AWI invests £250,000 into production capacity to keep up with customer demand
One of the UK’s leading manufacturers of round, flat and profile wire has recently completed a £250,000 investment drive to help it build on a record year.
Alloy Wire International, which employs 31 people across manufacturing sites in the Black Country and Yorkshire, broke through the £11m barrier in 2018 and immediately pushed the button on the acquisition of 560mm single block and 200mm multi-block drawing machines.
These installations will help increase capacity and will ensure AWI continue to deliver its industry-leading 3-week lead times, so crucial for customers in the automotive, aerospace, nuclear and oil and gas sectors.
There has also been a number of infrastructure improvements, including internal and external refurbishments, new floors in the flat wire rolling department and, following consultation with employees, a re-organisation of the manufacturing plant to deliver further production efficiencies.
Ian Fitzgerald, Operations Director at Alloy Wire International, commented: “Our rapid growth has been driven by our ability to provide over 60 high-performance alloys to our customers quicker than anyone else and this is something we need to maintain.
“That’s why we’ve decided to look at our manufacturing facilities and identify certain areas where installation of new machinery would be beneficial. This has seen us source and configure new wire drawing machines, which come with touch screen technology that gives the operator more real-time information, such as length to weight conversion and machine temperatures. “
He continued: “In addition to giving us the additional capacity and maintaining our 3-week lead times, we will also now be able to take on larger volumes.”
Alloy Wire International makes round, flat and profile wire in a range of material, with more than 60 currently available to choose from, each offering superior corrosion resistance and/or excellent performance at high temperatures.
The company currently holds more than 200 tonnes of stock at any one time, ensuring it can offer customers in 55 different countries fast response times for the most demanding requirements.
Its commitment to quality has also been strengthened, with recent success in gaining the ISO 45001 accreditation and being re-approved to ISO 14001 and the aerospace and defence standard AS9100 (revision D).
Mark Venables, Managing Director of AWI, concluded: “The investment isn’t going to stop there. We already have plans in place to purchase a multi-hole oil drawing machine and laser guided re-spooling winders.
“None of our purchases are off-the-shelf. There is always the opportunity to configure the machines to our exact production requirements and this means we can manufacture the best quality wire, quickly and in the varying volumes demanded by our global client base.”
