Leading precision engineering firm Formagrind has acquired a new premises from which it will be able to expand its specialist operations in south Wales.
Formagrind, established in 1983, a specialist in the manufacture of improved replacement parts, has customers in the aerospace, defence, semiconductor, medical, automotive and the manufacturing sectors.
The new space, at Unit 10 Milland Road Industrial Estate, Neath, is more than twice that at the nearby Llandarcy Estate, Junction 43, M4.
Formagrind Managing Director Mike Couser said: “The business is working on a number of exciting projects with major customers and the increase in space will enable us to be more reactive to our customer’s requirements. The new property ticks all the boxes in terms of size, location and is ideal for our needs and future plans.
“Formagrind had been looking for new premises for about a year. It is beneficial to us that the site was previously occupied by a firm engaged in precision engineering as this gives us a bit of a head start but we will still expect to need to invest some £50,000 on the new building to modernise and alter to suit our specific manufacturing needs.
“The new facility will allow us to grow and although we are not planning to increase our current workforce of 26 people immediately, jobs may well be created in the future as a direct result of securing new and increased business which is something we will be able to handle more efficiently in the new property.”
Fiona Weaver, of selling agents Hutchings and Thomas Chartered Surveyors, Newport, said: “We are delighted to have been able to satisfy Formagrind’s precise requirements for a larger premises suiting their precision engineering needs.
“Unit 10 Milland Road Industrial Estate has excellent communications links with the A465 Heads of the Valleys road and the M4 at Junction 43 and is within a reasonable distance from their current base for its skilled workforce.”
The former WDA industrial unit, which had been extended by the previous occupiers and has a gross internal space of 10,933 sq ft (1,015 sq mts), was on the market with Hutchings and Thomas at £325,000.