Redruth-based
WES Engineering Solutions, has invested over £420,000 in a new top-of-the-range Matsuura CNC milling machine supplied by Leicestershire-based
Matsuura Machinery Ltd, which will expand its 24/7 machine running capabilities by 200%.
Group commercial director James Gazzard said: “2021 was a huge success for us. We have grown our customer base by 20%, developed new products and expanded our order book by 50%. We forecast 43% growth across the group for 2022/23 and this latest investment is in direct response to demand.”
In the last year, the precision engineering firm has battled against the weakening automotive sector — which has been historically core to their product line – and focused on expanding in the subsea, nuclear and oil and gas markets. This has not only delivered greater sector infiltration in these markets but also led to an evolvement of the company’s manufacturing strategy as it migrates more into the ‘big batch’ engineering field.
Mr Gazzard continued: “We have worked so hard to achieve our new high-volume order books but despite a fleet of advanced machinery and a highly skilled workforce, we simply couldn’t keep up with demand. This is where the new CNC milling machine has excelled – solving production volumes, shortening on time delivery and opening up new opportunities. This latest investment allows us to manufacture on a constant cycle as the Matsuura CNC H-Plus 300 has enabled us to double our ‘lights-out’ manufacturing capability, halved our running times, and significantly enhanced our commercial and production efficiencies.”
Reducing the reliance on skilled personnel, through advanced machinery automation is an ongoing solution to the limited skilled recruitment pool the manufacturing sector so commonly experiences.
Mr Gazzard concluded: “We are huge ambassadors of skills training and apprenticeships. In fact, the new cell leader for the expanded milling section was one of our former apprentices. We really value our staff and have a number of skilled mechanical engineer positions available. However, accessing the talent is a key concern for the industry. So, we grow our people from the ground up.
“Our apprentice programme thrives in our low- to medium-volume precision engineering manufacturing departments and we are looking forward to expanding with at least a further three new apprentices this year.”
With WES’s sister company, British Classic Cars (BCC) having also grown, achieving new routes to market across Europe as well as the development of new brake caliper products for Land Rover, Porsche, Mercedes and Datsun cars, WES Engineering Solutions has streamlined its group’s structure to improve efficiencies across the board.