Our new site on Crittall Drive

Growth rarely announces itself quietly. For Lasered Components, it arrived in the form of a second production site on Crittall Drive, right next door to our original Warner Drive factory in Braintree.

What followed was months of fit-out: new power, new flooring, new machines rolling in on the backs of lorries, and no shortage of site inductions taking the manufacturing footprint from 25,000 sq ft to 38,000 sq ft in one move.

It’s the single biggest physical expansion in the company’s history, and it’s already changing how we work.

Why a second site?

Warner Drive has served the company well since 1998, but growth needs room to breathe. Crittall Drive gives a dedicated environment purely for stainless steel and non-ferrous materials, including aluminium, brass and copper.

Separating these materials from our mild steel production wasn’t just about space. It means cleaner handling, better material segregation and less risk of cross-contamination, so the parts leaving Crittal Drive meet the same exacting standard customers expect from every Lasered Components job.

The Investment

Crittall Drive doesn’t stand alone. It’s one piece of a wider £6.5 million investment programme running through 2026, the largest we’ve committed to since the company was founded in 1998.

Across both sites, the laser fleet is growing from five machines to seven, all new TRUMPF systems, lifting the combined rated laser power by 57%, from 84kW to 132kW. The press-brake facility has grown from two machines to five. Later this year Lasered Components are bringing double-sided deburring and edge rounding in-house too, so more of the finishing work customers used to source elsewhere happens under one roof.

None of that capacity means much without a way to see it working. That’s where the Hub comes in, the company’s own quoting, production and customer-tracking platform, built in-house and fully live since January 2026. It gives estimators a live view of stock, capacity and workload when pricing a job, and gives customers a live link to watch their own order move from cutting through to delivery.

More volume, faster turnaroun

Since the Hub went live, lead-time accuracy on customer quotes has climbed, so the date we promise is the date we deliver. Paired with the extra laser and press-brake capacity, the effect on volume has been significant. June 2026 was the busiest month in the company’s history: 644,000 parts across 1,825 orders, output 15% above our previous monthly record & 40% higher than June 2025. Despite that surge, the average time from purchase order to delivery held at four working days, and rejection and rework volumes stayed broadly flat as a share of output.

“The availability of the neighbouring site gave us the opportunity to unlock a much larger growth plan for the company and for our team here in Braintree. This investment increases capacity, creates jobs and keeps us at the forefront of manufacturing technology.” — Karl Willett, Managing Director

What it means for clients

More capacity. More consistent quality. A dedicated home for stainless and non-ferrous work, backed by the same fast turnaround and live order visibility across both sites. Whether it’s a one-off prototype or a high-volume run, Crittall Drive means we can take on more, without compromising on the standard you already rely on.