Erodex Group, a UK designer and manufacturer of graphite electrodes, tooling and fixtures is celebrating 50 years in business by investing £400,000 in automation at the company’s state-of-the-art graphite machining facility in the West Midlands.

This year marks 50 years in business for family-owned Erodex, which is looking to the future with the purchase of an automated pallet loading system to work in co-ordination with existing high-speed machining centres.As a result of the investment, the company expects to maximise efficiencies and output within the high-volume area of the business, creating capacity without the need to layer-in additional shift patterns.In addition, the alignment of existing machining capacity with automation provides Erodex with a portfolio that it has previously been unable to offer, thus creating new business opportunities.

The company’s facility in Wednesbury enables Erodex to machine its wide variety of graphite grades into highly complex components for a range of industries. It has also been a key driver in the significant growth witnessed by the Erodex Group in recent years, following a £1.75m investment in new machinery in 2021.

Steve Rolinson, director at Erodex Group, says: “Since the mid-1980s the Erodex Group has enabled customers to benefit from the capabilities of our ISO9001-accredited graphite machining facility, which is widely regarded as the best graphite machining facility in Europe.Continued planned investment as part of our continuous improvement programme – including that in automation – means we are well placed to capitalise on market opportunities moving forward. It also reinforces our position as UK leaders in the design and manufacture of graphite electrodes, tooling and fixtures for the aerospace and IGT sectors.”
For further information www.erodex.com