EDM cuts cycle times
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PJ Tooling has installed a wire electrical discharge machine following a £21,000 Grant for Business Investment from regional development agency Advantage West Midlands.
The Warwick-based engineering firm, which specialises in the manufacture of precision cutting tools for sectors that include aerospace and F1, said the new Sodick wire EDM had cut cycle times from three hours to 40 minutes, which has helped win new business orders.
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.
‘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, added that the investment would help secure local jobs and improve employee skills.
Baron said: ‘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 £10bn output gap - the single greatest challenge facing the West Midlands economy.’
