Gearing up for new business

The company has grown steadily for over 40 years and supplies mainly into the oil and gas and rail sectors, and has developed a wide customer base. It specialises in manufacturing components from exotic materials with full traceability and is understandably proud to have been included in the London Stock Exchange 1,000 SME's to inspire Britain in 2013.

Metaltech has continued to invest in new equipment and technologies and now owns over 50 machine tools with a dedicated inspection facility. In addition it is able to offer other services including fabrication, painting and assembly, and through close working relationships with its network of partners, plating, surface treatment and material testing.

The company believes in investing in its people through ongoing training and development, in 2015 it embarked on a Lean techniques training programme that is being rolled out to all employees by the end of 2016.

Business improvement manager, Paul Smith comments: “The decision to put all our employees through the Lean techniques training programme was made to engage staff in supporting the ongoing development of our culture of reducing waste and improving efficiencies.”

Metaltech Precision is looking to break into new markets and has recently achieved accreditation to ISO 14001 and OHSAS 18001 in addition to its existing accreditation to ISO 9001 which it has held for over 15 years. The company is looking to diversify into supplying the nuclear and aerospace industries and has recently been awarded Fit for Nuclear status by the Nuclear Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre at Sheffield University and has plans in place to achieve accreditation to AS9100 by the middle of 2016.

Sales manager Andy Riste advises: “There is a massive opportunity for us to supply into both the aerospace and nuclear sectors; with our recent successful accreditations to ISO 14001 and OHSAS 18001 and our Fit for Nuclear status, our business systems are now in the right place to go for AS9100.”

The company's willingness to embrace its environmental responsibilities is demonstrated by investment in energy reducing lighting, solar PV generation and biomass heating systems. All were installed during 2014/15.

Metaltech co-founded APEC in 2015 with other local businesses during the Fit for Nuclear programme in response to the anticipated demand to supply work for the Hinckley Point C project being built over the next 10 years.

Mr Riste continues: “The Advanced Precision Engineering Consortium (APEC) is one of a number of supplier groups that have been created, with assistance from the Somerset Chamber's Hinckley Supply Chain Team to make the most of the opportunities around Hinckley Point C and other large infrastructure projects. However, whereas the majority of these collaborations have been formed in response to a potential work package request, APEC differs in that it has been driven by a group of proactive companies prior to a specific requirement being identified.”

METALTECH PRECISION
www.metal-tech.com