£300k project primes pump firm for the future
One of Sunderland’s largest employers is planning to invest more than £300,000 to prepare the company for future growth.
Castletown-based Pump manufacturer Grundfos has submitted plans to extend its current offices into the shop floor area and is also planning to double the capacity of the company’s internal gantry cranes.
Elliot Watt, manufacturing, engineering and maintenance manager for Grundfos, said: “We currently have two offices, one just behind our reception area and another in the middle of the shop floor, so we plan to bring them together in a new and improved office.
“It will be bigger, brighter and lighter and the move will increase collaboration between the office-based teams – such as engineering, quality, HR, purchasing and finance.
There is also the possibility of creating a mezzanine floor above the new office should we need more space for more staff.
He added: “We’re also planning a viewing gallery for the shopfloor from the new office including several windows and entrance which will help link both areas.
“Dismantling the current the office in the middle of the shopfloor area will give us far more floor space, enabling us to add another four-ton internal gantry crane.
"The additional crane will double our capacity and is a key driver in our strategic growth ambitions for our Engineered to Order (ETO) business.
“It will mean we can work on multiple large, packaged plant rooms simultaneously instead of consecutively.”
The new offices will be inspected by Sunderland building control throughout the project – with final approval due in the spring.
That will pave the way for construction of the new crane to be completed by next summer.
Elliot added: “These changes are about planning for the future, giving us greater capacity to serve existing and new clients.”
Grundfos, a Danish company, is the world’s leading pump manufacturer, employing over 18,000 people globally.
It opened on Wearside in 1973 and now employs more than 160 people.