Tata Steel has unveiled a new high-tech robotic welding line at its automotive service centre in the Black Country.
The move represents a £4 million investment into its factory in Wednesfield which has created 14 new jobs.
Claimed to the largest in the UK and one of only a few in the world, the new robotic welding line trebles the site's capacity to produce special sheets of steel made from different depths.
These steel parts, which are often used for car door panels, enable manufacturers to make lighter vehicles with lower emissions while boosting miles per gallon.
The new production line can weld more than a thousand car parts every hour with the steel being shipped to car makers across the UK and new orders now being won in Germany, France and the Netherlands.
This is the latest phase of Tata Steel's £20 million investment in the site where it employs 450 people and also supplies steel to key industrial markets such as construction, mining and earth-moving equipment as well as domestic appliances.
This follows the announcement earlier this month that Tata Steel had sold a service centre from its speciality steels division in Wednesbury to commodities trading group Liberty House as part of a £100 million deal.
Bimlendra Jha, chief executive of Tata Steel's UK operations, said: "Our Wednesfield site is the largest steel distribution and processing facility in the country and the only UK facility of its kind supplied by a domestic steel mill.
"This investment in the latest technology means we remain at the leading edge of automotive steel supply in the UK."
Paul Steele, managing director of Tata Steel's UK distribution business, added: "The latest investment in the automotive service centre greatly increases our capabilities and means we can offer our automotive customers a complete, highly-specialised service.
"It will also support our export business to Germany.
"Our unique capability, not currently present in the highly competitive German market, offers design and manufacturing freedom for the premium brand manufacturers there."
