Midlands-based joining solutions provider MTI has secured more than 4 million in EU orders since Brexit. The engineering firm, which services customers such as Dana and Jaguar Land Rover in the UK, has secured contracts with new clients in Italy, Hungary and Germany and are moving forward on key EU ventures whilst quoting for projects in new territories such as Turkey, Russia and Asia.
With service centres in the US, the UK and China and ten representatives spread across central Europe, MTI have been able to successfully upsell automation, consumables and service as by-products of welding machine sales to European customers, and as a result 72% of MTIs products now go to Europe.
A key factor in MTIs European growth has been the development of a Siemens software platform that is now the standard operating procedure for all MTI machines.
After two years of R&D and £200,000 investment, the platform has given the firm significant added sales benefits, helping secure deals with well-known clients in the automotive and truck trailer industries.
A well-known German trailer manufacturer recently ordered a welding system costing in excess of 2.4 million euros that is the first to utilise new patent protected axle technology developed by MTI. With other large orders secured, including a ten year extensive sub-contract welding order for Dana, MTI are now also looking to recruit further skilled engineers to add to their 44 strong workforce based in the UK.
Managing Director Richard Jones said,
We have always worked with the ethos that every local buyer should have local representation, and through utilising a mix of R&D, local representation, technical knowledge and applicable patents and automation we have successfully moved into new territories, and as a result can directly invest back into the business, securing continued growth.
Due to recent significant EU orders, the firm is progressing with an accelerated capital investment programme to support ongoing growth with key customers. Investment projects include expansion from a 20,000 square feet facility in Dudley, UK, along with the creation of a new welding machinery product line. MTI are also expanding into Eastern Europe through the acquisition of a manufacturing plant in Slovakia offering consumables and machine service.
To aid expansion into new territories, MTI will be appointing representation in key emerging markets, whilst cementing their reputation as welding technology innovators through the creation of strategic alliances with leading academies and institutions. With technical agreements already in place with the TWI and the MTC in the UK and EWI in the USA, MTI will be actively looking to develop further beneficial relationships based on innovation within engineering with universities such as Aston, whilst continuing to heavily invest in apprentices and graduates whom they see as the key to the companys future.
MTI are also in the process of entering several high-profile awards, including the Queens Enterprise Awards for outstanding achievement in international trade.