Stainless Steel World Magazine March 2026 | Página 11

phase, our workforce will reach around 75 people.” The site also provides substantial headroom for future growth, with extensive land and manufacturing space.“ Crucially, it seals our independence,” Havenhand adds.“ We now control every process in-house.”

Contract processing and specialist hire work Alongside its own production, Pro-Roll remains deeply committed to contract processing- a service that reflects the company’ s origins and continues to be a major part of its business.“ We process customer-owned material at any stage of manufacture,” Havenhand explains.“ A significant volume comes from mainland Europe, where specialist grades are shipped to us for rolling and finishing before being returned.” Brexit has not disrupted this activity thanks to Pro-Roll’ s use of Inward Processing Relief( IPR), which allows materials to move freely for processing without attracting duties or tariffs. The company also undertakes specialist processing work for customers in the United States. One example involves a German medical implant manufacturer producing cobalt-based alloys for hip, knee, and spinal implants. The customer casts the billets in-house, ships them to Pro-Roll for rolling into precision bar

Pro-Roll offers small-volume tailor-made melts to any recipe. diameters, and then completes final machining back in Germany.“ Mills and distributors from all over the world send material to us for specialist processing- from aerospace and motorsport to defence and medical,” says Havenhand.

Highly specialised sectors Pro-Roll also manufactures proprietary alloys for highly specialised applications, including nuclear reactor components for submarine programmes. Nuclear power generation is another key sector, with long-term supply contracts for specialist stainless grades used in reactor designs. The emergence of Small Modular Reactors( SMR) technology is an interesting future application for the specialist mini mill. Civil aerospace continues to grow in importance, supported by recent accreditations, including SAFRAN Group approval for helicopter engine applications.“ We continue to work through OEM qualification programmes and in-house approvals across multiple aerospace platforms.” The company’ s ability to produce small, bespoke batches of alloys has led it to develop a strong customer base in other demanding industries, including the petrochemical, motorsport, biomedical and general engineering sectors.

The 1000-Tonne open die forging press in action.

Small-batch capability and manufacturing flexibility Pro-Roll’ s niche is flexibility, particularly where large mills are constrained by minimum batch sizes.“ We can even manufacture single bars if required,” says Havenhand.“ That level of flexibility is critical for expensive alloys where a customer may only need 50 kg, but a large mill requires a 500 kg minimum.” The company’ s melting operation can produce melts as small as five tonnes, compared with industry norms of 35 – 75 tonnes.“ That opens the door for custom alloy development, specialist prototypes, and highly targeted production runs. Larger quantities are naturally more economical, but our real value lies in the ability to manufacture what others won’ t.”

A specialist partner for complex materials Pro-Roll now operates as a fully integrated specialist mini-mill serving some of the most demanding sectors in global engineering. It has attained a wealth of customer approvals over the years, enabling it to provide alloys of the highest quality.“ As an approved manufacturer, we pride ourselves on offering our customers the highest level of quality and satisfaction, regardless of the material’ s final application,” continues Havenhand.“ As such, we strive to obtain industry-recognised approvals that put our customers’ minds at rest.” Pro-Roll currently holds:

• ISO 9001 / AS 9100

• NADCAP Heat Treating( Merit Program)

• SAFRAN Helicopter Engines Approval

• Rolls-Royce Aerospace SABRe

• Rolls-Royce Nuclear GS3001

“ We focus on niche materials, difficult grades, and applications requiring a high degree of metallurgical and process expertise,” Havenhand concludes.“ These are often areas that fall outside the commercial priorities of large-volume producers- but for us, that complexity is exactly what makes the work so compelling.”

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