Major machinery investment for engineering firm

BLADE manufacturer Absolute Engineering has made a major investment in machinery to cope with growing demand.

The firm, which is based at Skelmanthorpe in West Yorkshire, is a supplier of carbon fibre doctor blade systems, which control the usage of ink and water used in printing and coating processes.

To handle appetite for their products, Absolute sought advice from business growth service consultant, Abigail Levin, from business support specialists Chrysalis Transform, who recommended the acquisition of a £350,000 machine to automate production of multiple orders, with bespoke systems still made by existing manual methods.

The AMRC Composite Centre was already working with a five axis machine, and composite Centre manager Richard Scaife and project engineer John Halfpenny and helped Absolute try the systems before they bought them.

Absolute’s new American owners, global print services technology group Pamarco, made the investment.

Financial assistance for the purchase of the new technology was provided by the Leeds City Region Business Growth Programme and MAS Yorkshire, now known as Business Growth. 

Abigail Levin, from Chrysalis, said: “When you are turning over £2m, spending £350,000 on a machine is an enormous amount of money and the fact that our client was able to see and test a similar machine was fortuitous.

“Trialing the equipment at the AMRC was a big bonus and gave Absolute and its parent company confidence that the technology would work.”

Richard Scaife from the AMRC said: “We were delighted to be able to play a part in helping Absolute Engineering make the right investment in new manufacturing technology.

“The AMRC is available to assist businesses to develop methods and techniques to advance their manufacturing technology to enable them to grow and compete more effectively”

Abigail Levin, provided project management expertise and, with John Brannock from Absolute, organised the design and build programme.

Absolute managing director Antony Whiteside said: “This machine allows us to manufacture a higher quantity of chambers to an even higher standard than previously and is a reflection of Absolute’s commitment to providing the very best product to our customers.

“Investment in people and equipment is key to our expansion.”