WiredInUSA September 2019

Image: Alloy Wire International

Wire investments

The UK’s Alloy Wire International, a manufacturer of round, flat and profile wire, has invested in 560mm single block and 200mmmulti-block drawing machines. The installations will increase capacity and secure AWI’s three-week lead times, valued by customers in the automotive, aerospace, nuclear and oil and gas sectors. A round of new investment has included internal and external refurbishments, new floors in the flat wire rolling department and, following consultation with employees, a re-organization of the manufacturing plant to deliver further production efficiencies. Ian Fitzgerald, operations director at AWI, said: “Our rapid growth has been driven by our ability to provide over 60 high- performance alloys to our customers, quicker than anyone else, and this is something we need to maintain.

“That’s why we’ve decided to look at our manufacturing facilities and identify certain areas where installation of new machinery would be beneficial. This has seen us source and configure new wire drawing machines, which come with touch screen technology that gives the operator more real-time information such as length to weight conversion and machine temperatures.” Mark Venables, managing director of AWI, said of future spending: “We already have plans in place to purchase a multi-hole oil drawing machine and laser guided re- spooling winders. “None of our purchases are off-the-shelf; there is always the opportunity to configure the machines to our exact production requirements.”

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wiredInUSA September 2019