Abstract: A method and apparatus for manufacturing metallic support beams for windscreen wiper blade assemblies, which includes a supply of metallic strip feedstock in a cold condition, the feedstock being passed in a cold condition through a pair of opposed, spaced apart, cold forming rollers. A spacing between the cold forming rollers is cyclically varied during to cyclically vary a thickness reduction of the feedstock and provide a rolled strip with a cyclically varying thickness. The thickness of the rolled strip is varied in a single pass between the cold forming rollers and the feedstock is worked so that the thickness of the rolled strip varies cyclically along its length in a ratio of least 2:1. Support beams are produced from the rolled strip, each support beam having a thickness which varies along its length.