Italian expertise accessed thanks to CWLEP grant

A Coventry and Warwickshire Local Enterprise Partnership grant has provided the foundation stone for a business to add a new dimension to its growing reputation.

The CWLEP grant enabled Planet Granite, formed in 2002 by Steve Mitchell, to enhance their range with the addition of state-of-the-art Italian CNC stone-processing equipment.

Visitors to Planet Granite's rural workshops and showroom in Devitts Green Lane, Arley, now see the latest machine from Prussiani Engineering, the manufacturer of machines for major global projects like the famous Sagrada Familia in Barcelona.

Steve, who visits northern Italy every month to select the materials used by Planet Granite for their granite and quartz worktops, decided earlier this year to take a tour of the factories producing the latest stone-working machines from Italy. He subsequently purchased and imported a five-axis Prussiani CNC bridge saw – the only one of its kind in the UK – thanks to the grant from CWLEP which is supported by the government’s Regional Growth Fund.

Along with other investments totalling over £200,000, the new equipment will enable the production capabilities of Planet Granite to grow fivefold which, Steve says, will lead to the recruitment of at least four more employees in the next two years.

He said: “The new machines have improved our quality and capabilities beyond our imagination and, like any manufacturing business, it’s all about the investment in systems and technology that make it a success."

CWLEP board member Cllr June Tandy said: "The constant reinvestment in the skills of the staff and the machinery at Planet Granite were among the reasons for their success.

“The Regional Growth Fund paid for a quarter of one of their new machines and the time this has saved means they can take on more orders from customers throughout the Midlands and the rest of the UK."