Home improvements company CR Smith has installed new machinery at its manufacturing plant in Fife.

The new equipment at the company's Cowdenbreath factory can reduce the production time to make a window from days to minutes.

The 25m long, fully-automated cutting and machining equipment combines a number of processes that were previously carried out separately.

The appliances are part of a £3m investment in a total of five new machines, making CR Smith's facility one of the most advanced in Scotland.

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The factory is now capable of producing 200 windows a day.

Colin Eadie, factory manager at CR Smith, said: "The main benefits include enhanced quality and efficiency. The new machine is capable of carrying out its functions within tolerances of as little as 0.2mm. This means we can guarantee a level of consistent quality which far outstrips industry standards. The real efficiency gain comes from eliminating the 'rest time' that arises between the traditional process steps.

"A window that could typically take up to two days to work its way through the traditional machine shop processes, can now reach the same point in less than 10 minutes. In a business where lead times can be short and expectations are high these gains provide CR Smith Manufacturing with the accuracy and flexibility to always meet our customers' needs."

The automated cutting and machining equipment, which was manufactured in Germany, is the first of this new generation of machinery to be deployed in the UK.

(LM)