sigma Castings Limited
Sigma Corporation established in 1985 and headquartered in Cream Ridge, New Jersey, USA, employs around 250 people worldwide, and supplies a wide range of products for the US pipe fittings and municipal castings industry.
Sigma pioneered the production of waterworks castings in a few carefully selected, patiently developed and constantly monitored foundries in China, India, Mexico and Brazil. By far, the primary production base has been in China since the early 90’s, with all development and production supervised by Sigma’s own engineers, working out of Sigma’s Beijing office.
Sigma’s first UK office was opened in October 1993 to supply the water industry through stockists in the UK and Ireland. This office provided the base for supplying many of the large overseas water projects in the Middle East, South America and Africa. Sigma’s solid background in castings has resulted in a vast degree of foundry expertise, which enables them to supply many other markets with high quality engineering castings.
In January 1998, Sigma Castings Limited was born, based in a new facility at Fenton, Stoke-on-Trent complete with spray painting facilities to provide a true just-in-time supply service for finished castings for the UK customer base.
Their first major customer was an international manufacturer of earth-moving equipment, and Sigma quickly became a major supplier of counterweights and other large castings to other such customers worldwide.
Sigma ASL Limited (SAL)
In 1999, Sigma and ASL recognized that their operations were entirely complementary and that both companies, as well as their combined supply and customer bases, would benefit from major synergistic opportunities by merging their companies into a new group.
The SAL Group became operational from 1 July 2000, and after a minor corporate restructuring programme, was able to access the following strengths of its constituent companies:
- Sigma's strong technical and financial synergy with ASL's proven sales and customer service expertise.
- Sigma's knowledge of metal products, mainly castings, with ASL's knowledge of a wide range of agricultural and truck components.
- Sigma's long pioneering experience in China with ASL's intimate and extensive knowledge of Korea and Taiwan.
- Sigma's medium size target customers in the UK and Italy with ASL's large multinational OEM customer base.
- Sigma's logistics facility in the north of England with ASL's facilities and sophisticated computer-based warehousing systems in the south.
- Sigma's newly developed business in Europe with ASL's own common and separate customers.
Sigma Commercial Products Limited (SCP)
2006 saw the creation of a new business unit within the Group to facilitate our re-entry into the UK pipe fittings and municipal and industrial castings field. Sigma Commercial Products Limited has sales offices in Portsmouth and Eastwood, Essex, and can boast that it has the largest stockholding of European standard pipe fittings in the UK.
SAL Group Limited
Today the SAL Group has rightly established a reputation for the sourcing and supply of a wide range of components ranging from relatively simple castings to highly sophisticated, critical transmission components and assemblies. We have international procurement offices in Seoul, Korea, Shanghai, China and Mumbai, India and sales offices in England, Italy and the USA.
