Pre-Met on the charge with £500,000 ‘QSP’ relocation

Pre-Met has invested £500,000 into relocating the operations and welding technology of Quality Springs & Pressings (QSP) - a business it bought at the start of January. The leading metal pressings and stamping specialist has upgraded factory-wide electrical supply, freed up 10,000ft² of production space and created dedicated welding bays to support new opportunities in defence, aerospace and transportation.

All staff are now operational at the company’s Studley Road factory in Redditch, with the management team keen to use the acquisition to capitalise on enhanced wire form and spring manufacturing expertise, as well as embedding robotic welding and assemblies into its overall service offer. Four new jobs have been created so far, and this number could increase with Pre-Met recently securing JOSCAR (Joint Supply Chain Accreditation Register) approval, a global best practice supplier portal used by major OEMs, tier ones and supply chain companies across the UK and Europe.

James Leng, Pre-Met’s managing director, said: “Our order book has strengthened quite nicely since the acquisition, and this has given us confidence to reinvest in taking the next steps. Many existing clients have extended their order schedules, and this has been combined with securing new work in transportation, electronics, and construction products, alongside some renewals components to extend life of commercial scale recycling bins.”

Dedicated welding section
He continued: “The relocation has been a real labour of love, but we are now in an ideal position to maximise the QSP purchase. As part of the move, we accelerated the modernisation of our production facility, installing additional storage and, importantly, creating a dedicated welding section with both manual and robotic bays.

“Our six-axis robot is compact yet powerful and its slim and lightweight design enables it to be positioned close to the workpiece to improve part accessibility. When combined with our welding power source — a Miller Auto-Axcess 450 - designed specifically for robotic welding applications - we can now support precision MIG and Pulsed MIG welding processes. Thes are all linked to our data management process, ensuring high output and world-class quality production’.

Operating from Redditch since 1973, Pre-Met originally made high-value pens, cufflinks and telecommunication parts, with today’s company evolving into a critical, quality-assured supplier to aerospace, mobility, med-tech, construction, electronics and transport sectors, shipping its components to customers across the world. Consistent investment in new technology and workforce development has seen it become a metal pressings and assembly specialist, offering a full product lifecycle from concept and design through prototyping to low, medium and high-volume production.

It has also worked tirelessly to achieve the highest levels of manufacturing performance, securing world class ‘right first time’ and quality scores, not to mention gaining ISO 9001, AS9100 (aerospace) and TS16949 (automotive) accreditations. More recently, Pre-Met has reinforced its commitment to digital transformation by obtaining its Cyber Essentials security certificate.

Mr Leng concluded: “The next few months are going to be really exciting. I am due to be speaking at a virtual Made in the Midlands event (17 September) on how acquisitions can accelerate entry into new markets and then we head to Farnborough for a ‘JOSCAR’ meet the buyer session. This is a fantastic opportunity to get in front of a lot of defence buyers for the first time.”