EDITORIAL ROUNDUP

Waters opens Long bridge machine shop

Waters Corporation, which is listed on the New York Stock Exchange, has officially opened a
new 4181 m² manufacturing facility on the Longbridge Business Park in the West Midlands.
The new facility more than triples existing operations and enhances the company’s
machining capacity to produce components for products developed at Waters Mass
Spectrometry Centre of Excellence in Wilmslow, UK, and Wexford, Ireland.
David Clay, British Consul General to New England, says: “The fact that a leading company
like Waters has chosen the UK for this investment is a great endorsement of the regional
talent available in this sector. We look forward to seeing the new facility have a long-term
positive effect in the West Midlands.”
More information www.waters.com

Award presentation marks record year

New micro-precision tooling capability has put a Birmingham manufacturing specialist on
course for its best performance in 164 years. Brandauer, which exports 75% of the
components and tools it makes to 26 different countries, made the announcement during
the recent presentation of its King’s Award for Innovation by Derrick Anderson CBE, the Lord
Lieutenant for the West Midlands. This year has been a whirlwind period for Brandauer,
with more than £4m invested in high-speed Bruderer UK and Yamada presses, a 1-µm
capable wire EDM, a laser micro-cutter, and a rapid prototyping area.
More information www.brandauer.co.uk

Atlas Copco buys PPS

Atlas Copco UK Holdings Ltd has acquired 100% ownership of Pennine Pneumatic Services Limited (PPS). PPS has been an Atlas Copco premier distributor for many years and will continue to offer the same products and services, alongside an extended product offering as part of Atlas Copco Compressors UK’s business operations. It will continue to operate as a stand-alone company within Atlas Copco Compressors UK, under the Pennine Pneumatic Services brand name, for the foreseeable future. PPS has five branches across the north of England and over 90 team members.

More information www.pps-ltd.co.uk

£220m BAE investment

BAE Systems will invest £220m to upgrade its facilities in Rochester, Kent. The site will undergo significant renovation to create a new state-of-the-art factory of more than 32,000 m². BAE Systems’ 1600-strong workforce in Rochester specialises in advanced aerospace technologies such as head-up displays and helmet-mounted displays for civil and military aircraft worldwide. The new facility will combine manufacturing, engineering and office space. BAE Systems expects the increased capacity provided by a more efficient and sustainable facility will see the creation of 300 jobs over the next five years.

More information www.baesystems.com

New collaboration will advance AM

ArcelorMittal, a global specialist in sustainable steel solutions, and HP, a printing company with expertise in additive manufacturing, are entering a strategic collaboration to advance the field of steel additive manufacturing. ArcelorMittal acknowledges HP’s technical expertise by selecting its Metal Jet S100 technology to develop the additive manufacturing of steel components. HP credits ArcelorMittal with promising results using its steel powders, demonstrating robustness for binder jetting technology. The collaboration will focus on the lowering cost per part and extending the available material options.

More information https://corporate.arcelormittal.com/