Catnic ups production capacity with new plant in Caerphilly

Corus subsidiary Catnic has opened a new lintel fabrication plant in Caerphilly in order to capitalise on the growing market for fabricated products.

The new plant, less than a mile from the company’s existing facility, increases production capacity threefold. More importantly, however, it also allows the company to increase the flexibility and speed of production and delivery.

“We want to reduce lead times and the extra capacity allows us to do this,” said Malcolm Boyles, managing director. “We’ve got some fairly sophisticated predictive demand software that means we’ll be able to carry some stock.

“This will give us the option to respond to peaks in demand and we will be able to offer reduced lead times even during these peaks.”

According to Boyles, the market for fabricated lintels has enjoyed significant growth recently due to planning requirements for more diverse house design and also the construction of more blocks of flats.

[Contract Journal, 8 November 2006, p13]