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ABOUT US
Our History at Dash Dynamics
1996
Dash Dynamics started out as a company whose original plan was to produce replacement resin bonded dash overlays for vehicles in a variety of finishes for after-market car customisation in a variety of styles such as Burr Walnut, Carbon Fibre, Brushed Aluminium, etc in 1994 and sold through EJ Sandiford agents across the UK.
However the original owner had issues in keeping up with the demand being created by Eric and also was having technical issues which didn’t help.
1998
Eric bought out Dash Dynamics with a view to overcoming the issues and also increasing production. After a complete change in equipment/resins Eric mastered the issues and went into volume production of Dash Kits successfully. Customers like Demon Tweeks, amongst others, were one of the early volume customers who saw the potential of the Dash Kits. Sales grew steadily and the business became viable. He started producing other items within the automotive business such as wheel centres for vehicles and keyrings to add to the offer.
2002
Magazines such as Max Power, Revs and Fast Car propelled the company into the eyes of the public.
Even Haynes magazines did a series of manuals detailing how tuners and car modifiers could customises their vehicles and included a whole chapter on interior upgrades using our kits.
Dash Dynamics start producing Gel Number Plate digits to supply DVLA authorised Number Plate Dealers. Motorcycle digits were added to the range the following year.
2003-2012
Business continued to grow steadily and Eric relocated on several occasions during this period to suit both his personal requirements and that of the business.
2013
During a visit to a small motorcycle dealer David Wilkinson spotted a number plate he remembered as Eric’s after having lost contact with him nearly 30 years previously when Eric was selling car alarms as an agent for the company David was the General Manager of.
David popped his head through the door of business and he and Eric got re-acquainted once more.
Over the next few months he would pop his head in to keep in touch and learn more of Eric’s business.
Towards the end of that year David offered to buy the business from Eric but at that time the price was a bit too high. Negotiations continued throughout 2014 and early 2015.
2015
Due to personal reasons Eric found himself wanting to semi-retire and approached David with the final price he would accept for the business. David accepted and bought out the business entirely on 01.08.2015 with the view to expand the business.
Eric was kept on to both assist and train David, which he did very well.
In late 2015 a new jig system was developed to make the manufacture of car number plates quicker and more accurate.
David took the decision to stop Dash Dynamics producing finished plates as he saw this as being in conflict with supplying other Plate Producers with a major price advantage in materials. This has stood ever since and has been a major factor to many companies in choosing Dash Dynamics when looking for a supplier of Number Plate Digits.
2016
The website was re-designed early 2016 to expand the range and offer products into a much wider spread of industries. At this point the video the New Jig System was added to both the website and Youtube. The video had a huge response and attracted many new Number Plate companies to our products.
Later in the year the company invested heavily into additional computing, printing and cutting facilities due to the rapidly rising levels of business. A further member of staff was recruited for production purposes. At the end of 2016 the company had more than doubled its turnover from the previous year.
2017
Export business starts to take off with particularly good sales into the Republic of Ireland.
New high quality keyring designs are sourced and well received by the market.
A concerted effort is made to gain specialist vehicle builders business with particularly good results in the Horsebox area.
At the same time the motorcycle market starts to pick up well.
2018
The investment in the website continues with new business being brought in from Furniture Manufacturers, Hygiene Industries and an increasing number of Printing companies around the UK taking benefit of our doming facilities to satisfy their customers requirements.
The Car Plate Jig is upgraded with a new improved with worldwide protected design.
Acrylic Number Plate Digits complimenting the range for cars. These are designed so the Acrylic and Gel digits can be combined to create a true high-end product.
Motoring clubs start to flock to the business wanting specialised badges for their members and events.
2019
Several new trophy suppliers start using our facilities due to the very fast turnaround time Dash Dynamics offered at no extra cost.
New Motorhome and Caravan manufacturers are added to our customer base.
Extra business starts to come in from additional sports equipment suppliers.
2 Sub Distributors are appointed to further increase our Number Plate Digit business.
Another staff member is brought onboard to help with our rapidly increasing business.
David moves to change the company status from Sole Trader to Limited Company. However he had to mothball the Ltd company due to furlough rules.
Covid Hits!! Staff furloughed as of 1st April and David takes up residence at the factory sleeping between 2 of the printers and doing 18-hour days to keep up with demand which increases exponentially during this period. Staff brought back in after six weeks.
Business accelerated massively during the pandemic as both companies and the general public looked at different ways of gaining income or changing direction. During the first six months of the pandemic the business more than doubled!
Additional staff were again taken on to handle this increase in business.
Due to the increasing business two new resin doming machines were required but as no ‘off the shelf’ resin doming machines met our exacting requirements worldwide we contacted a number of UK based engineering companies with our specifications. The best of these was eventually selected to custom build these machines to meet our very tight requirements.
2020
The two new bespoke resin doming plants were ordered at a cost of around £30,000 per unit but it took most of the year to get these to the point where we were happy with the design.
Business was now at a point where we were working to absolute maximum capacity. A split shift and flexi-time systems were introduced to extend the working day whilst the new plant was developed.
Three more Number plate Jig systems were developed (Motorcycle, ‘Square Plate’ and a jig system for the Republic of Ireland plates). These protected designs made a huge difference to business, particularly the Irish Jig system. The Republic of Ireland had been identified as a real potential growth area but not without many hurdles which had to be overcome due to the ever-changing rules as we approached Brexit.
Ultimately at the end of the year we left the EU but the rules continued to change post Brexit. Again a specialist employee was taken on to ensure we all exports were processed according to the rules at that moment in time.
2021
UK Business was still increasing but our Irish business was really taking off. This created many issues as ALL freight handling companies were facing huge challenges dealing with the new export rules across the EU further complicated by the fact that customs in each receiving country were still in some confusion over the new rules also.
The fact we had done our homework and had specialist staff on board who were up to speed with the new rules meant we had no issue in getting goods out of the country. We only had problems due to the customs procedures being incorrectly applied at the entry point in each country. This created issues with the freight handlers on the other side who had the problems to deal with in certain cases. With around 95% clearing customs quickly our export business was generally very good. The other 5% did give us some headaches though.
On 1st May 2021 Dash Dynamics Ltd was officially launched taking over from the Sole Trader business.
At around the same time Plate Supplies was purchased from one of our distribution customers to run as a dedicated online Number Plate component supply company giving us even more exposure in this important market. This company was set up as a limited company from the start.
Business within all areas of industry continued to grow, particularly in the name badge sector.
The website for Dash Dynamics Ltd was ready for a complete refresh so a new top quality website development company Chameleon was brought on board to undertake the work required.
By the end of this year the turnover of Dash Dynamics stood at just short of 10 times the level from when David bought out the company from Eric.
2022
The new website is launched showcasing the many fields in which Dash Dynamics Ltd currently works.
We have always attracted a very diverse range of industries and the new website is there to show we are happy to work with virtually any industry, club or individual.
Further improvements to our offer are planned during this year plus several further investments in equipment during this year.
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