Major investment in UK manufacturing for Dawson Shanahan

In particular, Dawson Shanahan will be investing in a new CNC grinding centre, custom built in the UK by Coventry based E-Tech, plus component preparation and finishing systems, which together will form an integrated grinding cell; additionally, the company will be installing a new high volume degreasing line.

Joint Managing Director, Les Reeves, explains that, “We already have extensive cold forming and machining facilities at our factories in Potters Bar and Welshpool, but now need to add further capacity to meet growing demand from our customers in a variety of markets. This is a significant level of investment, both in new production systems and in additional staff; indeed, we are looking to expand our workforce by around 10%, with the recruitment of six new engineers and quality control specialists”.

The latest investment follows Dawson Shanahan’s recent acquisition of competitor Floform, which saved 12 jobs in Welshpool and has since created a number of new posts in the local area. Les Reeves adds, “As one of the few engineering companies that specialise in cold forming we have a unique product and service offering, with a production technology that is capable of adding real value to our customers’ businesses, through far higher component quality, greater volumes of complex components and with almost no wastage in terms of scrap materials”.

Les Reeves cites a recent contract as a typical example of where the company can offer considerable value to its customers: “We have won significant business to mass produce components for a revolutionary needle-free syringe from a pharmaceutical company specialising in new and innovative application technologies. It is the winning of new contracts such as this that has helped create the need for extra capacity and further growth, as more customers benefit from our precision manufacturing services, backed by our technical and applications knowledge and experience”.