Frontier Development Capital’s (FDC) National Tooling Loan Fund offers toolmakers and component manufacturers funding from £50,000 to £2 million to support the design, development and manufacture of tooling required for new and confirmed projects. The funding is available to eligible manufacturing businesses working in any sector in England that have had difficulty securing traditional sources of funding elsewhere and require funding for a tool to press, mould, form or stamp a component part.
Toolmakers and component manufacturers can struggle to fund the tooling needed to complete orders, especially with OEMs (Original Equipment Manufacturers) having increasing timelines to pay for projects. This is where the National Tooling Loan Fund continues to support manufacturers by bridging the gap between order confirmation and final order payment.
Since the fund was launched in 2014 FDC’s National Tooling Loan Fund has provided 27 businesses with funding to complete new and confirmed projects from OEMs, safeguarding 1019 jobs to date.
Manufacturing businesses which FDC’s National Tooling Loan Fund has supported include:
Cube Precision Engineering:
Cube Precision Engineering (CPE) specialise in the manufacture of press tools, working for several customers in the aerospace, rail, automotive and household goods sectors.
FDC has provided CPE with 6 loans from the National Tooling Loan Fund since the funds launch in 2014. These loans help facilitate growth for the business and mitigate the onerous payment terms that OEM and Tier 1 customers require.
They have recently repaid a £500k tooling loan, which was used to fund 4 projects. The first project was to design, manufacture, and commission Cold Stamping Dies to produce the floor pan and rear stiffener structural parts for a Range Rover model.
The second project included the design, manufacture, and commission of Blanking Dies and Press tools to produce parts for a new Volkswagen model.
The third project was to design, manufacture, and commission press tools to produce sumps for a range of off highway vehicles.
The final project included the design, manufacture, and commission of new dies for the Land Rover Discovery Sport floor plans and structural supports.
The completion of these projects has helped enhance CPE’s reputation for producing high-quality press tools on time to the automotive sector.
CPE received further funding from FDCs National Tooling Loan Fund in 2022 for a significant non-automotive project.
Neil Clifton adds “We have a well-established relationship with FDC who have supported us since 2014, the nature of several of our major customers is that they wish to pay 90% of the project costs on competition of the tooling, with order values being in excess of £1mil, it is not always possible to fund this through cash flow. Working with Marie and the team, who understand our business and customers, helps us provide not only the security of jobs but also a catalyst for us to grow the business”
Marie Kelly, Investment Manager at Frontier Development Capital, said:
“Frontier Development Capital’s National Tooling Loan Fund supplies manufacturing businesses with investments from £50,000 to £2 million to support the design, development, and creation of tooling for new and confirmed projects.
“These cases are excellent examples of how the National Tooling Loan Fund can aid manufacturing businesses, helping them complete orders while also increasing the business's reputation in the industry.”
