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Owner/Director, Karen Robson, shares her experience of driving a British Army FV432 Tank. Totally out of my comfort zone, into the tank I went. The inside was very cramped and I could barely move. This gave an insight into battle conditions giving me a newfound respect for our Armed Forces. The tank was surprisingly straightforward to drive, with two levers. Push forward to drive, pull backwards to steer left/right. Handbrake is a button on the top of each lever. Automati

MEC Precision Engineering (previously M E Cooper & Son), acted as primary contractors on the demolition of the Britannia works in Thurmaston in the early 1980s. Dave Cooper (son of the founder Malcolm Cooper) worked on the project and still works for the company today. Dave recalls how the wrecking ball bounced off the tower due to its concrete structure, forcing them to call in the explosive experts to complete the demolition. Current Owner and Director Roy Robson (nephew o

A year ago today MEC Precision Engineering began the daunting task of relocating its works from Sileby to the neighbouring village of Barrow upon Soar, Leicestershire. Thanks to our excellent team (pictured), the move was completed successfully well within the timescale of the one week shutdown. One year on and the move has proved very positive for business with continued growth in our customer base. Thank you to all of our customers for their support. Pictured with the Swift

Despite the poor weather conditions the relocation progresses as another delivery of machinery arrives at Barrow upon Soar including the Elga, Turret Mill, Huron Universal Milling Machine and the small Tos Centre Lathe.

Malcolm Cooper, founder of MEC, pictured with our Large Swift Lathe in the early 1990s when the company was based in Quorn. The lathe is still in use and serving us well.

We have experience of machining Hardox®, the world's leading abrasion-resistant (AR) steel and are currently machining Hardox® 400 in our workshop. Our CNC Vertical Machining Centre is machining the profiling, drilling and tapping, the Horizontal Borer is profiling and slotting, and the Radial Arm Drill is also carrying out drilling and tapping. With its good workshop properties, Hardox® can be bent, formed and welded, and it will keep resisting cracks and crack propagation

The relocation of machinery from Sileby works to the new location in Barrow upon Soar completed ahead of schedule thanks to the relocation team, who worked tirelessly in difficult conditions to get the job done. Thanks to the professionalism of Richard Price, Machine Mover, all machinery arrived safely at the new location. Well done and thanks to all involved. Pictured left to right: Jed Cooper (Apprentice Mechanical Engineer), Roy Robson (Director), Jamie Robson (Business

Our CNC Vertical Machining Centre has a work envelope of 1650mm x 700mm x 700mm. This allows us to produce larger, more complex components and shorten lead times. It can perform 3 dimensional machining such as Helical Circular Interpulation as shown in our video below.

The price of steel is rising quite sharply and here at MEC we feel it is important to inform our customers of changes in the market. This will enable our customers to prepare and make any necessary changes to their product pricing to absorb rising costs. Deliveries in January saw increases of between 10% - 15% and further increases during Quarter 1 and Quarter 2 cannot be ruled out. Some of the main factors affecting the current increases in the price of steel are; the weake

The sale of Tata Steel's UK business is on hold as the company considers a European tie-up, creating further uncertainty for British steelworkers. Read more