GOOD NEWS MATTERS
So here we are just over mid-way through 2022 – despite more pressure from events here in the UK and overseas, we are still seeing that there is a great deal to feel positive about. Investment across UK Manufacturing continues at pace, and other good news is out there, showing that the future is incredibly positive.
Please feel free to share these stories and news articles from recent months and keep pushing to get the message out there loud and clear – UK Manufacturing is Great, Britain is Great!
For us at Bruderer UK Ltd, business has been great this year so far and we include in this edition of our Good News Stories, some highlights from recent months from our Company.
Skyrora opens new rocket engine manufacturing facility
British space company Skyrora has opened a new manufacturing and production facility in Cumbernauld, the largest of its kind in the UK. After recently opening its engine test facility in Midlothian, this new facility allows the company to concentrate its launch development practices in custom-built domestic facilities.
The production of two Skyrora vehicles has already commenced at the Cumbernauld site, which will increase up to 16 per year once mass production begins. The site boasts unique capabilities for space infrastructure in the UK, as certain tests that would typically be outsourced to facilities in other countries can now be conducted domestically.
For the very first time, the UK has an asset capable of conducting full-stage structural and pressure testing and full-stage functional and cold flow testing. Conducting these tests domestically saves significant time and costs and represents a key advantage for UK space efforts. As such, the maiden testing of the second stage of the Skyrora XL rocket can now be performed from UK soil, having been fully manufactured and assembled in-house.
This includes the assembly of the 70kN engine, the most powerful commercially produced liquid engine in the UK, which has been built using 3D-printed engine components.
£12m investment drive pays off as William King secures major Jaguar Land Rover quality award
One of the UK’s leading metals service centres is targeting further growth after it secured one of the automotive sector’s most demanding quality accreditations.
William King, which specialises in high-tensile steel, aluminium, light gauge processing, electrical steels, and niche metal coatings, received the Jaguar Land Rover JLRQ Award earlier this month in front of 150 staff at its Atlas Centre facility in West Bromwich.
Andrew McClure, global supplier technical assistance director at the global car maker, made the presentation in recognition of the company’s outstanding performance over the past year where it has achieved world class ‘right first time’ and ‘on-time in-full’ delivery scores.
It marks the culmination of a £12m investment drive by the firm over the past five years that has seen it introduce a new press blanking line, slitting facility and a state-of-the-art stacker, helping it take on new work and to create and safeguard more than 50 jobs.
“We have been working towards the JLRQ standard for some time, overcoming the additional challenges of Covid-19 to demonstrate consistent quality, cost and on-time delivery,” said Rachel Graville, who is the fourth generation managing director of family-owned William King.
“This has been a real team effort. It is a fantastic achievement by my colleagues, who have been superbly led in the journey by our operations manager Justin Mansell.
“Quality has always been central to the way we operate, so a lot of the building blocks we needed for the Award were already there, we just had to focus a little more on standardising processes, implementing a clearer continuous improvement strategy, and bolstering training for all staff.
“Not only have we delivered world-class performance, but we have also done so against the positive backdrop of a rising order book with Jaguar Land Rover, whom we now supply both in the UK and Slovakia.”
MAHLE Powertrain invests £15 million in two new UK facilities
Mahle Powertrain has completed the construction of two new facilities in Northampton – the result of a £15m investment over the last five years. The company says this will deliver much-needed testing capability as the automotive industry accelerates its transition towards decarbonised propulsion.
The purpose-built facilities will allow Mahle to test vehicles, batteries, and hydrogen technologies under even the most extreme simulated environmental conditions.
“We’re extremely proud of our new test facilities which complement our end-to-end development process,” said Simon Reader, director of engineering services at Mahle Powertrain. “As the industry accelerates the development of a new generation of vehicles that will offer carbon-neutral solutions for the transport sector, it creates a huge demand for testing facilities. Our new center has been designed with both battery and future-fuelled vehicles in mind and provides a spread of capabilities that is almost unique anywhere in the world.”
Renishaw to invest over £50m at UK manufacturing site
Renishaw is to invest over £50m at its Miskin site in South Wales to increase manufacturing capacity and to help reach its target of net zero emissions. This will see 400,000 sq. ft of additional low carbon buildings created at the 193-acre site to the west of Cardiff, consisting of two new production halls and an employee welfare facility. The existing production halls will also be refurbished to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions.
Planning permission for the detailed plans to almost double the footprint of the site, which was acquired by Renishaw in 2011 and currently accommodates 650 employees, was granted by the Vale of Glamorgan Council last year. With the company continuing to see strong business growth and maintaining confidence in its long-term prospects, those plans will now be realised.
Red Bull Powertrains
Opening soon at the Formula One team’s Technology Campus in Milton Keynes, Red Bull Powertrains’ new engine development and manufacturing plant is expected to create hundreds of jobs.
Post by Bruderer UK
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