BURY-based Wallwork Group is giving its manufacturing capacity a significant boost as part of a planned £2 million investment to be spread across its three sites.

The company is poised to commission a new state-of-the-art brazing workshop at its Lord Street headquarters in the town.

Wallwork already has such a facility at its site in Cambridge, and the investment represents a major expansion in plant capacity and a significant commitment to personnel, training and accreditation.

Vacuum brazing is a technique for manufacturing complex metal components by jointing, using a braze metal that has a lower melting point than the main body material. Performing this operation under high vacuum prevents oxidation of the bonded surfaces to give good metal to metal adhesion and create components of high strength, with better dimensional accuracy and lower stress than welded components.

Wallwork Group, which also has a site in Birmingham, is a specialist in heat treatment, surface engineering, vacuum equipment manufacturing and heat resistant castings.

Peter Cookson, a veteran with more than two decades of experience in vacuum brazing, has joined the company to lead the expansion.

He explained: “These are exciting times. To capture a larger slice of the premium vacuum brazing market in aerospace, motorsport, scientific equipment and oil and gas industries, Wallwork directors have sanctioned a major investment programme in facilities, specialised equipment, bespoke jigs and tooling.”

In the current programme, the company is investing close to £2 million in the business over its three manufacturing sites. This will enhance production capacity, boost research and development capability and reinforce Wallwork's position as a leading component heat treatment and coating processor.

Independent certification of the facility will be crucial to its success. Wallwork already has approval from Nadcap, the leading aerospace accreditation body for heat treatment at Bury.

Ian Griffin, Bury site director, said: “Peter adds a new depth of expertise to what is already a well-established and highly regarded department. We are confident that, with the expanded and upgraded facilities, we will give an exceptional level of service to our customers from prototype and development work through to volume processing, all under stringent quality control and backed by our nationwide commitment to rapid order turnaround.”

Wallwork was established in Stockport in 1959 and has occupied its Lord Street site in Bury since 1980. The company employs a 270-strong staff, 111 of whom are based in Bury.