Leeds engineering company, Pickersgill-Kaye Ltd, has announced investment of over £300,000 in new equipment. It’s in a move it says will boost its capacity as it continues to win new business in the UK and overseas.
The news comes just after the company’s statement last month that its export order book for 2008 had topped the £1 million mark.
Pickersgill-Kaye, which employs around 70 people, is in the railway and high security fields where it supplies locks and other specialist products. Recently saw the development of its range of mechanical and electro-mechanical locks for police custody suites, detention centres and prisons, as well as perimeter gate locks for the protection of national critical infrastructure.
Amongst the new equipment is a heavy duty vertical CNC machining centre, which will be used in part for manufacturing the heavy steel locks used to secure prison and police cells in the UK and overseas. The new machine can be left to run unmanned for periods of time freeing staff to work on other jobs. The centre is fitted with status indicators which can be monitored quickly, and also features tool breakage detection and high pressure coolant systems with mist filters.
Two compact Bridgeport GX480 vertical machining centres will be used for a range of components, offering increased spindle speed and a more consistent finish – resulting in an increase in capacity by up to 50 percent, according to the firm.
A Gildemeister CTX410 twin spindle lathe will boost the range of components Pickersgill-Kaye can produce. More of the process of handling the components is automated so labour input is reduced, while achieving a more consistent finish.
Pickersgill-Kaye’s manufacturing manager Simon Barnes said: "This new equipment will allow us to boost our production capacity further, and cut costs while ensuring an even better quality finish on all the components we manufacture."
