A CHESTER-le-Street steel supplier has splashed out £500,000 on mental cutting equipment designed to boost production.

Armstrong Steel has bought the specialist piece of machinery which is set to increase production by nearly a quarter and significantly reduce delivery times to the company's customers.

The Combination Line machine, which slits, blanks and de-coils sheet steel, is the only machine of its kind in the North-East and Scotland.

General manager Rob Ridge said they aimed to deliver within 48 hours of an order being placed. He said: "This newly-refurbished Combi Line provides a fast, accurate operation. It can cut steel up to 3.2mm thick at a rate of 150m a minute, that's 20 per cent quicker than our previous capability."