Jaguar Land Rover invests 45 mn pounds for Halewood plant’s new press line

Jaguar Land Rover, a company owned by Tata Motors, has invested 45 mn pounds in a new press line at the Halewood Operations in England in a bid to speed up the delivery of the vehicles of the company globally. The new line comprises of a combined press having a stamping capacity of 7,900 tons and it makes it the fastest and one of the most powerful press lines across JLR, stamping steel as well as aluminium panels, said the company in a statement.

Commenting on Jaguar Land Rover’s new development in Halewood, the Operations Director of the company said their new press line reinforces long term investment of Jaguar Land Rover 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 press line will speed up the delivery process of the volume of pressed parts that the plant at Halewood produces.

The company said they will complete the metal stamping press installation by March end and trial pressings will start in April. The facility will start stamping panels for use across Jaguar Land Rover from summer.

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

The line will help the body shops across Jaguar Land Rover which are working day and night so that they can meet the global demand of its vehicles.

JLR had delivered its best ever global sales performance throughout the last year retailing 425,006 vehicles in the year 2013, a rise of 19%.

The company has invested above 3 billion pounds in supply contracts in UK linked with Evoque production.

While the annual production capacity is not shared by the company, JLR said the Halewood plant is operating 24 hours-a-day at full capacity, first time ever in its 50 year history.