On Wednesday I attended Tata Steel in Wednesfield for the launch of their new £4M investment in a robot welding line.

I am particularly excited about this investment and the 500 jobs that Tata steel in Wednesfield offers to local people.

The new robot welding line is already working at around 90 per cent of capacity producing parts that will become inside door panels for BMW’s Mini 1 and Mini Cooper. When it hits full speed in the next couple of weeks it will be able to produce 2.3 million parts a year.

It produces tailor welded blanks -; sheets of steel of different thicknesses and strengths -; for use by car makers.

The Black Country has a long history of making things and I welcome this investment as it is a great boost for manufacturing jobs.