JLR invests 45 mn pounds in a new press line at Halewood plant

Tata Motors-owned Jaguar Land Rover has invested 45 million pounds in a new press line at its Halewood Operations, near Liverpool, England in a bid to speed up delivery of the company's vehicles globally.

The new line has a combined press stamping capacity of 7,900 tonnes, making it the fastest and one of the biggest and most powerful press lines across JLR, stamping both steel and aluminium panels, the company said in a statement.

Commenting on the development, Jaguar Land Rover, Operations Director-Halewood, said the new press line reinforces Jaguar Land Rover's long term investment in UK manufacturing.

"This investment ensures we can make more panels, even more efficiently and will continue to do so for many years to come," he added.

The new press line will speed up the delivery of the required volume of pressed parts produced at Halewood.

The company said installation of the metal stamping press will be completed by the end of March and trial pressings will commence in April and the facility will begin stamping panels for use across Jaguar Land Rover from the Summer.

"By Autumn the facility will be up to full speed making up to 20 strikes per minute," it said.

The line will help to feed the body shops across Jaguar Land Rover which are working around the clock to meet increasing global demand its vehicles.

JLR had delivered its best ever full year global sales performance retailing 425,006 vehicles in 2013, up 19 per cent.

The company's Halewood plant manufactures the Land Rover Freelander 2 and Range Rover Evoque. The firm has invested more than 230 million pounds in the plant since 2011.

The auto major has invested more than 3 billion pounds in UK supply contracts linked with Evoque production.

While it does not share the annual production capacity, JLR said the Halewood plant is operating at full capacity, 24 hours-a-day, for the first time in its 50 year history.

The workforce at the plant has trebled in the past three years to 4,500 and over 2,200 employees have completed apprenticeships in the past two years, the company said.