Brandauer, which employs 56 people at its factory in Birmingham, opened the new facility in mid-June and wasted no time in securing £70,000 of contracts from clients in the automotive, medical and renewables sectors.
The SPD reduces time to market pressures by providing fast turnaround and the longer-term possibility to move from prototype through to medium and high volume production.
For the first time in its 153-year history, the firm is able to accommodate customer requirements spanning from 1 off to 20,000 metal components in materials ranging from aluminium and brass to copper and nickel alloys.
Mark Fenney, special products division manager, explains: "This is an important step forward in our development and gives us a low volume capability that we would normally have to sub-contact, or worse still, decline to quote."
He continued: "We try to get involved in the process at the conceptual stage and identify where we can add value and design for scalable manufacture. Now we have the natural opportunity to do just that, and even work with customers on a small batch product introduction before moving on to larger numbers."
The division is the result of a six-month project that involved the introduction of a new material handling approach to create narrower aisles in the warehouse and logistics departments.
This provided the additional space required to develop the dedicated cell and installation of more than £200,000 of new machinery, including multiple low-tonnage presses (3 tonnes up to 60), hydraulic presses, a sheet metal guillotine, laser marking, CNC lathe and a second operation/final assembly area.
Brandauer has also set up a self-contained tool room in the SPD, not to mention its first 3D printer that produces initial prototypes at a fraction of the cost of setting up tooling.
The investment has created four new jobs, with the possibility of a further two apprentices being employed shortly.
This is part of Brandauer's five-year plan to double turnover to £15 million and increase marketshare in Germany, Holland, Scandinavia and the US.
