Tube Products International March 2015

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March 2015 Tube Products International 13
business & market news
Caparo invests €4mn in European
operations
Caparo Industries is to invest around
€4mn in its UK and Polish operations.
The business is planning to upgrade
its facilities and equipment in order to
provide higher value added products,
and improve services available to
customers in various sectors.
The company is a diversified manu-
facturer of steel and engineered
products,withaportfolio that ranges from
automotive and aviation components,
forged parts and assemblies, carbon
composites, performance braking and
actuation systems and materials testing
services, to steel tubes, steel wire,
merchant bar and precision steel strip.
The business serves a wide variety of
customers in industries from stockhold-
ing and distribution of steel products,
to OEMs and off-highway vehicle
manufacturers, the motorsport industry,
railways, aerospace and marine.
In order to better cater to market
requirements, the company has
approved a €2mn investment plan for its
precision tube mill in the West Midlands,
UK. This also includes expanding and
improving its downstream distribution
and customer service offering in the
UK precision tube market. This is in
addition to a further €2mn programme
at Caparo’s Polish forging business,
Caparo Forging Bomet, which is already
underway.
Caparo’s UK investment schedule, which
extends through to 2017, is currently
at its first stage of implementation.
It includes the establishment of new
manufacturing operations and the
upgrade of the business’s capabilities
for adding value to customers with
services such as heat treatment,
precision cutting, laser profiling and
non-destructive testing. Caparo will also
be upgrading its Flo-Coat mill in order
to expand production capability and
increase size range.
“The above developments are only the
beginning for us,” said Douglas Dawson,
chief operating officer at Caparo.
“We are presently laying the foundations
for future substantial investment in
our UK tubular operations, which
will include laser cutting, new heat
treatment facilities, stainless steel
production, additional manipulation
cells and tube mill upgrades. The aim
is to use our extensive resources and
engineering skills to grow into higher
value added products and services,
and to become the premier supplier of
tubular solutions, not only in the UK but
in Europe.”
Caparo Industries plc – UK