Pictured above: LtoR: Mark Webb, Managing Director of
PJ Tooling and Phil Baron, Grants for Business Investment Policy
Manager at Advantage West Midlands, holding precision cut tools and
standing in front of the firm's new super fast state-of-the-art
Sodick electronic discharge machine.
A Warwick-based engineering firm specialising in the manufacture
of precision cutting tools for sectors including aerospace and
Formula One racing has defied the recession and improved
competitiveness after installing a state-of-the-art wire electrical
discharge machine (wire EDM).
PJ Tooling Limited, which is based on Millers Road Industrial
Estate in Warwick and which employs 19 people, has invested
£100,000 in a new Sodick wire EDM, which is slashing cycle
times from three hours to 40 minutes, increasing competitiveness
and helping the business win new orders.
The capital investment was made possible following a Grant for
Business Investment from regional development agency Advantage West
Midlands as well as with support from Coventry and Warwickshire
Chamber of Commerce.
Mark Webb, Managing Director at PJ Tooling, said: "We provide a
really specialist service and the wire EDM has now filled the
missing link in our capacity.
"We have been delighted by the support and investment from
Advantage West Midlands, which has enabled us to install cutting
edge equipment that gives us an all important competitive edge and
which helps safeguard local jobs.
"Although we have only had the new machine since April we
already anticipate payback within three years, which is excellent
in today's tough manufacturing environment.
"The machine helps eliminate subcontracting costs and puts us
back in control of deliveries as well as keeping our prices
competitive, a factor that is crucial to our ongoing success."
Phil Baron, Grants for Business Investment Policy Manager at
Advantage West Midlands, said: "PJ Tooling should be applauded for
its commitment to growth and its investment, particularly during
the recession. The project is safeguarding at least two jobs in the
area and developing employee skills.
"And it's great to see another local firm, Coventry based
Sodi-Tech EDM Ltd, providing the equipment that is proving so
important to PJ Tooling's latest success.
"This is exactly the type of project Advantage West Midlands is
here to support, where a regional business is helped to grow and
jobs kept for local people.
"From a West Midlands perspective, it is also good to see a
company using higher technology to improve productivity and to see
the region's traditional manufacturing expertise helping a business
succeed.
"Among many other factors, the rise in number and size of
companies generating higher Gross Value Added is essential for the
growth of the regional economy and vital in helping close the
£10 billion output gap - the single greatest challenge facing
the West Midlands economy."
PJ Tooling designs and manufactures cutting edge production
tools for the automotive, hydraulics, defence and aerospace
industries, as well as making port contour tools for fluid power
and instrumentation applications.
The company also manufactures all types of production tooling
for both original equipment manufacturers and sub-contractors
involved in all sectors, including orthopaedic surgery, machine
tool and the marine industry.