COMPONENTS manufacturer Advanced Couplings has expanded and modernised its operations by buying a new 28,000 sq. ft. base on Keighley’s Riverside Business Park.

The firm, which specialises in stainless steel tube and pipe connections for the dairy, pharmaceutical, hospital and associated industries, has also invested £50,000 in a state-of-the-art coordinate measurement machine to ensure the accuracy of its component designs.

Advanced Couplings, which has 16 employees and a turnover of £6 million, has also achieved the ISO 9001 quality accreditation .

Jamie Kendrick, quality assurance manager, said: “ISO 9001 allows assured quality control which means that our customers can have 100 per cent confidence in our manufacturing processes and our products.

“We’re incredibly proud of the high standard of our products and ISO 9001 also enables full traceability which means that we’re able to offer an even higher standard of service to our customers.”

The new coordinate measurement machine checks that the tolerance of the measurements of each finished component is correct.

Jamie added: “We invest a great deal of time and energy into the development and improvement of our products and the CMM is part of our overall strategy to ensure outstanding quality throughout our product range.

“In addition, the CMM helps us to guarantee virtually 100 per cent compatibility between Advanced Couplings’ components and the systems which they are used in.”

The company’s products are stocked and distributed worldwide through its agents and meet ever-increasing hygienic demands on the pharmaceutical and fluid handling industry,.

Meanwhile, bed specialist Matza has invested £400,000 in new equipment to increase efficiency and has created ten jobs at its West Yorkshire headquarters.

The family-run manufacturer, which sells its own beds and mattresses to both large independent and smaller stores as well as producing beds for leading high street chains, has boosted production with a new state of the art router and top of the range foam cutter.

Asif Ayub, managing director, said: “The new machinery, recently installed in our 60,000 sq ft factory, will give us ten times more efficiency. The foam cutter is far faster than our previous machine and does a better quality job. The router gives a nice, clean finished product which we can then upholster.”

The machinery comes with 12 tools and 25 cutters and makes all the changes automatically.

Said Asif: “It is more modern and so much safer to operate as well as allowing us to double production. In addition, we’ve been able to create some new jobs, investing in people as well as machinery going into the future.”

Matza has established itself as the manufacturer of choice for contemporary, well-designed beds within a realistic price range achieved through operational efficiencies and a policy of ongoing investment in leading edge technologies.

Said Asif: “We continue to develop our products, pushing innovation within our industry and this latest investment will enable us to expand our business further.”

Matza makes mattresses and design-led, upholstered bedroom furniture at its production facility in Dewsbury. It deals with international retailers, smaller independents and contract clients, providing a personalised and bespoke service.

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