£1.75m investment in machining facility expansion
Erodex UK, specialists in the design and manufacture of graphite electrodes, tooling and fixtures, has invested £1.75 million as part of an expansion of its machining facility.
The state-of-the-art facility in Darlaston has been established for more than 35 years, enabling Erodex to machine their extensive range of graphite grades into highly complex components for a diverse range of industries.
The capabilities of the Erodex machining facility have been a key driver in the significant growth that the Erodex Group has experienced in recent years. The company believes the £1.75m programme of expansion will ensure that it is best placed to capitalise on the expected economic upturn throughout 2021 and beyond.
Investment in additional factory space and new CNC machinery has seen capacity at the site increase by 40 per cent. This was complemented by a major overhaul of the layout of the facility, creating new bespoke machining cells throughout the shop floor to enable better workflow and reduce downtime.
“Since the mid 1980s the Erodex Group has enabled our customers to benefit from the capabilities of our state-of-the-art, ISO 9001 accredited Graphite machining facility, which is widely regarded as the best graphite machining facility in Europe.
“From EDM Electrodes for Aerospace and Mould Toolmaking, to a variety of complex machined components for the Semi-Conductor, Heat Treatment, Precious Metals and Glass industries, we have built up an enviable reputation for the quality machining of graphite," said director Steve Rolinson.
“We continually invest in the latest machining technology to achieve the highest standards of quality and to maintain our competitive edge. In addition to investing in new premises and machinery, the drive for continuous improvement has also led to us investing heavily in skills, building an extremely competent team of skilled engineers, production planners and quality engineers. The team uses the latest software and tooling to focus on cost down initiatives on high volume product.
“The expansion will enable the company to capitalise on new opportunities and drive the long-term growth of the business”.
The Erodex Group is based across four UK sites – Halesowen, Darlaston, Croydon and Poole, as well as one in North America.
The complete overhaul of the company’s IT infrastructure will replace all existing and legacy systems with a new group-wide solution and further streamline processes. This will enable real-time information across sites, an improved customer experience, enhanced quality controls and act as the basis for several planned future improvements.
“Running alongside these investments has been the implementation of our new IT system across all sites in the Erodex Group. This has been a huge task, but modernising the process of information flow across departments will streamline communication, increase efficiency and ultimately ensure that we can continue to offer world class service to our customers," added Mr Rolinson.
