Pre-Met celebrates its ‘longest servers’

A Redditch lady, who has spent the last 38 years working for a local manufacturer, was celebrated at a ‘long service’ ceremony last week. Lisa Easthope, a member of the packaging and despatch department at Pre-Met, was one of seven employees recognised for their commitment, dedication and skill in helping one of the county’s leading metal pressings and stamping specialists.

She was joined at the celebration event on the shopfloor by Heather Pratt, Ken Annis, Tony Wiggett, and Lucie-Ann Long, with Neil Taylor and Matt Harrison both celebrating 20 years’ of service. The ‘magnificent seven’ all received a certificate and a cash ‘thank you’ in front of 52 members of staff.

Pre-Met’s managing director James Leng said: “Our staff are the heartbeat of our business, and their engineering and manufacturing skills help us compete on the global stage, day-after-day. We have worked out that we have over 550 years of combined experience on the presses alone and we felt it was the right time to celebrate and recognise some of our longest servers. Many of these have been with us their entire working lives and are part of our DNA, helping us come through recessions, Brexit and the recent Covid-19 pandemic.”

Lisa Easthope said: “It is like one big family here. We have a laugh, we fall out, but we have always got each other’s backs, and I really like that. It was a lovely surprise to be given the award and I am hoping I can make it to 40 years of consecutive service.”

Pre-Met, which has enjoyed a strong 12 months in 2025, has been operating in Redditch since 1973. It originally produced high-value pens, cufflinks and telecommunication parts, with today’s company evolving into a critical, quality-assured supplier to the aerospace, mobility, med-tech, construction, electronics and transport sectors, shipping its components to customers around the world.

Major acquisition
The firm also works 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 IATF16949 (automotive) accreditations. This year it completed a major acquisition, purchasing nearby Quality Springs & Pressings (QSP) to help it increase capacity and move into new markets.

Matt Harrison bounced back from redundancy in 2005 to join Pre-Met as a toolmaker, rising through the ranks to become toolroom manager eight years ago. “In my time here, we have designed, developed and manufactured tooling that is responsible for producing millions of components every year for critical applications that support transport, energy generation and those that generally make life better. You just get it done, but every now and again you look back at what the team has achieved with pride — and it is important to stress that we can only do it as a team.”

Heather Pratt, who has completed 37 years of service across QSP and, more recently, Pre-Met, concluded: “Becoming part of the Pre-Met family has been an easy experience and the two different teams have really come together as one. I am now a bit of an all-rounder here, so get called into a range of roles depending on where I am needed most. The variety certainly makes each day different.”