Demand for etching prompts investment for city engineers

A BIRMINGHAM engineering firm has made a new investment into its plant in the north of the city.

Precision Micro, which specialises in chemical etching, has announced the delivery of a new etching and stripping machine at its Fort Dunlop site in Castle Bromwich.

The investment finalises its second new etch room.

Part of a £1.8 million injection of capital first reported last year, the business said it believed it was now placed to meet the increasing global demand for next-generation energy technologies such as hydrogen production and storage, carbon capture and hydrogen electric vehicles.

The new etch room facility is home to six etching and stripping machines as well as a unit which enables larger sheet metals to be etched in production volumes.

Karl Hollis, Precision Micro’s director of engineering, said: “With carbon neutrality and net zero a crucial agenda item for many countries and businesses around the world, there is an ever-growing appetite for complex etched components used in the production, storage, recovery and transfer of green energy.

“This includes components such as printed circuit heat exchangers, busbar battery interconnects, bipolar plates for fuel cells and electrolysers used for hydrogen production.

“The increased volumes needed to meet this demand, however, often require much larger and thicker sheets of metal to be used and after many conversations with customers in the green energy sector, it became clear there was a gap in the market for a supplier that had the capacity and equipment to manufacture these components.”