Protolabs invest GBP 5M in expansion

The company is currently building a 50,000 square feelt extension to its Halesfield facility. It will house at least 50 additional CNC machines and a further 20 additional injection moulding presses, a press release states. The project is set to be completed and the new space operational by early 2020. Over the course of the next 2 years the investment will also create 60 new high-skilled jobs in Shropshire. Bjoern Klaas, Vice President and Managing Director of Protolabs Europe, commented: “The focus now, more than ever, is on speed and making sure new products and components are either first to market or ready when the end customer needs them. We are ideally set-up to meet this requirement, with a combination of our design and analysis team, bespoke production software and, once the expansion is complete, around 300 CNC milling, CNC turning and plastic injection moulding sampling and production machines at our disposal." He continued: “Despite uncertainty surrounding Brexit, we are confident that our recent growth will continue and the expansion of our factory gives us an additional 16% capacity and, importantly, the level of technology we need to help us reach our five-year target. At the moment, we employ over 440 people in Telford and we expect to reach more than 500 employees between now and the end of 2021. We are actively seeking people with the right skills that fit the Protolabs culture.”