14.06.2016

Werner invests in UK plant

US ladder and tower manufacturer Werner is investing over $1.8 million in its UK manufacturing facility in Maldon, Essex.

At the heart of the investment is a new BLM Adige fibre optic Laser cutter, to cut treads for the company’s fibreglass stepladders, stiles for box section extension ladders and BoSS access tower components. It has also invested over $100,000 in increased nitrogen generation, which is used in the aluminium laser cutting production, making the company self-sufficient in the gas.

The new machines follow the addition of 2,300 square metres of additional warehousing, including 900 square metres of dedicated extrusion store. In November the company opened a new National Distribution Centre in Burton Upon Trent, which saw the move of finished ladders from Maldon and Belper.

As a result, over 3,300 square metres of production floor in Maldon has been freed up to absorb the volume from the closure of its Belper plant later this year. Wrner acquired the Maldon facility as part of its acquisition of Youngman back in 2014 See Werner acquires Youngman .
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Werner's new BLM Adige fibre optic laser cutter

Manufacturing engineering manager John Darby said: “The state of the art machine from Italy was an investment of over $1.2 million, and forms part of the overall production site improvements in Werner’s Maldon UK plant. The investment in this second laser cutting machine prevents any need for outsourcing and provides an increase in capacity to support growth. The new machinery enables cutting for the D-Rung ladder stiles and Glass Reinforced Plastic treads and horizontals. More critically this investment improves and streamlines production processes, following the production lines moving from our Belper site.”

Nick Platt, regional vice president of operations, added: “Werner has production facilities all over the world, and it’s been great to see the investment in manufacturing in our UK business. We are looking forward to seeing the results of the investments and improvements at Maldon in terms of quality, speed and efficiency at the plant. We’re also investing in global operations, like Vietnam, where we have just installed a new $5 million aluminium extrusion machine, predominantly to supply ladders for the UK market.”