Concrete produced in a new £3m factory near Ilkeston will be used to create drains on the side of roads across the UK.
The 'magic manhole' production plant, in Stanton-by-Dale, is Stanton Bonna Concrete Ltd's largest investment in a quarter of a century.
It replaces the firm's previous production site for pre-cast concrete manhole rings, which are used within roadside drainage systems.
About one-fifth of the concrete pipes and manhole rings in the UK have been supplied by the company, which also manufactures railway sleepers for networks including Crossrail, in London.
The 25,000 sq ft production site was opened by Erewash MP Maggie Throup on Friday last week.
Managing director Colin Richardson said: "The new production plant will help to make a product that we've made on the site for the past 50 years more efficient and secures the future of the business.
"Some of our machinery was coming to the end of its life and the demand meant it was under a lot of pressure to perform, so there's been a slight change in the technology that's used to create a manhole.
"This is probably the biggest investment the factory has made on this site for 25 years.
"It's a big thing for us and the start of what will hopefully be a continued reinvestment on the site going forward."
Stanton Bonna, which has roots in the village tracing back to 1918, is the UK division of Consolis, a French-based company that has more than 100 factories in Europe specialising in infrastructure, rail and building.
It employs about 160 people, rising to almost 200 through agency staff at busy periods, such as during a two-year contract with Crossrail worth £10m.
The project has also played a key role in boosting turnover to an expected £30m for the financial year to December 2016.
Other projects it has worked on include the Nottingham tram – with all the tram sleepers produced in Stanton-by-Dale – light rail schemes in Manchester and Birmingham, and smart motorways, for which it supplies pre-cast products for cable ducting.
Mr Richardson said the company hopes to get involved with HS2, with phase two of the high-speed rail project set to bring a station to Toton.
"We have aspirations because of our experience in Europe on high-speed networks," he added. "We're probably the largest producer of railway sleepers in Europe and quite unique in the UK as we manufacture those in addition to the drainage products."
Extra capacity was required by Stanton Bonna due to an increase in requirements for off-site manufactured products by the construction industry and the success of its innovative watertight manhole system.
The new production plant is designed to produce the company's manhole rings and street gullies, which are a new addition to its product range and help filter out dirt from reaching sewers in manholes.
At the centre of the investment was the installation of a new Magic 1501 manhole production machine, complete with automated product handling, this summer.
Less staff are now needed to use the machinery but the new building has led to a redeployment of staff elsewhere in the business as it looks to expand its range of products, meaning it could create up to eight jobs eventually.
Conservative MP Ms Throup, who performed a ribbon-cutting ceremony, said: "It is an honour to have been asked by the directors of Stanton Bonna to open the new Magic Manhole production plant at its Stanton-By-Dale site.
"We are extremely lucky here in Erewash to be the home of some of the country's leading manufacturing and engineering businesses, and this new investment by Stanton Bonna is a show of confidence in both the local economy and local people."
Original link - Nottingham Post
