Leading UK brake lines manufacturer meets demand with £1.4m investment

Manufacturing company, HEL Performance, which exports across the globe, has invested more than £1.4million in new machinery to meet increased demand for its products.

HEL Performance designs, engineers, manufactures and distributes race-winning braking products and related services for the automotive industry. It produces all of its mainline stainless steel and aluminium products on its own machines from its factory near Whitestone, on the edge of Exeter.

Its products are distributed to more than 90 countries worldwide and its stainless-steel brake lines are used in Moto GP and World Super Bikes. Its brake calipers, master cylinders and thumb brakes are all used in British Super Bikes and customers include major British motorcycle marques, as well as automotive manufacturers.

Following its research and development strategy, HEL Performance has further invested in four new Star CNC SW 20 sliding head lathe machines which are used to create its stainless-steel banjo fittings. The investment will reduce production time to 100 seconds each. They have also invested in two new Brother CNC Milling machines complete with Lang Robot loaders to allow the machines to be run 24/7.

Simon Lane, chief executive of HEL Performance, said: “We continue to invest in our facility to meet the increasing need of our customers. Through this investment we will be able to produce 1.25 million more banjo fittings per annum. Bringing in four new machines mean that we’ll have one of the largest amounts of Star CNC machines in the UK increasing our manufacturing capability.

“Our business has steadily grown since we were established more than 25 years ago and we’re grateful to everyone who continues to purchase our products. Throughout this time, we have remained committed to our roots in Exeter and produce and distribute all metal products from our own headquarters. We’re very proud to be from Devon and fly the flag for our county across the world.”

The company’s mobile Race Lab features at the Isle of Man TT, the NW200, and the World Superbike and British Superbike Championships every year, supporting its portfolio of sponsored winners with its range of high-performance braking technologies.