Investment and portfolio extension underpin tooling manufacturer's growth

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UK manufacturing facility mirrors global strategy

Added to the global headcount of almost 5,000 staff in 43 subsidiaries and huge continuous investment levels, the UK manufacturing facility has mirrored the global strategy. The UK business has recently invested over £1million in new equipment that includes a Studer S20 grinding centre, an Ewag RS15 universal grinder for processing PCD tools, a Doosan machining centre and Lynx lathe for producing tool bodies, a Saacke twin pallet grinding centre for re-grinding drills and end mills and a variety of tool balancing machines. Added to this UK investment, Mapal has also purchased Rainey Engineering in Northern Ireland specialising in the new manufacture & distribution of carbide products.

Commenting upon the company growth and strategy, Mapal Ltd Managing Director, Mr Wayne Whitehouse says: "In recent years Mapal has increased its specialist tooling manufacturers that focus upon very niche drilling, reaming and heat-shrink product lines. With such unique product ranges now being incorporated into the Mapal brand, our product offering has grown significantly. What this means is that product lines considered as 'specials' by most cutting tool manufacturers are increasingly becoming standard stock items for Mapal. With an ever expanding standard stock offering, our response times on these innovative high-end items are the envy of the sector."

"With regards to our production facility in Rugby, the ongoing investment now sees 48% of Mapal's UK business being new or repair tooling that is manufactured here in the UK. Of this 48%, over 80% of UK manufactured tools are special items that are developed by our UK engineering teams in conjunction with the customer. Additionally, over 65% of the UK manufactured products are PCD product lines. Our recent investment strategy is all about underpinning our growth with machine tool capacity that can support this. For example, the Ewag and Studer grinding machines and the new balancing equipment will support PCD tool production whilst the Doosan machines will be dedicated to producing tool bodies and the Saacke grinder will enhance the re-grinding of solid carbide drills and end mills."

"This investment strategy is paying dividends as we have more standard and special products to offer. The diverse product line is provided with Mapal's renowned reputation for quality, precision and service whilst our special products and the bespoke tailored tooling that is designed and developed in-house, can now be supplied to lead-times that will astound any company looking into high-end turnkey tooling packages. As we move forward the investment will continue. At present, we are looking at laser technology for producing PCD disks and also generating chipbreakers on particular PCD tools. At Mapal, we have the best of both worlds. We have an expansive line of high quality products supplied from Germany and this complements the UK division. The UK facility is fully immersed in the design and development and the consequent production and re-grinding of bespoke turnkey tooling solutions," concludes Mr Whitehouse.

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Images of the Mapal Facility in Rugby are attached

For Reader Enquiries:

Wayne Whitehouse

MAPAL Ltd

Old Leicester Road, Swift Park

Rugby

Warwickshire, CV21 1DZ,

Phone: +44 (0) 1788 574700

Fax: +44 (0) 1788 569551

e-mail: sales@uk.mapal.com

Web: www.mapal.com

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Rhys Williams

Pulse-PR Ltd

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Email: rhys@pulse-pr.co.uk

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