A global robotics company is set to relocate its 海角视频 headquarters to Sunderland as part of plans to create a new manufacturing plant in the North East.
Yaskawa – part of Japanese manufacturing giant Yaskawa Electric Corporation – is a leading tech supplier of drives, motion controls and robotics and it is keen to take advantage of opportunities in the electric and hybrid vehicles sector. The opportunities in EV tech will see the firm plant roots at Hillthorn Park, next to Nissan 海角视频 and the International Advanced Manufacturing Park (IAMP), where it is opening a 35,000sqft facility.
The company is relocating its 海角视频 operation to Wearside from Oxfordshire, in a move which is set to create around 35 new jobs in the next two to three years, as well as safeguard existing roles. David Walsh, managing director at Yaskawa 海角视频 Ltd, said the company is moving here to be at the "heart of one of the 海角视频’s largest manufacturing clusters".
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He said: “We continue to see positive growth and investment changes across our European organisation which includes the continued desire to invest in the growing opportunities for 海角视频 markets in the robotics, drives and motion control industries we work in. So, it really is a huge vote of confidence in the 海角视频 and our new location in the North East is a huge driver for major industrial investment and opportunities to help shape, create and contribute to innovative automation solutions for several industries such as automotive, food and beverage, logistics, packaging, manufacturing, wood and metal working, etc.
North Tyneside’s Elanders Group has boosted its 海角视频 position after snapping up a regional player in a deal worth more than £100m. The Swedish-owned print, packaging and supply chain solutions provider – which has its 海角视频 headquarters at the New York Business Park – has acquired North West-based logistics and warehousing firm, Kammac. The deal, which adds up to slightly more than £100m on a cash and debt-free basis, sees Elanders increase its warehousing space by more than 5.3m sqft, across 15 new locations. Its pallet storage capacity has also added almost 440,000 units. The transaction will mainly be financed through existing credit facilities.
Kevin Rogers, managing director at Elanders 海角视频, said: “Kammac’s business model is very impressive – they have created success by focusing on offering customers a high level of flexibility for interim storage of their products and components. They have built-up a cluster of warehouses close to each other to bring both large scale, and competitive advantages."
Tyneside industrial cleaning firm Clean Sweep is looking to invest in new staff and technology on the back of six-figure funding.
The firm, launched 22 years ago and run by father and son team Alan and Kai Kristiansen, was originally to provide extraction ducting cleaning services for the hotel industry. It now offers cleaning and environmental management services to clients in the hospitality, healthcare, manufacturing, residential property and power generation industries across the 海角视频.
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Clean Sweep is now focused on sustainable cleaning methods and products, and has tapped into a £100,000 investment from the North East Small Loan Fund, with help from regional fund management firm NEL Fund Managers, to help with the development of new services as well as work on new contracts that are currently in the pipeline.
Kai Kristiansen said: “With a number of substantial new contracts in the pipeline, it’s essential that we can recruit and train up the right calibre of staff to enable us to deliver what’s required, and NEL’s backing is central to growing our team as client demand requires."
BSF Enterprise Plc is in the process of creating a new company with CellulaRevolution Ltd (CellRev), aimed at finding a solution to mass produce cruelty-free lab-grown meat. BSF Enterprise, the listed Newcastle tech company which owns tissue engineering company 3D Bio-Tissues (3DBT) and corneal tissue replacement company Kerato, announced it has entered into a ‘terms sheet’ for an exclusive joint venture with CellRev, a fellow Newcastle biotech business.
CellRev – which this week secured a £1.4m investment – specialises continuous cell manufacturing and was founded four years ago by Dr Martina Miotto and Che Connon, the managing director of BSF Enterprise. The two businesses now want to combine their expertise to help develop a new food technology company focused on developing, and offering to the market, a solution for manufacturing lab cultivated meat, at scale. The joint venture company – Cultivated Meat Technologies Limited (CMT) – will bring together CellRev’s continuous bioprocessing expertise with 3DBT’s knowhow in forming meat tissue and its City-Mix animal-free supplement.
Chris Green, CEO of CellRev, said: “Cultivated Meat is at the cutting edge of alternative protein production, but as with anything this nascent, the scale-up and cost challenges are existential and only through true collaboration and open innovation will we find the solutions. We have observed the early success of 3D Bio tissues with great interest and believe that by combining our knowhow and technology offering, we can offer the market one of the most scalable production platforms currently available.”
In a separate deal, Newcastle University spin-out CellRev secured £1.4m in investment funds to scale up its work. The startup raised £1.05m in an investment round led by the North East Innovation Fund, supported by the European Regional Development Fund and managed by Northstar Ventures, alongside global investor Happiness Capital and CPT Capital. CellRev also secured £330,000 of grant funding from Innovate 海角视频 through its Future Economy Investor Partnership programme.
Property investor Develop North Plc agreed a £2.2m funding package with a Gateshead firm to bring forward a new warehouse facility, helping to create 30 new jobs.
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The new warehouse is being developed by Gateshead-based Jaymac Pallet Services on the Faverdale Industrial Estate in Darlington, having secured the finance from Develop North, the investment fund providing loans to property developers in the North of England and Scotland. The development on the 3.7-acre site includes two connected industrial units, with around 17,000 sq ft of space for storage and manufacturing.
Family run Jaymac Pallets, which was founded in 1997, has its main base at the Team Valley, serving the Tyne and Wear region. The new units are set to operate 24 hours a day, storing, repairing and supplying pallets for the food, industrial manufacturing and medical industries. The development will create around 30 jobs once fully operational.