Automotive Manufacturing and Supply Chain

SPECIAL REPORT: AUTOMOTIVE MANUFACTURING AND SUPPLY CHAIN IRON AWE New markets for an age-old trade pole position Staying ahead of sector competition Forward FOCUS Solving tomorrow’s challenges today

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CONTENTS

CONTACTS

04 news

room501 ltd Christopher March Managing Director e: chris@room501.co.uk Bryan Hoare Director e: bryan@room501.co.uk

The latest stories from the region’s automotive manufacturing sector

14 overview

EditorIAL Steve Dyson Editor e: steve.dysonmedia@gmail.com

Why the Midlands car manufacturing industry is shifting up a gear

18 iron awe Excitement amid the heat and dirt of a forward-thinking iron foundry

24 bq live debate Can we address the skills gap and stop it blighting Midlands industries?

32 keep on rolling How Goodyear and Dunlop are still on the right track after 125 years

38 memory drive A dark day in London puts things into perspective for industry skills leader

46 future proofing Jaguar Land Rover executive director Mike Wright calls for long-term focus

thinking about tomorrow

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SPECIAL REPORT: AUTOMOTIVE MANUFACTURING AND SUPPLY CHAIN

WELCOME Don’t let anyone tell you that the UK automotive industry is dead. Here in the West Midlands, it’s alive and kicking. In this issue BQ2 speaks to Jaguar Land Rover boss Mike Wright about the company’s new momentum and rising global popularity. Erich Fric, the boss of tyre giant Goodyear Dunlop, describes the firm’s modern products in its 125th year of manufacturing. The owner of Bugatti brake parts supplier Alucast explains what it’s like for the SMEs in the sector, and the regional leader of skills body Semta tells us what support the group is providing for businesses. Industry analyst Lord Kumar Bhattacharyya gives us his respected views on the automotive world, and tells us what he thinks is needed next. This ‘what needs to happen next’ theme is a trend throughout BQ2, with automotive skills and training the focus of our live debate. Top companies, commentators and experts discussed skills shortages – and suggested the training actions needed to solve them. Despite the challenges, and regardless of the recession, experts and business leaders are all positive about the West Midlands automotive industry. The future, they all say, is bright – the sector just needs to shout about it.

Steve Dyson, Editor, BQ West Midlands

Design & production room501 e: studio@room501.co.uk Photography Chris Auld e: chris@chrisauldphotography.com advertising Alan Dickinson Project Manager e: alan@room501.co.uk t: 07917 733 047

room501 Publishing Ltd, Spectrum 6, Spectrum Business Park, Seaham, SR7 7TT www.room501.co.uk room501 was formed from a partnership of directors who, combined, have many years of experience in contract publishing, print, marketing, sales and advertising and distribution. We are a passionate, dedicated company that strives to help you to meet your overall business needs and requirements.

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While every effort is made to ensure accuracy, no responsibility can be accepted for inaccuracies, howsoever caused. No liability can be accepted for illustrations, photographs, artwork or advertising materials while in transmission or with the publisher or their agents. All information is correct at time of going to print, May 2013. room501 Publishing Ltd is part of BE Group, the UK’s market leading business improvement specialists. www.be-group.co.uk

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BQ Magazine is published quarterly by room501 Ltd.

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Driving out old perceptions, Midlands model shines in Shanghai, new funding to fuel growth, academy’s 2020 vision, partnership sets out land to air mission, and tycoon gets on his bike >> JLR ticks the right boxes Jaguar Land Rover has been given a Platinum Big Tick, the highest ranking in Business in the Community’s (BITC) annual benchmark of responsible management in business.

The Corporate Responsibility Index (CR Index) is the UK’s leading voluntary benchmark of corporate responsibility, helping companies accurately measure and manage all aspects of their social and environmental operations.

Jaguar Land Rover’s recognition in the CR Index for 2013 is the fifth consecutive year the company has achieved an improved rating, and it is now one of five companies to be shortlisted in the Responsible Business of the Year category in the BITC’s Responsible Business Awards in July.

Stephen Howard, chief executive of BITC, said: “Congratulations to Jaguar Land Rover for achieving the Platinum Big Tick which signifies its willingness to rise to the challenge as part of the responsible business movement.”

Dr Ralf Speth, chief executive officer at Jaguar Land Rover, said: “This award recognises the efforts of all Jaguar Land Rover employees who drive continuous improvements in our environmental performance and community engagement as part of their daily business.”

>> Expert raises Japan fears A West Midlands supply chain expert believes Japanese carmakers have been slow to react to product faults and should start putting quality and safety first when negotiating contracts with suppliers.

