New aluminium extrusion machinery has been installed at Garnalex’s new 100,000ft² production facility at Nether Heage in Derbyshire, which will be capable of extruding 4 tonnes of aluminium per hr when fully operational.

The company (www.garnalex.com) was formed in March 2018 by Roger Hartshorn, who is best known for founding two leading PVC-U systems companies, Eurocell and Liniar; it plans to launch an aluminium window system by the spring of 2020.

The heavy-machinery moving specialist Joseph Merritt Group (www.merritts.uk.com) — based in Kirkby in Ashfield — was appointed to provide lifting equipment and a team to offload and install the SMS HybrEx extrusion press (weighing over 170 tonnes) and an OMAV furnace.

Garnalex technical production director Ross Hartshorn said: “We are very excited by the purchase of our new equipment and cannot wait to get the facility up and running.

"Merritts has been the perfect partner to work with throughout the project.

"Its machinery installation knowledge has been of great value, and it has worked with the OEM engineers to complete the works well within the expected timeframe.

"Its attention to health-and-safety issues and its professionalism when on site have been exemplary, and we look forward to working with the company on future projects.”