Rolls-Royce and Unipart to form joint venture

JV will use software and laser technologies to reduce the time taken to create special tools and prototypes

Rolls-Royce and Unipart, the manufacturing and logistics group, are to form a joint venture for the development and delivery of manufacturing solutions for advanced fixturing and products. 

The joint venture company, MetLase, will employ a team of engineers that will use 30 pieces of software and laser cutting technologies to reduce the time taken to design and manufacture a special tool or product from months to weeks or days.

The new company, which will initially focus on aerospace, automotive, motorsport and the medical market, will initially create about 30 technical engineering jobs at its new headquarters on the Advanced Manufacturing Park in Rotherham. 

A Unipart spokesman told PE: "We've been talking about this for some months. The company will use Rolls-Royces patented software and Unipart will provide the approach to market."

Hamid Mughal, director of manufacturing at Rolls-Royce, added: “We see creating a JV with Unipart as an excellent opportunity to work with a well-established cross-sector partner with complementary skills to help accelerate the development of the MetLase technology and widen its use into a broader range of markets.”