The comments from Dr Mark Johnson, of Warwick Business School, come as Toyota, Honda, Nissan and Mazda had to recall 3.4 million vehicles across the world because of faulty airbags supplied by Takata Corp, which are at risk of catching fire or injuring passengers.

It has been reported that the problem was first raised in October 2011 and Dr

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Johnson said the issue again shows how risky huge global supply chains are.

Dr Johnson, associate professor of operations management at Warwick Business School, said: “Perhaps the answer to this is to put quality and safety first when negotiating contracts for safety critical parts.

“As more and more firms focus on what they are good at – their core competences – then their suppliers will be trusted for greater proportions of the design and manufacturing of sub-systems and components.

“This comes with a cost, and that is the loss of control of their supply chains as they cede responsibility to their suppliers while procuring parts at a low price.

“This means moving to contracts based on relationships – which give transparency into operations – as opposed to those where price is the be-all and end-all.”

Dr Johnson believes if the car manufacturers had acted quicker they could have lessened the damage to their brand.

He added: “Swift resolution of a fault can be beneficial, after all firms can be viewed in a positive light if they act swiftly and decisively when customers perceive there to be a risk.”

Land Rover’s centres in Gaydon, Whitley, Solihull and Castle Bromwich. They met female apprentices, graduates, engineers and managers to find out about their education and career histories, and spent a day on work experience at the Solihull plant. They will also find out about Jaguar Land Rover’s apprentice and graduate schemes and participate in workshops on job applications, assessment centres and interview techniques.

>> Midlands model shines in Shanghai

>> Driving out old perceptions Birmingham Metropolitan College worked with a top car maker to give female students interested in engineering, technology and manufacturing careers an insight into the world of manufacturing.

The ‘Inspiring Tomorrow’s Engineers: Young Women in the Know’ course was developed to help change outdated perceptions of engineering and to encourage more young women to consider engineering and manufacturing careers. A group of 28 female students, aged 16-18, participated in a week-long programme of events at Jaguar

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Birmingham-based MG has unveiled its new MG3 supermini at the Shanghai Motor Show.

Based on the MG ZERO concept vehicle, the firm has described the MG3 as “a distinctive statement of modern British style designed to target young and style conscious buyers, wanting something that’s fun to drive and own”.

Created by the design and engineering team at MG’s Longbridge site, the MG3 follows on from the MG6 to become the second in a new generation of MG vehicles to be assembled in the city.

Guy Jones, sales director of MG Motor UK, said: “This new MG3 is a great package for the increasing number of European customers looking for a stylish small car, that’s affordable and practical to own.

“This is a car that MG enthusiasts and dealers across Europe have been waiting for, but more significantly it will bring a whole new group of customers to the MG brand for the first time.”

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COMPANY PROFILE

A driving force for growth DLA Piper experts look at why the Midlands must accelerate its efforts to support vehicle manufacturers and component suppliers who are looking to invest in the region Fiona Thomson, head of real estate for DLA Piper’s Birmingham office said: “The automotive industry continues to drive the region’s resurgence in manufacturing, with the West Midlands seeing continued high investment in new facilities and jobs from vehicle manufacturers such as BMW/Mini, Jaguar Land Rover and Toyota.

Whilst the Midlands has a compelling story to attract automotive inward investment, it must compete with other countries and regions to secure this new investment. Therefore, the region must also proactively provide companies with the help they need to invest and grow in the region.

“For foreign investors, venturing into a new country can appear to be rife with risk especially in an industry with such specialist and technical requirements for skills and facilities.

“Globally, DLA Piper has extensive experience in advising automotive companies. We have a cross-jurisdictional team of lawyers who specialise in helping clients within the sector and we are very aware of some of the hurdles they have to navigate when establishing a facility in a new market.

“We have advised 40 vehicle manufacturers and over 70 component suppliers around the world including in relation to the establishment of new assembly lines in new countries, joint ventures, supply chain issues and product liability”.

“Routine concerns of such clients include understanding local employment laws and overcoming planning or real estate law hurdles to meet the specific needs of their specialist production facilities. To stand the best chance of securing investment, we need to make it as easy as possible for them to address such issues. That is where the Midlands professional advisory community has a crucial role to play in helping to attract foreign investors.

“At DLA Piper, we are working with Business Birmingham to develop an initial support package to guide companies through the early stages of locating in the UK, offering them local legal

Fiona Thomson, head of real estate for DLA Piper’s Birmingham office

Simon Jones, technology partner at DLA Piper knowledge combined with an understanding of all the latest global developments in their industry. We launched this package at MIPIM and are excited to be helping to maximise the potential of this sector.”

