West Midlands-based Erodex UK, a specialist in the design and manufacture of graphite electrodes, tooling and fixtures, has invested £1.75 million as part of an expansion of its machining capability.

The company’s ‘state of the art’ facility in Darlaston, has been established for over 35 years, enabling Erodex to machine its wide variety of graphite grades into highly complex components for a wide range of industries. It has also been a key driver in the significant growth that the Erodex Group has experienced in recent years. The company believes the latest £1.75 million programme of expansion will ensure it remains 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%. This was complemented by a major overhaul of the layout of the facility, creating new bespoke machining cells on the shopfloor to enable better workflow and reduce downtime.

Director Steve Rolinson said: “Since the mid-1980s the Erodex Group has enabled our customers to benefit from the capabilities of our 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 semiconductor, heat treatment, precious metals and glass industries, we have built up an enviable reputation for the quality machining of graphite.”

He continued: “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 it will help drive the long-term growth of the business.”

The Erodex Group has four UK factories at Halesowen, Darlaston, Croydon and Poole, as well as a further facility 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.

Mr Rolinson concluded: “Running alongside these investments has been the implementation of our new IT system across all Erodex Group sites. 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 a world-class service to our customers.”