Following a number of contract wins, Staffordshire Precision Engineering has bought a VTC-800/20SR vertical travelling-column five-axis machining centre from Yamazaki Mazak (www.staffsprecision.co.uk).

This will enable SPE, which is based in Newcastle-under-Lyme and has a turnover of £3 million, to move into the manufacture of larger high-precision components for the automotive and aerospace industries, as well as the medical and scientific-instrument markets.

Company director Gary Smith said: “The last 18 months have been a very exciting period for the business, and this machine will allow us to meet the demand for larger and more-complex parts that were beyond our capabilities until now. We have already won new business off the back of the machine purchase.”

This investment followed a highly successful period of expansion and investment for SPE, which included the purchase of two Quick Turn 250M lathes and a Variaxis i-500 five-axis multi-tasking machining centre from Yamazaki Mazak.

In addition, the company recently moved to a new 28,000ft² site and created nine new jobs, with six more likely to be added in the near future.