According to Simon Jones, technology partner at DLA Piper, the massive local expansion in vehicle manufacture means that there is a significant opportunity for component suppliers to establish new factories in the region or to expand their existing factories.

“Following discussions with UK vehicle

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manufacturers, the Automotive Council have identified £3 billion specific, urgent and unfilled opportunities that could be taken up by the UK supply chain.

Recent investments in the region by the likes of JLR, BMW and Toyota have greatly benefitted the regional economy, but we need to ensure that the region’s pioneering automotive component manufacturers are maximising the opportunities arising from these investments.

“In addition, other factors are also increasing demand. These include: • the trend to bring component manufacture back to the UK following the JapaneseTsunami which caused damaging and costly delays for many manufacturers who were forced to find alternative suppliers.

• the fact that the quality of British built components now compete with the very best • the practical benefits of sourcing components locally on a just in time basis and, thus, avoiding excessive transport and storage costs.

There is an awareness that much of the supply chain has been lost in recent years and needs rebuilding. So with continued investment by OEMs and the support of public sector packages such as the Advanced Manufacturing Supply Chain Initiative, it is vital that we support the local supply chain to invest in R&D and grow its capacity, which will in turn create a draw for new companies looking to invest in the region.

Fiona Thomson, head of real estate T: 0121 262 5609 E: fiona.thomson@dlapiper.com Simon Jones, technology partner T: 0121 262 5702 E: simon.jones@dlapiper.com

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>> New fuel for growth

>> Games makers A £1.5m research project which aims to help manufacturing firms transform their business models using games technology has been launched in Coventry.

The project was announced by universities and science minister David Willetts shortly after he visited Coventry University’s Serious Games Institute earlier this year.

The project is part of a wider £45m funding package from the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council which is designed to improve manufacturing competitiveness in the UK. Coventry’s Serious Games Institute will work with Aston University and the University of Sheffield on the gaming technology initiative, whose goal will be to encourage UK firms to use ‘gamification’ to sell services as well as products.

The research team will create serious games using three dimensional virtual worlds which can represent and handle the complex data systems of companies looking to adopt product service systems.

Ford Motor Company, MAN Truck & Bus and Birmingham Science Park will be among the firms testing out the games as part of the project.

Mr Willetts said: “This £45m package of investment will see our world-class research base investigating innovative new manufacturing equipment and techniques.

“This will support our industrial strategy in a range of important sectors, driving growth and keeping the UK ahead in the global race.”

Coventry University’s Professor Sara de Freitas said: “This is for Coventry University and its Serious Games Institute, and marks a significant milestone in our efforts to work with more businesses to help them take advantage of what is fast becoming an essential way to boost growth potential.”

>> Portal for potential talent Engineering giant Siemens has launched a new education and careers scheme in the Midlands in partnership with the Cabinet Office, the Department of Education and the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills.

The Siemens Education Portal will for the first time allow teachers, students and parents to access a central hub of information to be used in the classroom – explicitly designed to encourage young people to engage more closely with engineering and manufacturingrelated subjects.

The portal will be rolled out to 5,000 schools across the UK by 2014 aiming to reach over 1.95 million pupils within the first year and 4.5 million by 2016.

The new scheme was launched earlier this year at the Manufacturing Summit, hosted by Department for Business, Innovation and Skills at the Heritage Motor Centre Motor Museum,

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in Gaydon.

Juergen Maier, Siemens Industry managing director said “It remains vital that we all play our role in developing talent for the future to replace the ageing workforce in the manufacturing and industrial sectors.

“The only way to change the perceptions of engineering and manufacturing is to target children as young as nine – and really explain how exciting working in this field is.”

Sarah Sillars OBE, chief executive of Semta, the Sector Skills Council for Science, Engineering and Manufacturing Technologies said: “It is absolutely vital we do all that we can to close the skills gap as the workforce ages and birth rates fall.

“As a country we need to take a new approach to getting our messages into the heart of the education system and it is very positive that Siemens has recognised the need.”

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Companies in the West Midlands automotive supply chain could help fund their expansion plans with the aid of a new £19m programme.

The West Midlands and Liverpool City Region Programme has been launched to help companies in the enterprise partnership areas of Greater Birmingham and Solihull, Coventry and Warwickshire, the Black Country, as well as the Liverpool region.

It forms part of the £125m Advanced Manufacturing Supply Chain Initiative (AMSCI) launched last year to improve the global competitiveness of the advanced manufacturing supply chain.

