Electrical cable manufacturer Tratos Ltd has been awarded a substantial grant from the Regional Growth Fund (RGF) to develop its manufacturing site in Knowsley, Merseyside. The grant, which is the largest awarded in Merseyside from this scheme, will help ensure the long term survival of Tratos – one of the last remaining cable manufacturers in the country.
Under the RGF, over £800 million has been made available to SMEs and over 2,700 SMEs nationally have received cash from the fund. Tratos is one of 18 companies to be awarded an RGF grant in the North West in Round 4 of bidders. The grant has been awarded to Tratos to invest and strengthen its business and protect and potentially create further jobs in the area – on of the most deprived local authorities in the UK.
The RGF supports projects and programmes that are using private sector investment to create economic growth and sustainable employment.
Investment in manufacturing is at the heart of the Tratos group ethos. The company recently completed the construction of a Faraday Cage test site at its headquarters in Pieve Santo Stefano, Italy which is believed to be the largest in Europe. This follows on the tails of a €6 million extension to the factory to house a new Continuous Vulcanisation line for completely dry curing of polymeric high voltage cables up to 132kV.
Dr Maurizio Bragagni, CEO of Tratos Ltd, explains the company’s commitment to investing in European manufacturing and why this grant is so important to its strategy: “As a company with €150 million turnover, we continually invest in new equipment and staff to meet our high quality manufacturing, ethical and environmental goals. Only modern factory facilities with sophisticated, fast machinery and staff proficient in their use will allow us to compete in this market place.
“Before we bought the UK cable manufacturer that was to become Tratos Ltd, it had been sorely neglected, with virtually no investment for nearly 30 years. We have injected considerable resources into this business and are passionate about manufacturing in the UK and Europe. Being awarded this substantial sum of money from the RGF provides us with the means to modernise further and expand our operations, helping to secure Tratos’ future here.”
A UK manufacturer of exceptionally high quality electric and fibre optic cables, Tratos regularly supplies products for a wide variety of applications within the nuclear, oil and gas, defence, fusion and energy sectors, along with specialist cables for a number of niche markets. Cables are manufactured in modern, sophisticated production facilities with fully trained personnel and technical backup.
In addition to cable manufacture, Tratos supplies a complete procurement service for customers, for a solutions based approach. This added value service, along with the rigorous standards Tratos adheres to, has helped set the company apart from overseas competitors.
Tratos’ Knowsley site is home to four extrusion lines along with multiple laying machines for up to 100 pairs for instrumentation type cables and two BX armouring machines for manufacture of corrugated aluminium / steel armour. Tratos also has two factories in Italy.
For more information, please contact Tratos on +44 (0) 203 553 4810 or uk@tratos.eu or go to www.tratos.co.uk.
