Tees Components £3m investment safeguards and creates engineering jobs

Tees Components Limited is spending more than £3million to increase machining capabilities, lifting capacity and advanced manufacturing techniques at its base in Saltburn-by-the-Sea, East Cleveland.

A large chunk of the investment, in the region of £1.2m, has seen the acquisition and installation – itself a major civil engineering feat – of a ten-metre travelling precision CNC floor borer, markedly increasing the company’s milling capabilities.

Meanwhile, an advanced two-metre diameter vertical turning lathe, costing a further £500,000, is in the final stages of installation.

The two machines, coupled with a new £200,000 overhead crane, means Tees Components will be one of only a handful of European companies capable of CNC machining, fabrication and assembly of components up to 70 tonnes.

It has also spent £80,000 on a state-of-the-art 3D laser tracker, while a new shotblasting and painting facility capable of handling components up to 20 tonnes and four metres will enable it to offer an increased range of services. A new £200,000 CNC rotary table, capable of loading 130 tonnes, is being imported from Germany for delivery in November, which will provide even greater accuracy and efficiency in the workshop.

The German-made Schiess Horimaster floor borer has already helped Tees Components secure work it previously would not have been able to bid for – the precise milling of a 35-tonne component for global offshore company OneSubsea.

The investment programme, the latest stage of which is supported by £400,000 from the Let’s Grow pot of money made available in round five of the Regional Growth Fund, will help the family-owned and run business target emerging overseas markets in South-East Asia, the Middle East and South America.

Already it has safeguarded 17 jobs at Tees Components’ principal works at Skelton and its sister site at nearby Lingdale, while the creation of a further 19 skilled and semi-skilled jobs, including welders, mechanical fitters and electrical engineers, and an expansion of its highly-regarded apprenticeship scheme, has so far increased the workforce from 60 to 73.

Sharon Lane, General Manager, said: “We have a well-established and growing customer base across a wide range of sectors. With a strong order book and the assistance from Let’s Grow, we had the confidence to embark on this investment to gain a further edge on our competitors. We can now offer precision and advanced engineering services with an efficiency and technology not seen before.”

The company has sold redundant machinery to help raise capital, but Mrs Lane said the level of investment was only made possible by the £400,000 of Let’s Grow funding and praised the role of Tees Valley Unlimited (TVU) and Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council.

She said: “Geographically, we are right on the edge of the (RGF) funding area, so the advice and support of Tees Valley Unlimited and Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council’s enterprise and business growth team has been crucial in steering us in the right direction.

“Huge credit must also go our own management and engineering team, who have not only secured this timely and considerable investment, but have faultlessly delivered a major civil and mechanical engineering project to get the company ready for this exciting new period in its history.”

The company has already recruited CNC operators, a mechanical fitter and electrical engineer, and has taken on a further four mechanical engineering apprentices. The growth in machine shop size means the company is now looking to recruit an experienced machining manager, along with at least two more qualified machine operators.

Added Mrs Lane: “With the jobs situation as it is at the moment, it is massively important that this investment has enabled us not only to safeguard and create skilled jobs, but also to continue and expand our engineering apprenticeship programme. More than a third of our workforce began their careers here as apprentices, so a ‘job for life’ really does mean that here.

“A great majority of our 73 employees live in the same postcode area as their place of work, which gives us a big responsibility as a local employer. Thanks to this investment, morale is high and we have every reason to be very optimistic for the future.”

Tees Components’ successful bid for Let’s Grow money was one of nine private sector bids supported by Tees Valley Unlimited (TVU) and administered by the BE Group, worth a combined £42m.

Simon Allen, Senior Project Manager from BE Group, said: “We were delighted to enable Tees Components to access the Regional Growth Fund, which has in the past been effectively off limits to small and medium sized companies. The Let’s Grow programme is here to provide essential finance so that great businesses like this one can invest and create new jobs”.

Neil Kenley, Director of Business Investment, the Local Enterprise Partnership for Tees Valley, said: “Tees Components shows that if companies have a ‘can do’ attitude, however long they have been established, they can capitalise on emerging markets and remain at the cutting edge of technological advancements.“The company is crucial to the wellbeing of East Cleveland families and individuals with it predominantly employing local people. Its commitment to apprenticeships and training is to be commended and it is very pleasing to see how the Let’s Grow Fund is helping Tees Components to not only safeguard, but create jobs.”

Councillor Mark Hannon, cabinet member for economic development at Redcar & Cleveland Borough Council, said: “It is fantastic to see Tees Components succeeding in their sector. The fact that the council could play a role in helping to secure investment to such a key part of our local economy is testament to the enterprise and business growth team who work tirelessly with businesses in our borough.”