Companies can apply for loans and grants to pay for capital equipment, working capital, research and development and specific training and skills development.

The programme is managed by Finance Birmingham, with Birmingham City Council as the accountable body, and provides minimum funding of £100,000.

Paul Heaven, Greater Birmingham and Solihull Local Enterprise Partnership board director with responsibility for access to finance, said: “The financial support this programme offers is crucial and will encourage business innovation and ensure local manufacturing receives the support it needs to grow.”

Richard Hutchins, Coventry and Warwickshire LEP director said: “A healthy supply chain is vital to help our manufacturers compete internationally, meet demand and continue to create growth and prosperity for the region and the UK.” Further information about the AMSCI programme is available by at www.financebirmingham.com.

It’s absolutely vital we do all that we can to close the skills gap as the workforce ages and birth rates fall

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COMPANY PROFILE

EEF – helping manufacture your business growth Manufacturing is at the heart of the West Midlands economy and EEF, the manufacturers’ organisation supports the growth of companies with a wealth of business expertise and advice Manufacturing is at the heart of the West Midlands economy and, increasingly, as politicians and economists are now well aware central to the re-balancing of our economy towards investment and trade. Manufacturing is responsible for half of UK exports and its productivity regularly outpaces economic growth overall. All of this helps the UK maintain its position as the world’s ninth largest manufacturing nation, a position we’re working diligently to improve. As the manufacturers’ organisation we believe that a modern, competitive and innovative manufacturing industry is vital to the UK’s economic future. As such, everything we do, working with manufacturers themselves and policymakers at the highest levels is designed to help our sector flourish and meet the world’s appetite for innovative and responsibly produced manufactured goods.

Because we understand manufacturers so well, policy makers at regional, national and European level trust our advice and welcome our involvement in their deliberations. Our policy team works with them to create policies that are in the best interests of manufacturing and, as a result of this unique insight we are able to offer real business value to manufacturers through our expert advice on how the changing legislation will impact on their business.

This Insight, complemented by intelligence gathered through our ongoing research and networking programmes, informs our broad portfolio of services that unlock business potential by creating highly productive workplaces in which innovation, creativity and competitiveness can thrive.

With over 100 years experience in industrial and employment relations and as one of the largest employment law firms in the UK, we are engaged by some of the UK’s biggest names to advise them on

Richard Halstead, EEF

Our unique insight means we can offer real business value to manufacturers through expert advice including how changing legislation will impact on their business their HR and employment practices, whilst our Health & Safety expertise is reflected in being a strategic partner with the Health & Safety Executive. Our HR Employment Law and Tribunal services suit all sizes of companies and these coupled with our Health & Safety support ensure the ongoing health of manufacturing in the region.

Our increasingly broad range of service offerings encompasses advice on occupational health, energy efficiency, insurance, environmental systems and management, whilst our information and research teams provide valuable business insight to companies.

We also offer tailored advice and consultancy in areas such as management development to build the next leaders of your company, helping your key talent look beyond today’s challenges to embrace

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tomorrow’s opportunities. With 10,000 training days delivered each year in a way which suits your needs, our training has transformed thousands of businesses in the UK and abroad. Furthermore, we not only train the skills of today, our expertise in Apprentice & Skills training will provide the employees of the future with the state of the art world class skills that manufacturing businesses will need.

Because they’re delivered by individuals who are experts, both in their chosen field and in manufacturing itself, you can be sure they’ll be relevant to your business, tailored to your situation and relevant to your objectives. You can engage with us as a member company or simply as a customer for our consultancy and training.

As a member you will benefit from a unique insight into emerging trends and the innovative new directions being taken forward by forward-thinking organisations. Through networking and regular intelligence reports we share these insights for the benefit of all, encouraging the cross fertilisation of ideas and the sharing of best practice that will keep our sector and manufacturing businesses competitive. We know from deep-level experience that no two manufacturers are alike. So we don’t structure a one-size-fits-all membership package.

Instead, we determine exactly the support companies need, then tailor our resources to fit them precisely and unlock their growth potential.

Richard Halstead rhalstead@eef.org.uk www.eef.org.uk Tel: 0121 456 2222

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>> Academy’s 2020 vision An engineering training academy has been launched at a technology park in the West Midlands as part of a bid to create 2,000 jobs by 2020.

Vehicle engineering consultancy MIRA, based in Nuneaton, wants to use the academy to train staff and support future workers.

MIRA said it would offer more than 100 training courses and work experience placements at the academy, and is expecting to train 10,000 people, including schoolchildren, over five years.

