History: 21st century

Atchison's management failed to develop the business and in 2003 their whole enterprise went into liquidation. A major turnaround at River Don enabled local management led by Graham Honeyman to ring fence the business from administration.

After two years of negotiation to overcome major hurdles including a difficult market and pension problems, management was able to complete an MBO.

The company, now in its third century and probably the oldest steel business in the world, remains at the forefront of technology for castings and forgings for heavy engineering customers across the world.

SFIL now has the biggest order book in its history, its highest ever level of sales predicted for next year and an award-winning apprentice trained workforce, putting valuable specialist knowledge back into the British steel industry.

Building on the strength of renewed client faith in the company and a burgeoning order book, the management team continues to steer SFIL on a dynamic course and recently created a subsidiary company, Vulcan SFM - providing specialist services ranging from design consultancy to engineering production solutions, contract management, outsourcing and acquisition.

The company continues to supply an increasing global demand for high quality engineered products to key industries such as defence, nuclear, oil and gas exploration, power generation, marine and construction.

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