Construction work has started on a new, GBP 10m, manufacturing facility, technical centre and offices for Trelleborg Industrial AVS (Evington Valley Road, GB-Leicester LE5 5LY; www.trelleborg.com), the industrial rubber-to-metal anti-vibration mountings business formerly known as Metalastik. The 13,000 square metre premises, on the northern edge of Leicester some 10km from its existing site, will incorporate a wide range of new equipment as well as the existing plant and tooling, all of which is to be refurbished. Building work started on 1 October and is expected to last for 52 weeks.

The new plant will utilise modern process technology as much as possible. This will see the progressive phasing out of solvent usage and the elimination of carbon black from mixing operations, as masterbatch will be supplied from other factories within the Trelleborg group. Material handling operations will be improved and work flow optimised.

“The new factory will be a centre of excellence offering the market world-class products and technology,” said Trelleborg IAVS president Leif Olsson. “It will enable us to improve performance, quality, delivery and competitiveness.”

Approved to ISO 9001, Trelleborg AVS is part of the group´s automotive business. It was formed in 2000 following the acquisition by Trelleborg of the anti-vibration interests of Invensys and incorporates the Metalastik and Novibra brand names. The Leicester site has a staff of 300 and the IAVS business also includes two Swedish factories, at Trelleborg and Sjoebo.