The £50m technology park, part of which is in Hinckley, is already set to directly create more than 300 jobs.

MIRA chief executive, Dr George Gillespie, said: “We’ve got to get into the schools and inspire the next generation of kids to consider moving into engineering as an exciting, rewarding career choice.

“There are issues around developing the skills and the number of staff of the future.

The academy comes together to try and approach both of those things.”

present, highlighting the legacy of British Motorsport and the industry expertise found throughout the UK. James Bailey, director of marketing for Dunlop Motorsport, said: “Looking through our archives sparked the idea for this exhibition, as we realised that the motorsport industry has brought some of the most compelling creative advertising into the world over the years.

“It is an opportunity to celebrate not only Dunlop’s birthday but the UK motorsport industry as a whole. It is a fantastic walk down memory lane, reflecting on how the industry has thrived since John Boyd Dunlop invented the pneumatic tyre in 1888. It is also a chance to celebrate the innovation constantly happening in motorsport which makes us a technologically-advanced and future-looking industry.” The legendary F1 commentator Murray Walker, who was once a Dunlop advertising executive, said: “The pace of progress within the motorsport industry continues to be as exciting as when I was creating advertising for Dunlop in the 1960s.

It is quite humbling to think we celebrated Dunlop’s 75th back then; time really does fly.” In 2013 alone, Dunlop Motorsport will supply over 250,000 tyres to more than 500 different racing teams in around 30 different championships worldwide.

>> Jets set for tax boost

>> Rolling back the years Dunlop Motorsport staged an exhibition of classic motorsport advertising from years gone by to celebrate its 125th anniversary.

The Birmingham firm’s exhibition contained images from advertising campaigns past and

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A Midlands company that specialises in micro gas turbines for the automotive industry has won £310,000 in research and development tax relief.

Bladon Jets, based on the Seven Stars Industrial Estate in Whitley, Coventry, is developing a range of turbines to be used in power generation and in the automotive sector, and intends to start manufacture in 2014.

Bladon Jets made the claim for R&D tax relief following advice from Iain Wright, managing director of Claritas Tax, the Midlands based tax firm, which prepared and submitted the claim to HMRC on the company’s behalf.

Adam Le Van, finance director at Bladon Jets, said: “We are very grateful to Claritas

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for its advice and support in securing such a massive cash injection. The funds received have been reinvested in our research and development, enabling us to refine the turbines and the production processes ready for full scale manufacture to commence at the end of 2014.”

Bladon Jets is 20% owned by Tata and boasts a board of directors which includes leading business figures such as Ralf Speth, CEO of Jaguar Land Rover.

>> New skills leader named The managing director of a Warwickshire based engineering company has been appointed regional chairman of a national body set up to support the manufacturing and engineering industries.

Jim Griffin, of Rubgy based Automotive Insulations, joins Semta (the Sector Skills Council for Science, Engineering and Manufacturing Technologies) as its regional head in the West Midlands.

Automotive Insulations specialises in the manufacture of acoustic and thermal insulation materials for the automotive industry.

Its products help reduce noise and vibration in vehicles, including in the Range Rover Evoque.

Griffin has led the company to a 140% increase in turnover since a management buyout in 2006.

Semta, which is funded by the UK Commission for Employment, aims to support growth and productivity within industry through skills diagnostics, strategic workforce planning, consultancy, funding and specialist training programmes.

Griffin said: “I am delighted to be working for industry in the West Midlands region as well as representing SMEs amongst some of the larger multinationals.

“SMEs are vital to the success of British engineering, so it’s important to get a balance of views from companies of all sizes operating in different sectors of manufacturing and engineering.

“By working with other businesses from the area and offering our feedback to Semta, we are helping to ensure the training needs for future manufacturing are met.”

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COMPANY PROFILE

Turning potential into reality Marketing Birmingham is the city’s strategic marketing partnership and the driving force behind its growing reputation as a place to visit, meet and invest. We operate the city’s leisure and business tourism programmes, Visit and Meet Birmingham as well as inward investment programme Business Birmingham We have a clear vision for the future.

It is one where our city is a thriving economic hub and a pleasure to visit time and again. A city that’s proud of its story and confident of its future. To bring this vision to life we put partnership to work, bringing together some of the area’s biggest companies and most influential players to create real opportunities for growth.

BIRMINGHAM IS FAST BECOMING A TRULY INTERNATIONAL CITY We are a city that is bucking the trend, attracting more foreign direct investment and more visitors than ever despite challenging economic conditions and increasing competition.

