The UK arm of a Swedish engineering group, with a new UK headquarters and innovation hub for Sandvik Coromant in Halesowen, in the West Midlands.
Sandvik is a Swedish engineering group, and in the UK it is best known for Sandvik Coromant, which makes the cutting tools that machine metal. Those tools are the sharp inserts and holders fitted in lathes and milling machines to cut metal into engine parts, aircraft components and much more. Wikipedia describes the wider group as specialising in mining and rock excavation equipment, rock processing, and metal cutting, machining, additive manufacturing and metrology, with about 41,000 employees and sales in around 150 countries in 2024.
Göran Fredrik Göransson founded Sandvik in 1862 in Sweden, using the Bessemer steelmaking process. The UK was an important export market from early on, and in 1914 Sandvik opened its first sales subsidiary outside Sweden in Birmingham. In 1979 it acquired the British company Osprey. We did not find a formal purpose statement in the sources we read. Instead, a Machinery magazine article quoted David Harbon, sales director of Sandvik Coromant UK, saying that "the UK is vitally important for the company".
The company has operated in the UK since 1942 and in Halesowen since 1958. On 16 May 2023, Sandvik Coromant opened a new innovation hub and UK headquarters in Halesowen, replacing the original headquarters on the same land, in a building of about 18,015 square feet. It is intended as a hub for manufacturing innovation and customer interaction and is part of the global Sandvik Coromant Center network. Machinery magazine reported that over 1,000 people work across the UK Sandvik Group at 12 sites, which is a figure from the 2023 article.
The Mayor of Dudley, who attended the opening, said Sandvik had been at the heart of the Halesowen community for more than half a century and described it as a big employer and developer of talent in the borough. She said it provides Christmas trees for the town centre and local schools, sponsors the youth academy of Halesowen Town Football Club, and supports Halesowen in Bloom. Those are details from a local report on the day and show a company with local roots. We did not find a UK culture page or staff stories.
A company like this employs applications and production engineers who help customers machine parts faster and more accurately, technical sales engineers, product specialists, software and digital manufacturing specialists, logistics and warehouse staff, and finance and marketing teams. The Halesowen hub means that visitors can see real machining in action. Mechanical or manufacturing engineering, materials science, maths and computing are common routes in, and the work links to industries from cars to aerospace and energy.
Website: www.sandvik.coromant.com/en-gb
PURPOSE helps school and university students explore 62 sectors and over 1,000 entry-level careers in the UK, then connects them directly with employers.
Explore PURPOSE