Committed to UK manufacturing

Supporting British manufacturing should make sense with all the uncertainty surrounding Brexit, according to Exlabesa.

“At Exlabesa, we are justifiably proud of our global reach and European roots, but our commitment is very much in the UK, and our Doncaster aluminium extrusion plant continues to expand with a recent £4.5 million investment,” Paul Benn, general manager of Exlabesa Building Systems, said.

The £multi-million investment involved the installation of a new extrusion press, which has taken the company’s extrusion capacity to 18,000 tones a year. The new 35 MN extrusion press will be used to extrude profiles with a diameter capacity up to 254mm.

The press will enable Exlabesa to improve energy efficiency at its plant because it uses start-stop technology that enables average energy savings of 10% compared to modern presses without similar technology.

The extrusion plant is equipped with two ageing ovens, an in-house, powder coating plant, and in-house anodising plant.

“Having complete control over our manufacturing processes is important to us and our customers,” Paul said. “It ensures we can offer a high level of control over quality and, because we extrude totally in the UK, there are fewer supply chain risks. And because we’re a UK aluminium extrusion company selling to UK-based fabricators, our environmental impact is further reduced, protecting our carbon footprint.”