TPT September 2011

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Industry N ews
SSC LASER has opened three new sales
offices and is planning to develop them
into stand-alone manufacturing sites once
it has built up a local customer base.
It comes after the company invested
£800,000 in new machinery at its Hixon,
UK headquarters – the biggest single
investment it has ever made.
Sales director Andy Evans said the
investment in new offices and equipment is
part of SSC’s drive to become the biggest
laser cutting firm in the UK.
He said: “Our industry is quite parochial
and you tend to find that buyers like to use
suppliers that are in their area.
“So our vision is to develop a
nationwide network of SSC centres to
give customers a local service.
“I shall be extremely disappointed if 10
years from now we don't have at least 20
of these centres dotted around the country.
This will make us by far the biggest
laser cutting company in the UK, which is
exactly what we want to be.”
The sales offices, in Sunderland, Castle
Donington and Reading, currently employ
eight people between them – three in
Sunderland and Castle Donington and two
in Reading.
Sales manager Andy Hume said:
“Obviously, the minute we turn one of the
sales divisions in to a manufacturing facility,
we will need to employ further.”
At SSC's New Road headquarters,
which employs 41 people, bosses have
invested £800,000 in a new Adige LT8
tube laser cutting machine and associated
handling equipment.
Mr Evans said: “We didn’t just want to
be a flat bed laser business because there
are already 500 of these in the country.
The new tube laser facility gives us a
unique selling point because customers
can now come to us for all their laser cutting
requirements. We can handle all kinds
of sections – box, circular, hollow, angle,
channel, flat, irregular – and manufacture
parts up to 8.5 metres in length. There
aren’t many people who can do this.
“It’s also more cost-effective and
convenient for customers if their complete
order can be processed under one roof
rather than having to deal with separate
suppliers.”
SSC, which was founded in 2000, is
co-owned by Mr Evans and managing
director Austin Jarrett. It makes precision-
engineered components and finished
products for a range of manufacturers.
Staff work continuous shift patterns 24
hours a day, seven days a week, which
means they can turn orders around within
two to three days.
SSC Laser – UK
Website:
UK laser cutting firm set to expand
its operations nationwide