Last year we saw a near 40% increase in inward investment projects against a 2% decline across the UK, while our visitor numbers have reached a high of 33.5million – contributing a record £4.9 billion to the local economy. These results are no accident.

Birmingham is the engine room of the UK economy – it is where ideas ignite and work gets done. And, as the largest regional city in the UK, we have the size, scale and population to make us key, not only to the UK’s economic growth, but also the world’s.

BUSINESS BIRMINGHAM Business Birmingham is the city’s inward investment programme. The programme’s aim is to create jobs by supporting companies looking to locate or expand in the Birmingham city region.

To do this we’ve developed an ambitious plan for attracting investment to the region. It’s based on comprehensive research and analysis of the area’s sectoral strengths. Working with city partners we’ve established six new economic zones across Birmingham. In a first for the UK, the zones align the city’s planning across all target sectors for FDI, inward investment and economic priorities and allow us to create tailored space, facilities and support for investors in growing sectors.

Joining forces with more than 110 strategic partners across the business community, we’ve

The heart of our business is in Birmingham and the wider region, a place that offers so much for potential investors in addition to companies looking to expand. We have worked closely with Business Birmingham to access government schemes and support for our supply chain, which has assisted our growth in the region as well as underlining that the city can truly compete with leading business destinations from across the world.

Mike Wright, Executive Director, Jaguar Land Rover developed customised incentive packages to bring businesses to the area by matching them with local companies that can provide specialist support.

Focusing on business solutions, the benefits range from market intelligence to bespoke consultancy, networking opportunities and access to finance through our partners.

Beyond developing the city’s offer, Business Birmingham has undertaken significant sales and marketing campaigns, taking part in more than 30 national and international sales missions and events in target markets in the last 18 months.

Moreover, we’ve established a physical presence in key markets with representatives now based in North America, India, China, Australia and Germany. Since our launch in April 2011, Business Birmingham has helped out some big names including NVC, Gensler, Jaguar Land Rover,

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Skanska, Codemasters, the Business Growth Fund and Deutsche Bank.

Whether you are looking to relocate your business to the city, are already based here and have expansion plans, or simply want to get involved in the opportunities our work delivers for partners, get in touch.

Contact: Wouter Schuitemaker, Investment Director W: www.businessbirmingham.com E: invest@marketingbirmingham.com T: +44 (0)121 202 5022

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>> Motors firm shifts gear

>> New model makes Asian debut The all-new Range Rover Sport made its debut in the crucial Asian market at the Shanghai Auto Show in China this spring.

What Land Rover has described as its “fastest, most agile and most responsive vehicle ever” was at the show on Saturday April 20, along with the all-new Jaguar F-Type.

Dr Ralf Speth, Jaguar Land Rover’s chief executive officer, said: “Our commitment to Chinese customers is a business imperative and we are creating products that meet their desires.

“We are investing heavily in research and development of ‘green’ technologies, improving fuel economy and reducing CO2 emissions with innovative advanced technologies, hybrid engines, as well as our world-leading lightweight aluminium engineering technology.”

Bob Grace, president of Jaguar Land Rover China, added: “In 2012 China became Jaguar Land Rover’s largest global market, selling nearly 72,000 vehicles, up 71%. This year, we have sustained our growth momentum, with year-to-date sales of nearly 22,000 vehicles.”

In March 2013 Jaguar Land Rover China delivered its best ever month retailing 8,487 units, up 22%. Jaguar sold a record 1,592 cars, up 91% and Land Rover continued its strong sales performance with 6,895 vehicles sold in the month, up 13%.

To drive the Jaguar Land Rover business forward in China, the company has a joint venture agreement with Chery Automobile and is building a new factory in Changshu. This will become Jaguar Land Rover’s first ever, all-new manufacturing facility outside of the UK. Dr Speth added: “We are on track towards starting vehicle production in late 2014 and we are actively sourcing Chinese suppliers that are supporting the construction of our factory and developing our component supply chain.”

In 2012 China became Jaguar Land Rover’s largest global market, selling nearly 72,000 vehicles

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A Midlands automotive firm has created eight new jobs after relocating production facilities back from Asia.

Auto Service Tools, which specialises in the manufacturing of specialist service tools for the automotive aftermarket, confirmed the project after a £950,000 funding package from Lloyds Banking Group.

The company, which has an annual turnover of several million pounds, is relocating its production facilities back from China and India to its base in Redditch, creating up to eight new jobs.

The firm is now targeting new markets in both the Middle and Far East, and new production equipment, including modern machining centres for the new factory, are also being bought.

Malcolm Dawson, managing director at Auto Service Tools, said: “We do a lot of overseas trade and it is imperative to the business that we continue to expand our customer base into new territories, such as the growing Far East market.

