£2m investment and recruitment drive at UK defence manufacturer

Rotherham-based contract manufacturer, MTL Advanced, has invested £2m in new machines to meet the demands of a series of new high-profile defence and construction contracts.

The new investments have been spread around various manufacturing cells of the business, including large format laser cutting, large folding, and CNC machining, to provide a much-needed capacity increase in line with the company’s growing order book.

The latest machinery arrival has seen MTL commission its brand new 6m x 2.5m Trumpf 10kw 3060 TruLaser large format fibre laser earlier this month. This was an addition to the company’s already extensive large profiling cell, which comprises of 2 other 6m x 2.5m lasers, a 20m x 3.2m bevel laser and a large 25m x 5m high-definition plasma cutting machine on top of 4 other laser cutting machines.

This new 10Kw fibre laser will provide a significant boost in productivity and allow MTL to offer better laser cutting lead times and improved contour quality to customers for large profiles of up to 30mm in thickness.

The new fibre laser has come on the back of another major investment in September, which has seen MTL acquire a 4.5m wide x 640 tonne Ursviken press brake. Now with three 640 tonne capacity large Ursviken presses, including two 7.2m wide presses, MTL has strengthened its position as a go-to contract manufacturer for large cut and fold requirements in mild steel, wear resistant steel, aluminium, stainless steel, and armoured materials.

Recent investments have not been limited to MTL’s profiling bay however, as the company has also purchased 2 new Hartford machining centres earlier this year to boost its CNC milling capacity, resulting in many additional job vacancies across the business.

Karl Stewart, general manager at MTL Advanced, commented: “Investing in the very latest technology continues to strengthen our position as one of the UK’s leading contract manufacturers and we are extremely pleased with our recent purchases as this reinforces our ability to handle large multi-million pounds projects. We have just secured new long-term orders in excess of £10m this month, with production starting in the new year, and these new additions to our machinery line-up will enable us to meet the demands of these contracts.”

The new press brake
The new press brake

MTL has just advertised around 40 new vacancies on the back of these recent investments and contract wins, with many opportunities to join its 300,000ft2 Brinsworth facility.

Positions include seven laser operators and general operatives, four welders/fabricators, four CNC millers, two press brake operators, two paint sprayers, two material handlers, as well as various project engineers, supervisors, training officers, and sales estimator positions.

These new job roles come in addition to MTL’s recent major apprentice recruitment scheme, which has already seen MTL hire 12 new commercial and technical apprentices in September as well as four new recruits as part of the nationwide KickStart campaign, a national scheme aimed at getting 16-24-year-olds who were previously at risk of long-term unemployment into work.

Mr Stewart added: "Investing in the next generation of talented engineers is critical to our ongoing success and we now have dedicated trainers in the factory whose sole purpose is to mentor and upskill our home-grown workforce. We are now gearing up our operations ahead of these major future contracts, and our recent investments in training and modern machinery will enable us to proactively plan our forward growth and attract the required new talent into the business."

MTL Advanced
www.mtladv.com

Company

MTL Advanced

Related Articles

UK cutting firsts

YSS, a Halifax-based fabrication specialist, is the first in the UK to order a new Amada ENSIS 4020 AJ fibre laser cutting machine.
8 years ago Features
Most recent Articles

Renishaw highlights career pathways in engineering

There is not one singular blueprint that can lead to a career in the engineering industry. It offers a variety of roles, open to people from diverse backgrounds. To highlight the diversity of skills and experiences in engineering, global engineering technologies company, Renishaw, has created the ‘Employee perspectives’ series.
18 hours ago News

Login / Sign up