Cornwall Group is on target to invest £5m in plant, machinery, IT and the group’s apprenticeship scheme over the next 18 months.
According to a statement, the investment will help to improve efficiency, train colleagues and maintain the levels of quality.
Mark Mitchell, Cornwall Group’s chair, said: “Plant and machinery is at the forefront of most of that £5m in 2024 and 2025, including two toughening plants. As a growing group of glass businesses, our investment must be strategic. There are several parts to the group and they all would like something different and new, so we definitely have a plan.
“Hopefully it won’t be thrown off course with inflation and the state of the economy. But we take a longer view than businesses that have multiple stakeholders. Our view is with an eye on the five-to-ten-year horizon, which means we are fit for purpose, and on the front foot, when the market recovers.
“We want to be leading the market rather than playing catch up. We’ve got a very simple shareholder model, and we want to continue to grow a sustainable business, not one driven by short-term growth.”
Investment in 2023 included a new fire saw, cutting line, and bevelling and processing equipment at Mackenzies; a new heat soak oven at the company’s site in Plymouth, which can handle large units up to 4.2m x 2.7m; and a new £1.5m Bystronic Sealed Unit Line at its St Austell site, which replaced a similar line that was installed 20 years ago, the statement added.
