Holroyd Precision Rotors (www.holroyd.com) — the specialist helical screw and rotor manufacturing division of Rochdale-based Precision Technologies Group (PTG) — has opened a new production cell in South Carolina to supply compressor screw rotors to North America’s leading producers of ‘industrial air, air conditioning and refrigeration equipment’.

The $12 million cell has been equipped with milling and grinding technologies from PTG’s machine tool division.

Holroyd Precision Rotors’ managing director, Colin Carr, said: “In cases where it is possibleto identify a clear demand for very precise rotors, Holroyd looks at the opportunity and weighs the merits of investing locally to supply the market.

"The investment required is substantial, but there are many advantages to our customers in having satellite operations close to their manufacturing centres.

“In this instance, following the success of the rotor production cell that we established in Chongqing to serve the Chinese market, we decided to develop a similar set-up in the USA.

"We designed the plant to have sufficient production capacity and flexibility to meet a wide range of customer demands, while preserving the necessary agility to enable short change-over times and rapid batch switching.

"Additionally, we built in a system of kanban inventory controls to allow for ‘just in time’ delivery.”

The new Holroyd Precision Rotors facility in South Carolina covers 35,000m², employs about 30 people and is supported by a team of specialist engineers from Holroyd’s UK headquarters.

It produces a wide range of rotors, with overall diameters up to 420mm and lengths up to 1.5m.