A further £10m investment has been earmarked for Italian-owned Tratos Ltd’s UK base in Merseyside, creating 40 new jobs.
The structural expansion work at the Knowsley plant, completed late last year, has expanded the factory four-fold and brought 150,000 sq ft of new industrial and office space into use. The quality of the development was recognised by the Knowsley Business and Regeneration Awards in November last year where Tratos was awarded Commercial Development of the Year.
The company has seen turnover increase 50% in the past twelve months. An additional £4m will facilitate new machines to speed up and increase capacity for the UK’s second largest cable manufacturer.
New equipment at Knowsley includes a large specialist drum twister for making steel wire armour cables that is capable of twisting cables up to 400 sqmm. Another extrusion line for outer sheaths, up to 4×400 sqmm will be added and a further insulation line.
As Tratos continues its exponential growth internationally, its facility in Pieve, Tuscany, will receive an additional £6m investment: this will fund new machines and infrastructure including a double line for insulation, an additional line of outer sheath and armour and twisting line. Increased capacity at the Pieve factory will generate another 40 new jobs.
Tratos’ UK business aims to achieve a turnover of £100 million by the end of 2018 which is an increase of £70 million over four years with further planned expansion into railways, medium/high voltage energy cables in the utility and oil and gas sectors.
A separate major investment will see £100m dedicated to the creation of a new factory. Currently there are three preferred locations for the development. In the running are the UK, Wallonia Belgium and the Basque Country in Spain. Once completed the annual turnover from the installation will generate a turnover of £500m and create an additional 100 jobs.
Maurizio Bragagni, CEO of Tratos UK and his UK Board are charged with delivering the investments and infrastructure to complement the overall expansion.
He said: “The level of investment we’ve dedicated within the UK, and particularly Knowsley, is a clear sign of our future commitment to the country. We continue to put our customers at the heart of our business, innovate products and invest in our staff – all of which has had a positive impact on growth. Knowsley is now part of the Tratos family, and is benefiting from the company’s expansion programme. We now sell to around 50 countries worldwide and remain ambitious for positive development.”