“The team at Lloyds Bank is extremely supportive of our plans and has an in-depth knowledge of the challenges we face in the manufacturing industry, which was a key factor in our decision to switch banking providers.”

Shaun Kidson, from Lloyds TSB, said that the return of the business’ production facility back to Redditch is a boost to the region and could see more new jobs on the way.

>> Land to air mission Automotive employers are driving forward with plans to create industrial partnerships with the aerospace industry.

Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) and Airbus are spearheading activity to bring together employers of all sizes to discuss how they can help tackle common issues as well as those specific to their sectors to create jobs, raise skills and drive economic growth in response to the Government’s industrial strategy.

Jo Lopes, head of technical excellence at JLR, said the creation of the Advanced Skills Accreditation Scheme in partnership with Semta, building on his company’s own successful training programme, was evidence

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of how working closer together was vital for the future of automotive.

“Our industry is doing quite well in a difficult climate but employers recognise the need to identify priorities,” he said.

“There is a clear consensus that we need to work together and ensure the industry as a whole, not just individual companies, benefits by inspiring and recruiting the next generation of designers and engineers.”

The Industrial Partnerships are supported by leading companies such as Rolls Royce, Automated Technology Group, GKN Aerospace, BAE Systems, Ford of Britain, JJ Churchill, Bentley, General Motors, Thales and AgustaWestland.

never been a better time for the innovative companies for which this region is renowned to take advantage of the taxman’s generosity.”

According to Hillan, ‘large’ businesses could previously claim enhanced relief of 30% on their qualifying costs, compared to 125% for ‘small’ and ‘medium’ businesses. In addition, small and medium businesses could surrender the enhancement for a repayable tax credit even where the business was not actually paying corporation tax – for example due to trading losses. Hillan added: “The recent introduction of the ‘above the line’ tax credit for large companies changes this and it is now possible for such companies to receive a cash repayment similar to the scheme already in place for small businesses. Many large businesses have historically not made R&D claims on the basis that losses have prevented them from achieving an immediate benefit.”

There has never been a better time for innovative companies to take advantage >> Tax break being missed Not enough West Midlands’ manufacturers are taking advantage of tax relief on research and development (R&D), according to corporate tax specialists at Grant Thornton in Birmingham. David Hillan, corporate tax partner, said: “It is still surprising how many businesses fail to recognise that an element of their activities could qualify for this valuable relief.

“The introduction of the long-anticipated patent box regime and with the widening of the R&D tax relief scheme for large businesses from this April means there’s

>> Tyre takeovers predicted The tyre wholesaler and distributor industry might see a series of takeovers, warns a new market report from analysts Plimsoll Publishing.

The study warns that a combination of stock piling cash, difficult growth, low interest rates and ageing directors has left 52 companies ripe for acquisition as the sector consolidates and starts to prosper again.

David Pattison, senior analyst on the project, said: “On one hand, 19 cash rich companies have been stockpiling cash and their problem is that the built up cash could give them a real headache.

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“Low interest rates mean this cash will be sitting idle on the balance sheet and not generating a return. It really needs to be put to good use and an acquisition seems an obvious option.”

Other findings from the Plimsoll Analysis found that: Almost 31% of directors will be over 60 by the end of the year.

19 companies have over £5m of cash on their balance sheet.

74 firms are still operating as independents.

42% of organisations did not increase sales.

One in four companies is running at a loss.

101 of the 400 businesses analysed have seen their debts increase.

For more information on the Plimsoll Analysis contact Chris Glancey on 01642 626 419 or email c.glancey@plimsoll.co.uk.

>> New factory prospect An automotive firm’s plans to build on former playing fields close to the M5 at West Bromwich could create up to 100 new jobs.

Sandwell Council has agreed to negotiate with a property developer to confirm the deal for the site off Kelvin Way for the car parts supplier, whose identity has not yet been revealed.

If successful, the project would be the latest boost to the region’s engineering industry after the start of work on a new £500m Jaguar Land Rover engine plant on the i54 business park near Wolverhampton.

A recent report to Sandwell’s asset management chief, Councillor Mahboob Hussain, states that the business supplies local dealerships and businesses with products for vehicle maintenance and engine repairs on passenger cars and commercial vehicles.

Councillor Hussain said: “We are always looking at bringing more employment opportunities into the borough, and we are hopeful that when this developer comes back to us in six months time we will be able to move it forward and this company can establish itself in the borough, and create jobs for Sandwell.”

