A move from Mapplewell to Carlton Industrial Estate will enable Ultra Systems, a Barnsley company specialising in Spark Erosion, to double its present workforce.

Ultra Systems recently developed a machine which operates 50 times faster than conventional spark erosion methods and have relocated to the unit on Shawfield Road recently vacated by A&H Meyer. The new premises are seven times bigger than those in Mapplewell - our base for the previous seven years. We needed larger, higher quality premises to successfully market the new machine to potential customers.”

The newly developed machine has potential for use in making tablet compression tools, plastic, rubber and glass tool moulds and precision engineering components.

Production Director Ian Armitage said, “The workforce will increase from four to eight or nine virtually immediately. Within a year it will rise to 15 and we will double that year on year.

Staff at the BDA met with both firms & their partner organisations and were able to negotiate a move to new premises for both companies - keeping them in Barnsley.

A & H Meyer, the previous occupants of the Carlton building manufacture lighting and electric office installations and moved to a new 14,000 sq. ft factory at Zenith Business Park, after a 72% leap in sales.

Canadian company Premdor Inc. is among the largest manufacturers and merchandisers of internal and external doors in the world, with over 60 manufacturing and distribution facilities and 8,400 employees. The Premdor Group of Companies manufacture, merchandise and sell their products to a huge range of distributors, home centre chains and wholesale and retail building supply dealers throughout the world. Production is in excess of 120,000 doors per day in 8 countries.

Premdor purchased the Barnsley based ‘Crosby’ door business in 1996. The acquisition makes Premdor a major supplier to the UK joinery industry and provides a springboard for Premdor into Europe.

Barnsley’s enviable location, at the geographical centre of the UK with the M1 running through the middle of the borough, ensures ease of distribution throughout the country. Premdor will also benefit from an existing skilled workforce, experienced management and business support from an established network of local professional advisers.

Wentworth Business Park is a strategic business and industrial location at J36 of the M1 motorway. The estate is well known as the home of Mercedes Benz UK, Volvo Construction Equipment and Gloystarne.

AG Glass & Glazing, part of the Heywood Williams Group have recently relocated to a new 46,000 sq. ft factory at the Business park.

The company, who manufactures sealed glass units for any purpose - industrial or domestic, invested some £3.4 million a state of the art building with plans to expand in the near future. The BDA helped the company secure an RSA grant to set up an innovative glass toughening plant; the company now supplies glass meeting European specifications to the majority of local Upvc unit manufacturers.

Says Derrick Beedham of the Investor Development Team; “The AG Glass offices and buildings at Wentworth Business Park are some of the highest quality I have ever seen. Their location will put AG Glass & Glazing at the heart of Britain’s motorway network, giving them quick and easy access to the rest of the UK.

At the BDA we look forward to continuing our close relationship with the company and helping it grow.”

Not all our industry revolves around engineers & manufacturers, Barnsley is also home to one of the largest and longest established postal Arts education colleges in the UK - ‘The Open College of the Arts’.

The OCA boasts the widest range of distance learning Arts courses available - from garden & interior design to sculpture!

Formerly based at Houndhill the college moved recently to larger modern premises at Redbrook Business Park.

Barnsley Development Agency identified the premises and introduced OCA to the Coalfields Regeneration Trust who assisted in the move to new premises; further assistance came in the form of training grants to Mowlem Training who refurbished the interior of the building creating new offices and exhibition space.

Through the BDA network, OCA were introduced to a number of local companies whose activities have benefited both parties - local high-tech digital printers Jennings DAR printed the OCA’s brochure and World Wide Carpets, who kindly helped the refurbishment project by carpeting the college throughout.

For more information visit the OCA’s website at www.oca-uk.com