~ Swedish engineering firm Sandvik Coromant to open new high-tech innovation center in Halesowen ~
Work has commenced on a new UK facility for metal cutting leader, Sandvik Coromant. Having been based in Halesowen since 1958, the historical building is now undergoing a revival and will be demolished and transformed into a new landmark UK headquarters. In addition to housing the company’s employees, the facility will act as a hub for manufacturing innovation and customer interactions, forming part of the established Sandvik Coromant Center global network.
Located in the West Midlands, a region that was instrumental in the first Industrial Revolution, the Halesowen site is in the heart of British manufacturing. Surrounded by a mass of original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) and supply chain firms, the West Midlands is the UK’s most active advanced engineering and manufacturing cluster, supporting 14% of the country’s entire advanced engineering workforce.
This prime location, paired with a well-established expertise in metal cutting, makes the Halesowen site the perfect Sandvik Coromant Center candidate. The company was the first in the cutting tool industry to introduce application centers and, currently, there are 17 Sandvik Coromant Centers located across Europe, the Americas and Asia.
The centers form a unique part of the Sandvik Coromant experience, giving customers the opportunity to get hands-on involvement and training with state-of-the-art machines, measure the return on investment of their projects and gain knowledge from the company’s yellow coat experts. With a showroom that will host its own customer events and technology demonstrations, businesses from across the UK will be able to visit the center and receive hands-on access to world-leading knowledge in cutting metal and working with machine tools.
In addition, the Halesowen site will provide a comfortable and high-tech working space for the company’s UK employees. With flexible, hot desking space for 100 office based workers, the site boasts an eco-conscious design. Key features include the installation of solar panels and 26 electric vehicle (EV) charging points, with the capacity to offer EV charging for all 130 parking spaces in the near future.
“The facility revamp has been a long time coming,” said David Harbon, UK Sales Director at Sandvik Coromant. “While we found our current space was no longer suitable for our needs, this new facility will be fully future-proofed.
“Not only will the cutting-edge, eco-friendly site offer an elevated experience for our UK staff, but we’re transforming the site into more than just an office space. Customers, both current and future, will be able to immerse themselves into the Sandvik Coromant experience, and will receive a world-leading level of support. Our ambition is to create a true innovation hub for metal cutting in the UK.”
“By investing in new application centers, the goal is not only to innovate, but to build on the success of existing locations and foster cross-center collaboration,” adds Helen Blomqvist, President of Sandvik Coromant. “This investment is a natural part of Sandvik Coromant’s focus on growth throughout the complete manufacturing value chain, by expanding our offer as well as reach. This is always done with our customers in mind and our expansion and investments are part of our journey to delivering enhanced machining solutions with an end-to-end impact.”
Work commences on the site in July 2021, with the new facility due to open in Summer 2022. To learn more about the global network of Sandvik Coromant Centers, visit the website.
Image:
Left – Right
- Nick Oakley, Frontier Development Capital – Head of Property Finance
- Angus Huntley, Stoford – Director
- Peter Wilson, A W James – Director
- David Harbon, Sandvik Coromant – Sales Director
- Paul Mace, A W James – Estates Director
- Neil Johnson, Benniman – Project Manager
