A Birmingham component firm has stepped in to help a manufacturer roll out its new product after it was "held to ransom" by its original Chinese supplier.
Tooling2000, which is a metal stamping and precision component specialist, teamed up with Shropshire outfit iDry following a chance encounter on social media.
iDry makes an upright fan dryer to be used after a bath or shower which the company says is proving popular in hotels, with local councils and in the care sector as it is useful for people with mobility issues.
But after being told by its supplier in China of a nine-month waiting time for three key components, Winson Green-based Tooling2000 stepped in to help.
It produced an emergency tool that could make the same parts, which are used in the fan housing, in just a week, enabling iDry to roll out its latest product, also called 'iDry'.
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Initial orders placed are worth more than £50,000, with both companies now looking at a longer term partnership as iDry targets sales of 200 units per week.
iDry's managing director Gary Seale said: "The iDry, which was first developed in 1991 by Michael Godwin and brought back to life earlier this year, fits onto a wall and uses a patented design to push air through vents to dry your body in as little as two minutes.
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"It is a breakthrough that is proving extremely popular with the care sector where it can help the elderly or disabled enjoy independent living for longer.
"This has seen a major spike in interest but, just as the orders were rolling in, an existing Chinese supplier tried to hold us to ransom with lead times and minimum order quantities.
"I won't lie, it felt like they were putting a gun to our head, so we knew he had to accelerate our desire for more 海角视频 content by switching supply to a domestic company - the only issue being we had to find an answer in seven days.
"A chance intro on LinkedIn has proven a match made in heaven, with Tooling2000 delivering a solution that is better in what was an unbelievably stringent lead time.
"Better still, the early signs are that we can place more parts with it, something we are currently looking to explore."
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Tooling2000 was founded in 1996 and specialises in creating complex parts out of anything that is metal.
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Managing director Gary Williams added: "This is a fantastic reshoring success story and shows that the 海角视频 can outperform international rivals when it comes to quality, lead times and, importantly, cost - we just need the opportunity to prove it.
"Gary from iDry and I have engaged our respective engineers to look at other parts we might be able to help with, starting with the impeller it uses to create some of the power."