ARRK Europe — an engineering, prototyping, tooling and low-volume product specialist — has made a significant investment in its injection moulding centre in Birmingham.

The company (a Made in the Midlands member) moved into the 40,000ft² facility in Kings Norton in October 2017 and has since entered a strategic alliance with neighbour Paintbox.

ARRK (www.arrkeurope.com) has recently installed six Krauss Maffei injection machines — ranging from 80 to 1,600 tonnes — along with robotic arms, material-handling systems and a co-ordinate measuring machine.

It has also created around 45 new jobs at the facility, and more are expected to follow.

ARRK European managing director Tony Lowe said: “With its geographical advantage close to the heart of the UK automotive industry, ARRK is well placed to support customers.

“In addition our partnership with Paintbox offers a very competitive ‘one-stop shop’, with moulding, fully automated robotic painting, assembly, EDI and logistics.

“This package is one we feel our customers have been looking for.”

ARRK can also provide additional injection moulding and tooling services through its site in Petersfield (Hampshire), which has moulding machines up to 3,200 tonnes, a production tooling service, and a tooling refurbishment and maintenance capability.

Mr Lowe said: “ARRK’s investment in Kings Norton sits alongside other investments made by the company in the Netherlands, Poland, France and China.

“These are exciting times, as we align our business operations and range of services to match our customers’ evolving needs.”