Edwards opens first volume manufacturing site in mainland Europe

Published: 16-May-2011

Investment will bring 600 new jobs to the area

Vacuum technology company Edwards has officially opened its first volume vacuum pump manufacturing facility in mainland Europe. The company has invested approximately £47m (€54m) in the state-of-the-art manufacturing site at Lutín, Czech Republic.

The 20,000m2 site is the new global centre for manufacturing the company’s range of vacuum pumps that are used across a variety of applications, from steel manufacturing to centrifuges in a laboratory. It includes the latest manufacturing equipment together with lean manufacturing techniques to reduce production times.

The new site in Lutín brings Edwards’ total number of manufacturing sites around the world to seven, including sites in the UK, Korea and Japan. In addition, the company has 12 service centres, including one in Brno (Czech Republic) and one in Munich (Germany).

‘Our significant investment in this new site enables us to manufacture closer to customers in central Europe, which improves our response times,’ says Matthew Taylor, chief executive officer at Edwards. ‘It also allows us to raise the bar in sustainable manufacturing, product quality and performance.’

Through investing in the site, Edwards has created 600 jobs in the region and there are many opportunities for local graduates to become part of the global vacuum technology company.

The company’s existing and new products for general vacuum will be manufactured at the site. These include the new nEXT turbomolecular pump, which is critical for electron microscopy and mass spectrometry systems, and the GXS dry pump, which delivers exceptional vacuum performance in harsh industrial processes. In addition, the company will be manufacturing its new CXS dry vacuum pump for chemical and pharmaceutical processes, which will be launched later in the year.

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