September 2006
Metsec plc
METSEC ANNOUNCES £8.5M INVESTMENT PROGRAMME

Metsec, the Oldbury-based metal construction and engineering components manufacturer, has announced an £8.5 million investment programme in its engineering division, which is expected to create around 40 new jobs over the next three years.

The investment in a range of state-of-the-art manufacturing equipment for Metsec’s Custom Roll Forming, Profile Manipulation and Windows businesses, is designed to increase production capacity, further improve quality and boost cost efficiency.

The new jobs will be a mix of production and engineering roles and will come on stream as the range of new equipment is installed at Metsec’s main 15 acre Broadwell Road site in Oldbury. The investment programme will also help to safeguard the 100 jobs already in the engineering division.

The first step in the three-year investment programme is a £3 million computer controlled rolling mill for Metsec’s specialist Custom Roll Forming business. Due to become operational in autumn 2007, the new mill will be the largest of Metsec’s 30 mills and will be capable of rolling metal sections at speeds of up to 40 metres per minute.

The quick changeover mill will increase capacity at CRF by 20% and will enable the business to produce a wider range of complex, pre-pierced sections very cost effectively.

The German manufactured Dreistern mill is being part funded by a grant from Advantage West Midlands, the Regional Development Agency for the West Midlands, which will total £1.25 million over the next three years.

Stephen Tilsley, managing director of the Metsec group said: “The new mill is very important in helping us to stay at the forefront of our industry. It will give us more flexibility to manufacture a wider variety of very precise and complex components faster and more competitively.”

He added: “We are very grateful both to Advantage West Midlands and to our parent company, voestalpine, for their support.”

The announcement of the largest single investment programme at Metsec came during the firm’s 75th anniversary celebrations. It was made as Sir Digby Jones, former Director General of the CBI, visited the factory to mark the event by commissioning another new rolling mill, this time for its framing division.

The £750,000 Bradbury mill has been installed to help meet growing demand for Metsec’s steel superstructure, wall and floor systems and shorten delivery leadtimes. The business has seen a 20% increase in volumes year on year since it introduced the construction method to the UK in 1996 as a faster, more accurate, cleaner alternative to traditional masonry.

Sir Digby said: "Metsec is a shining example of the best of modern British manufacturing. It has a Black Country heritage stretching over 75 years and it continues to succeed because it produces high quality products at competitive prices. It also delivers excellent customer service through continuous investment in its people and its equipment."

Metsec has eight divisions, five which serve the construction industry and three in engineering. The firm employs 435 people, has a turnover of £95 million and has invested a total of £30 million over the last eight years since it became part of the Austrian-owned voestalpine group, the world’s largest cold roll former.

The money has been spent on expanding and reorganising the main Broadwell Road site, building a new factory and equipping its construction and engineering businesses with leading edge technology. It has also opened its own training centre for young apprentices.

To mark its 75th anniversary, Metsec has produced a hardback book which charts its development from its start as a car component manufacturer in 1931 with 11 employees and hand-built rolling mills to the hi-tech £multi-million business it is today. The book, written by local author Dr Terry Daniels, includes a short history of manufacturing in Oldbury, follows the ups and downs of Metsec through its different owners and speculates over the ghost which has been sighted by several Metsec workers wandering the Broadwell Road factory at night.

Back to Media Centre Archive