Steel firm grows workforce by 25% after completing factory extension
A STAFFORDSHIRE steel firm has created new jobs and expects to double its turnover after investing £2m to extend its existing manufacturing unit and grow its business.
London & Cambridge Properties has completed the bespoke 14,500 sq ft extension for Steel Processing (Midlands), which is based at the Burntwood Business Park.
The extra capacity will enable the firm to meet increasing demand for its products and put it on target to achieve its target of doubling its turnover to £40m this financial year.
The expansion has seen the company take on 15 new members of staff, taking the total workforce to 60.
As well as agreeing to the extension LCP, which owns and manages Zone 4 of the business park, also carried out a number of improvements to the company’s existing 36,963 sq ft unit.
SPM has now committed to the business park for another 20 years after signing a new lease and investing £2m into its business expansion plans, including a new slitting machine.
Nick Liggins, commercial director of SPM, said: “We were running at full capacity on three shifts for some time and we had the choice to stay as we were or to put down new capacity. We took the latter decision. This was driven by the fact that we needed to be able to maintain our excellent customer service levels whilst also having the facility to take advantage of growth opportunities.
“We’ve been at Burntwood Business Park since 1993 and were keen to stay where we were, so we worked with LCP to ensure that the extension was purpose built to our exact specification. We have now installed a Georg slitting line, which is currently being commissioned and should be fully operational by the beginning of November.”
“This is a very exciting time in our company development and we are looking forward to feeling the benefits of having this capacity fully on stream.”
Andrew Preston, industrial portfolio manager, of LCP, added: “We are delighted that Steel Processing chose to stay at Burntwood Business Park. We pride ourselves on working closely with our tenants and assisting them with their business expansion plans.”
