Carry that weight

18 June 2020

How’s this for Great British engineering innovation?

Mace Industries, known for its compact conveyors, has found instant success with Mace Muscles, a completely new range of fitness equipment it has developed during the slowdown in construction activity.

Sales Director Luke Mace contacted me after seeing my new blog. He told me that he and his brothers are fitness fanatics. They’ve even got a health suite at their Northampton factory. Almost as soon as the lockdown was announced, they discovered a gap in the market.

“With gyms and health centres closed, people couldn’t exercise as normal, and for many it gives mental release as well as physical fitness," said Luke. "We wanted to buy equipment for ourselves to use at home, but everywhere online had sold out, and every other potential customer was in the same position. Even second-hand prices on eBay went through the roof. 

“So we sat down, put our heads together and designed our Mace Muscles range of weight plates, squat racks, bars and benches. Our factory is working 16 hours a day with a separate new production line and we simply can’t make them quickly enough. Seven weeks since starting this new venture, we have sent out 170,000kg of weights alone.”

Several top athletes have been recruited as ambassadors to promote the Mace Muscles range, including Britain’s Strongest Man, Graham Hicks.

Mace Industries has also picked up a large contract for designing and manufacturing portable hand sanitiser stations, and is currently making 1,000 of these a week.

I take my hat off to Luke and his team for their hard work and ingenuity – let alone their fitness. They have devised an additional product line that will likely be in demand for some time to come. Indeed, you might say this is a business going from strength to strength...