Batten & Allen secures UK first with £500,000 Bruderer purchase for international growth
At the UK’s premier manufacturing showcase this week, a Gloucestershire precision engineering firm has placed a major bet on the future of artificial intelligence. Batten & Allen has signed a £500,000 deal to become the first manufacturer in the country to install Bruderer UK’s latest high-speed press, a machine specifically acquired to produce critical components for next-generation AI chip sets.
The agreement, finalised at the MACH 2026 exhibition in Birmingham, will see the BSTA 280-88-B3 press installed at Batten & Allen’s Cirencester facility within three weeks. Its first major task will be fulfilling a high-volume export order from Mexico for specialised lead frames, the delicate metal skeletons that connect and support the silicon dies inside advanced semiconductors.
The Engine for AI Hardware
The investment is driven by technical demands that are becoming standard in the electronics industry. The new Bruderer press offers what the company terms “micron” precision, referring to its ability to maintain accuracy within millionths of a metre. For Batten & Allen, which routinely works with material as thin as 10 microns, this level of repeatable exactitude is non-negotiable.
Coupling this with a blistering operational speed of up to 1500 strokes per minute makes the machine a pivotal tool. “Our components are used in some of the most advanced electronic applications, ranging from AI chips and data centres, to advanced automotive and aerospace uses,” explained Shawn Batten, the company’s Chairman. He stated the BSTA 280-88-B3 delivers “100% repeatable quality at a speed that makes you competitive.”
This capability is further enhanced by the press’s new B3 control system, which allows for adjustments at micron increments during operation, and the integration of the BSV 170 servo feeder. This feeder is designed for “lights-out manufacturing,” enabling extended periods of fully automated, untended production to meet the immense volumes required by global tech clients.
A Partnership Forged on Trust
The transaction continues a business relationship that spans over half a century and helped define Batten & Allen’s trajectory. The partnership began in 1974 when Bruderer, in a gesture of extraordinary faith, delivered a second press to the then-fledgling company with the instruction to only pay for it once they started making money from it.
That support helped launch a firm that today employs 125 people, boasts annual sales of £25 million, and exports 85% of its turnover. The new machine will be the 22nd Bruderer press on Batten & Allen’s shop floor, with plans for a 23rd in 2027 following a production reconfiguration. Together, their battery of presses produces millions of parts daily for customers across five continents.
Adrian Haller, Managing Director of Bruderer UK, framed the latest deal as a blueprint for the sector. “This is more than just buying a press, it’s a strategic manufacturing partnership where we both maximise each other’s strengths…all geared towards delivering a solution that will drive performance and create manufacturing jobs in the UK,” he said. He highlighted that the full integration of press, feeder, and tooling within a single control environment is a “game-changer” for competing in the data centre and AI space.
Bruderer UK, which recently consolidated its UK operations into a new 10,000 square metre “centre of manufacturing excellence” in Telford, sees a resilient future for domestic manufacturing. Haller has previously noted a “manufacturing boom” and a trend of work returning from China, driven by sustainability concerns.
The deal was struck against the bustling backdrop of MACH 2026, the national manufacturing exhibition running at the NEC Birmingham. The event, designed to help industry tackle challenges like rising costs and skills shortages, has seen strong traffic at Bruderer’s stand, where live production lines are demonstrating real-time part manufacture, including semiconductor lead frames.
