£3.1million Tata investment is boost for Steelpark
[gallery] Tata Steel is making good on a promise to build up Wednesfield's showpiece Steelpark with a £3.1 million investment.
The new equipment is part of a wider £15m investment programme due to be completed this summer at the site.
It will be used in a new profiling centre that employs 100 of the 575 people now employed at Steelpark. The equipment turns plates of steel into a variety of components, from large production runs for off-road vehicles to large one-off parts for construction projects.
Now, in addition to the profiling centre, there is further investment going on at Steelpark's automotive service centre, which produces steel parts for the vehicle industry, and the high gauge service centre, which supplies rolled and coated steel for a range of manufacturers.
Paul Steele, Wednesfield-based managing director at Tata Steel's distribution business in the UK and Ireland, said: "This is one of a series of developments that is strengthening Steelpark's position as one of the key foundations for UK manufacturing."
Steelpark is owned by Tata Steel, part of the Indian conglomerate that also owns Jaguar Land Rover.
Tata bought the Anglo-Dutch steel group Corus in 2007 for £6.2 billion.
Mr Steele said it was too early to talk about when Tata might be able to start fresh recruitment at Steelpark.
He said they were working closely with Caterpillar and JCB with the new investment and later in the year would unveil an £8m improvement to the automotive centre which produces for JLR and Honda.
