A NORTH-EAST engineering firm is helping to revive the fortunes of a manufacturing hotbed by investing hundreds of thousands of pounds in new machinery and recruiting workers.

Darlington-based Mech-Tool Engineering, one of the town's biggest private employers, has spent about £500,000 on a new press brake which will allow it to make virtually all of its fire, blast and noise protection products in-house, whereas previously it sub-contracted about half of its steel pressing work.

The move is the latest positive development announced by an engineering firm in Darlington, following a tough spell for the sector. Cummins Engines, Henry Williams and Amec have all won major contracts in recent months; marine engineers Tekmar and Tompkins UK have opened new offices in the town; and CTC Marine is building on its success by expanding operations overseas.

After announcing Mech-Tool's investment, operations manager Kevin Harland said: "Darlington has a long and successful engineering tradition which has been progressively eroded over a period of years, and we believe this development in our own capabilities is also an important development to help the town re-emerge as a manufacturing force in the regional economy.

"In the past, the limitations of our pressing capabilities required us to outsource nearly 50 per cent of our product range. Now, with this fantastic addition to our capabilities we will be in a position to process more than 90 per cent of our product range in-house and, more than that, anticipate that many engineering firms will look to sub-contract specialised pressing work to us, rather than sending it outside the region."

The move has already secured additional work for Mech-Tool and the company, the second largest engineering employer in Darlington with 170 staff, has recently appointed two new press operators.

The press supplied by Ermaksan CNC and installed by another North-East company, AFM Europe of Cramlington, Northumberland is believed to be the only one of its type in the country. The company has also acquired a CNC plasma cutting machine and has invested in a range of welding equipment.

Mr Harland added: "The investment has been driven by new work coming up in the oil and gas, nuclear and renewable sectors, but also, in the current climate, customers require their products in larger sections in order to be more cost effective and also to reduce the amount of site work.

"We now have a suite of modern pressing, cutting and bending machinery to enhance the products and services we can offer our clients and have already begun marketing ourselves as a state-of-the-art preparation facility for steel fabrication."