Specialist Black Country manufacturer expands at Pensnett

A specialist Black Country manufacturer with growing order books at home and overseas has expanded again at the flagship Pensnett Estate in Kingswinford.

MTI Welding Technologies Ltd, which makes special purpose machinery to carry out friction and resistance welding for the aerospace, automotive and other sectors, has increased its workforce by seven to 35 people in the last year.

Now it has taken on an additional 9,515 sq ft unit bringing its total space to 20,133 sq ft at the estate, which is owned and managed by London and Cambridge Properties Ltd (LCP). It is its fifth expansion since moving to Pensnett in 2009.

The company has enjoyed increased turnover with success in the export markets, particularly across the Far East and into Russia and Central Europe, and also has a strong UK order book.

In addition to making welding machines, which it supplies to internationally renowned aerospace, automotive, and construction industry companies, it has also developed its own contract welding offering, providing the machinery and expertise to do work on site for its customers.

Managing Director Richard Jones said: “Both sides of the business are doing well. Ours is a very technical offering which involves high end, high quality, technical innovation. With our machines we have streamlined the processes for the end user and we have reduced their costs by enabling them to automate processes.

“We are at the forefront of friction stir welding and our know-how and technology is very much in demand. We have just signed a partnership with St Petersburg University to develop the technology further and we also have links to other specialist universities across Europe.”

The growth of the business means it is also looking to recruit a further three people for its technical and design work.

Richard added: “We moved to Pensnett to enable us to grow and we appreciate the support LCP has given us as our accommodation needs have changed and we have required larger premises.

“We like the estate because it is secure and well run and gives us access to a number of suppliers. It is also well located for motorway links and accessibility to Birmingham Airport.”

MTI is part of a worldwide group with its headquarters in the USA and bases in China and India.

The Pensnett Estate is one of the largest secure industrial estates in Europe and home to almost 200 businesses.

It has accommodation available to let ranging from offices of 141 sq ft to warehouse and production units of up to 36,525 sq. ft. Owner LCP is based there and is one of the UK’s largest private owners of industrial and retail property. Its total commercial property portfolio in excess of 14 million sq ft is held for long term investment purposes.