News: AESSEAL powers up Rotherham Factory for the Future with £9.7m investment
As construction nears completetion at its new Factory for the Future in Rotherham, leading manufacturer, AESSEAL, has placed orders with a total value of £9.7m for 32 robots that will help the company to increase productivity by automating mundane processes and free up people for highly skilled work.
The multi award winning Templeborough company, which designs and makes mechanical seals and support systems for a wide range of global industries including oil and gas, food, water, mining and pharmaceuticals, has grown from a small distribution business based on Attercliffe Road, Sheffield to a near £200m turnover business employing more than 1,800 people across the world.
AESSEAL is currently undergoing a project which includes the refurbishment and “greening” of existing plant as well as a state-of-the-art, 60,000 sq ft extension that will almost double the site capacity. It brings the firm’s total investment in Rotherham to over £61m.
Most of the investment announced this week will be spent on six robotic machine tool cells valued at £1.25m each. These robots will be able to produce parts that are in tolerance without the need for human inspection. The remainder is being spent on 26 auto-store robots to automate the process of storage and retrieval of the company’s engineering products and will be commissioned in 2023.
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Stephen Shaw, Engineering Director at AES, said: “This business has always invested extremely heavily in technology. The surprising thing is that the more we have invested in productivity, the more people the company has employed. It is just that the jobs that people do become less repetitive and therefore less boring, so that human beings can do more of the things that no robot will ever be able to do. Our CNC machinists are becoming manufacturing engineers.”
Chris Rea, Group Managing Director at AES (pictured), added: “We have always invested in the future, but we have also always been prudent about only spending what we can afford. As we were unable to obtain meaningful financial support from regional agencies, the directors prudently decided to extend the project timeframe by five years.
“Although we would have preferred to do it faster, with this extended investment timeframe we know that we will continue to employ more people in higher quality positions. It will take a lot longer than we had originally planned, but our priority is to provide safe, secure and sustainable positions for all our current and future colleagues.”
AESSEAL's Factory for the Future is largely complete and is already part occupied. It is hoped that the expansion will lead to an additional £20m of investment in the Rotherham area over the next five to ten years.
David Montero, who has managed the project, said: “When complete the factory is intended to be an architectural and mechanical and electrical masterpiece. It will be a window to the world of modern manufacturing with light flooding a building full of advanced technology and great people and surrounded by a one-kilometre long TreeWalk that incorporates a mini-wetlands. It is being built to the highest environmental standards and is intended to be the future home for the next generation of local school leavers.”
AESSEAL website
Images: AESSEAL
The multi award winning Templeborough company, which designs and makes mechanical seals and support systems for a wide range of global industries including oil and gas, food, water, mining and pharmaceuticals, has grown from a small distribution business based on Attercliffe Road, Sheffield to a near £200m turnover business employing more than 1,800 people across the world.
AESSEAL is currently undergoing a project which includes the refurbishment and “greening” of existing plant as well as a state-of-the-art, 60,000 sq ft extension that will almost double the site capacity. It brings the firm’s total investment in Rotherham to over £61m.
Most of the investment announced this week will be spent on six robotic machine tool cells valued at £1.25m each. These robots will be able to produce parts that are in tolerance without the need for human inspection. The remainder is being spent on 26 auto-store robots to automate the process of storage and retrieval of the company’s engineering products and will be commissioned in 2023.
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Stephen Shaw, Engineering Director at AES, said: “This business has always invested extremely heavily in technology. The surprising thing is that the more we have invested in productivity, the more people the company has employed. It is just that the jobs that people do become less repetitive and therefore less boring, so that human beings can do more of the things that no robot will ever be able to do. Our CNC machinists are becoming manufacturing engineers.”
Chris Rea, Group Managing Director at AES (pictured), added: “We have always invested in the future, but we have also always been prudent about only spending what we can afford. As we were unable to obtain meaningful financial support from regional agencies, the directors prudently decided to extend the project timeframe by five years.
“Although we would have preferred to do it faster, with this extended investment timeframe we know that we will continue to employ more people in higher quality positions. It will take a lot longer than we had originally planned, but our priority is to provide safe, secure and sustainable positions for all our current and future colleagues.”
AESSEAL's Factory for the Future is largely complete and is already part occupied. It is hoped that the expansion will lead to an additional £20m of investment in the Rotherham area over the next five to ten years.
David Montero, who has managed the project, said: “When complete the factory is intended to be an architectural and mechanical and electrical masterpiece. It will be a window to the world of modern manufacturing with light flooding a building full of advanced technology and great people and surrounded by a one-kilometre long TreeWalk that incorporates a mini-wetlands. It is being built to the highest environmental standards and is intended to be the future home for the next generation of local school leavers.”
AESSEAL website
Images: AESSEAL
3 comments:
Great news for the Rotherham economy. Fascinating that the company is investing in AI. They are developing a robot capable of making derogatory and borderline racist comments every time housing is mentioned on Rothbiz.
Or maybe they're working on a Rothbizbot called Jez that feels the need to belittle any post he doesn't agree with.....
Ah, so most of the posts I disagree with originate with you. If only you would give yourself a tag and stop hiding behind Mr Anonymous, we could have a proper debate. Just a thought!
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