Member Article

Birmingham Prototypes set to capitalise on £1.2m investment

A leading sheet metal specialist is planning to almost double its turnover after making one of the biggest investments in its history.

Birmingham Prototypes Limited (BPL), which was founded by Mick Adams in 2004, has spent £1.2m on a 5,000 sq ft extension of its Redditch factory and the installation of a state-of-the-art TRUMPF 7040 5-axis fibre laser cutter.

One of the first of its type to be installed in the UK, the machine gives the growing company the ability to offer a full turnkey solution for automotive and aerospace customers looking for prototype components and low volume production.

The firm believes annual sales will grow by £2m thanks to this new capacity, with three new people added to the 16-strong workforce to cope with the expected increases in demand. More recruits are planned for later in the year.

“We have a long history of producing parts that require 5-axis laser cutting, but with increased scheduling and quality issues associated with sub-contracting out the process, we realised the time was right to bring the full manufacturing process in-house,” explained Mick.

“This gives us greater control, the ability to turnaround customer requests quicker, not to mention new capacity to go after new work…vital if we are looking to grow over the next five years.”

Birmingham Prototypes Limited’s business has been built on tackling complex customer requirements for prototype or low volume parts.

Its expert team of engineers have many years’ experience of working with tier 1 and original equipment manufacturers at the early stage of design and then managing the project through to completion.

Every completed part passes through BPL’s laser scanning inspection facilities, which feature a CMM touch probe and 3D laser scanner (accurate to 6 microns) and a handheld arm accurate to 15 microns – again equipment all purchased in the last year.

The customer then receives parts with all the necessary documentation, such as PPAP, FAIR and IDMS.

Mick went on to add: “Automotive and aerospace are our two main markets. However we also have clients involved in rail, defence, medical and energy sectors.

“Our full range of expertise spans tooling design and manufacture, press work, fabrication, assembly and general sheet metal working.”

He concluded: “The laser gives us a new service that we didn’t offer before, giving our customers a full turnkey solution for outsourcing prototype and low-volume production sheet metal engineering.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Russ Cockburn .