Wall Colmonoy celebrates fifty years of production at its Wales facility
March 10, 2020
Wall Colmonoy Limited, Pontardawe, Swansea, Wales, recently celebrated its fiftieth anniversary since its facility in Pontardawe was established. The Wall Colmonoy Corporation is a leader in materials engineering for aerospace, automotive, glass, oil & gas, mining, energy and other industrial sectors. The UK division exports over 80% of its products into the Eurozone, Scandinavia, South Africa, Russia, the Middle East and India.
The company entered the European market in 1952 with the establishment of a sales office and distribution centre in London which imported products from Wall Colmonoy Canada. As the company grew and the need for local manufacturing became apparent, alloy manufacturing began in Motherwell, Scotland, before transferring to a larger facility in Brackley, England. Due to continued growth in the UK and European markets, William P Clark Sr., Group Chairman, accepted an offer by the Welsh Government in 1969 to establish its European headquarters in Pontardawe, Wales, and construct a larger facility to fulfil the growing demand.
Since then, Wall Colmonoy has increased the capacity of the Pontardawe facility from 3,065 m2 to 6,503 m2, and opened a 2,183 m2 advanced machine shop to support its casting manufacturing facility in 2012. Its current workforce comprises 215 employees, and in 2015 the company launched a tailor-made apprenticeship programme to train and develop a new generation of engineers.
According to the company, it has also invested nearly £500,000 in its Research & Development Laboratory which features state of the art analytical equipment and is reportedly one of the best-equipped laboratories in the UK. In addition to the laboratory, Wall Colmonoy states that it has implemented new technologies in powder processing, automated brazing paste mixing, which its expert engineers designed and developed, and Additive Manufacturing.
Within Precision Components, Wall Colmonoy explains that it is working jointly with local academia to embrace Industry 4.0, by modernising casting equipment and automation techniques through the use of collaborative robots. For rapid prototyping of parts, the team deploys additively manufactured investment patterns and tooling. Additionally, the company recently installed a 5-axis CNC milling machine, new Mazak twin spindle CNC lathes, and expanded a precision turning cell to grow its capacity and offerings.
“Wall Colmonoy is proud to be in Wales,” stated Bill Clark, Chairman & CEO, Wall Colmonoy Corporation. “We have been there for fifty years and plan to be there for many, many more years. We are growing and look to the local community and universities to build our expanding business.”
Rob Davies, Managing Director of Wall Colmonoy’s European Headquarters, commented, “It’s an exciting time, where the landscape of manufacturing is changing, and our team is adapting daily. We have the drive, the knowledge and the backing to thrive into our next half-century.”
