Technology investment for manufacturer to deliver Toyota contract

Manufacturer Sertec has invested £500,000 in a robot manufacturing cell that will enable it to produce parts for the new Toyota Auris.

The Coleshill-based automotive supplier is to produce 80,000 rear seat assemblies each year for the cars which will be assembled at Toyota’s Burnaston plant in Derbyshire.

Sertec will manufacture two variants of the Auris rear seat, with different assemblies for the hybrid and all-electric models, after being awarded the contract by Toyota supplier Adient.

Colin Partridge, Head of Welding Projects at Sertec Group, commented: “The contract to make the rear seats’ cushion assembly for the Auris is our first venture with Adient / Toyota and a very important one for the company. We needed a completely new robot manufacturing cell, which would have the flexibility to weld the different seat structures required by Toyota.”

It has invested in a robot welding cell, which was designed and created by Cyber-Weld. Many of the welds on the Auris seat structures are deemed safety critical and the cell has been equipped with a weld monitoring system, to monitor and record every weld.

Fraser Reid, managing director at Cyber-Weld said: “The new cell is a state-of-the-art robot welding cell complete with a range of technologies that will ensure the highest levels of productivity allied to guaranteed weld quality on safety critical components.”

Sertec specialises in aluminium welding techniques alongside more traditional resistance and MiG welding. The move into aluminium welding has helped support the company’s long-term relationship with Jaguar Land Rover, which now includes a manufacturing facility in Hungary to support the carmaker.