FOCUS ON PLASMA CUTTING
A stage structure at a festival .
A fixture cut on the Kerf plasma machine .
IN THE SPOTLIGHT
An UltraSharp plasma-cutting machine has helped Serious Stages to manage its inventory , reduce costs and cut lead times to less than a week .
“ The UK stage and structures specialist now has greater design freedom to develop new parts , enhance its existing portfolio of products and design parts for manufacture and assembly .”
Serious Stages Ltd . is a manufacturer of festival stages ; temporary buildings ; towers ; arches ; sports ramps and bespoke structures for the entertainment industry – an industry that was initially decimated by the COVID-19 pandemic .
Fortunately for the Wells-based business in the UK , it found a new market sector that has exceeded all expectations , trebled growth and increased manufacturing demand . To fulfil this exponential rise in demand , the Somerset manufacturer has invested in an UltraSharp plasma-cutting machine from Kerf Developments .
The company has developed a vast stock of standard stages available to hire , from 12m to 35m wide , along with supporting site structures from video screen supports and PA towers to camera platforms , and bridges to spot pods and VIP viewing platforms .
“ We believe that steel structures provide us with the necessary core strength to deliver event stages and structures engineered to be safe and practical . But what really sets us apart is our ability to design and manufacture completely bespoke solutions ,” Serious Stages told ISMR .
A flexible focus
It was when the Glastonbury Pyramid stage tragically burned down in 1984 that Steven Corfield , an employee of Glastonbury music festival founder Michael Eavis , spotted an opportunity to manufacture high-quality and safe structures / stages for festivals . From the ashes rose a business that has flourished ever since , becoming a leading UK manufacturer of festival and concert structures and the second largest in the world – installing more than 50 structures at Glastonbury each year .
However , Glastonbury and its iconic Pyramid stage are just one festival on the long list of more than 500 annual events in the UK covered by Serious Stages . These include the Download festival ; BBC ’ s Big Weekend ; Knebworth ; Park Life ; the Reading and Leeds Festivals ; Proms in the Park and also stages for acts such as Queen ; Ed Sheeran ; Adele ; Lionel Richie ; Elton John and many others . The company also exports structures to the Middle East and Australia , among other countries .
Unfortunately , COVID-19 restricted business and the company responded by producing morgues for
The Pyramid stage at Glastonbury music festival .
the NHS Nightingale hospitals . Simultaneously , it leased a couple of structures to film studios and , as the pandemic eased , the movie industry picked up and “ the phones didn ’ t stop ringing ,” it told ISMR .
Recalling this period , Serious Stages ’ fabrication workshop manager , Rob Watts , explained : “ Before the pandemic , we were considering a laser or plasma machine , as we were subbing out over £ 500,000 of laser cutting each year . The pandemic halted the decision process , but back in March 2021 the movie industry went back in production and we won a substantial order for the next ‘ Mission Impossible ’ movie . This gave us the confidence to move forward .
A selection of fixings cut on the Kerf machine for Serious Stages Ltd .