Tata Steel UK has unveiled the UK’s largest robotic welding line, which uses high-tech machinery to produce tailor-welded blanks.
The introduction of this new production line has trebled the capacity of the company’s site at its Automotive Service Centre in Wednesfield, West Midlands.
As well as being the largest such production line in the UK, it is also the fastest and most efficient, the company explains. The production line is now able to weld over 1,000 car parts per hour, which are sent to carmakers in the UK and elsewhere in Europe.
Chief executive of Tata Steel’s UK operations Bimlendra Jha pointed out that not only is this now the largest steel distribution and processing facility in the country, but it is also the only one where the steel comes from a domestic mill.
“This investment in the latest technology means we remain at the leading edge of automotive steel supply in the UK,” he stated.
Managing director of the company’s distribution business Paul Steele added that they are now able to offer a “complete, highly specialised service”, explaining that it will particularly benefit the firm’s export business to Germany, where similar capabilities are not present.
In April last year, the Automotive Council released a report on the state of the industry in the UK, and concluded that it is the strongest it has been in decades. According to the organisation, it is on track to produce two million vehicles a year by 2020, beating the previous high of 1.92 million cars per year set in 1972.
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