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>> Tycoon gets on his bike Car tycoon Charles Morgan was so inspired by Team GB’s London 2012 Olympic cycling heroes that he decided to invest in pedal power with a Worcestershire bike specialist.

The Morgan Motors boss had spent a day watching Sir Chris Hoy in the velodrome at London 2012, and this encouraged him to team up with Malvern Cycles, a community interest company based in Worcester Road, Malvern.

The collaboration has resulted in the production of the Morgan Two special edition road bike – a model that is described as one that “not only rides beautifully but looks, feels and sounds right”. Limited to a run of 50, the Morgan Two was launched at the Geneva Motor Show earlier this year and more than half the £1,000 bikes have already been sold.

Mr Morgan said: “It is slightly simplistic and slightly retro, but also with a modern look.”

Nick Trotman, of Malvern Cycles, said: “We are very excited to have this opportunity to work with Morgan.”

>> Spinning into new markets A West Midlands industrial fan maker is expanding and creating new jobs – in part helped by a boost in business from Jaguar Land Rover (JLR).

Birmingham Fan designs, manufactures and services all types of industrial and commercial fans and ventilation systems, including larger units for car plants. About 40% of its products go to the auto sector including JLR, General Motors and BMW. It employs just six people but will now add two

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to the payroll, with jobs available for another couple of sheet metal workers.

Managing director Adrian Harvey said: “The success of Jaguar Land Rover has been important – I would describe it as a bonus for us. The company has been taking on lots of engineers, many of whom we have dealt with in the past, and they have been saying to JLR – ‘why aren’t you using Birmingham Fan, especially as it’s on your doorstep’?

“The result has been an increase of 5-10% in our turnover in the last three months alone – a fantastic result.”

As part of the expansion, Birmingham Fan, a family owned and run business established in 1971, has switched its factory from Alcester to a 4,800sq ft premises in Hunt End, Redditch, in Worcestershire.

This is a five year lease with landlord Royal Bank of Canada Trust Corporation, a deal brokered by property agents John Truslove.

Major appointment: John Russell (chairman of the West Midlands Manufacturing Consortium)

>> Former taxi chief takes wheel at consortium The former boss of a West Midlands taxi vehicle maker has been named as the new chairman of the West Midlands Manufacturing Consortium (WMMC).

John Russell used to be chief executive of Coventry-based Manganese Bronze, and has also held senior positions at Harley Davidson and Land Rover.

He said that delivering the Manufacturing Advisory Service (MAS) contract and unleashing the region’s engineering potential were his main aims in the role.

And the former electrical engineering graduate said he wanted to use his position at the helm of WMMC to help

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create the right climate for growth by ensuring manufacturers receive the specialist assistance they need to expand and create jobs.

Russell said: “Manufacturers aren’t looking for hand-outs, they are just looking for help with key issues that are holding them back. This is where I believe we can make a real difference.

“We’ve got 25 advisors delivering strategic assistance on the ground and this ranges from help with efficiency improvements and lean, to sales and marketing support and guidance with longer-term strategy.”

Russell started in the automotive industry with Unipart 40 years ago before moving to Peugeot Talbot Motor Co and then the Rover Group.

>> Work scheme gets results A recruitment scheme to get the unemployed into work is beginning to work in the Black Country.

The programme – known as a sector-based work academy – is a government scheme to help people who are ready for work and receiving benefits to secure employment and meet the recruitment needs of companies by providing them with a skilled workforce.

The scheme – run by City of Wolverhampton College in partnership with Wolverhampton Job Centre and Owen Payne Recruitment Services Ltd – recruits and trains staff for Tipton-based car interiors company Cab Automotive Ltd. Suitable candidates are referred to Owen Payne by the Job Centre and then attend a one-week training programme, run by the college, which covers improved ways of working, production techniques, team work and reducing waste, combined with twoweeks work experience at Cab Automotive.

At the end of the programme, successful candidates secure a long-term temporary assignment, through Owen Payne, to work at Cab Automotive with a view to obtaining permanent employment with the company in the future.

Clare Yorke, sales manager at Owen Payne, said: “This is an excellent scheme which gives local people practical job skills that they can

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use in the workplace, which benefits both them and the company.”

To date, 16 unemployed people from across the Black Country have attended the scheme and 12 are now in paid employment with Cab Automotive.

with a 2.2-litre diesel engine and six-speed manual transmission, prices start at £28,765.

Land Rover director John Edwards said: “Since 1948, every component in our vehicles has been designed and engineered with intent and Land Rover continues to this day, to build the world’s most capable all-purpose vehicles. A blend of refinement, performance and unmatched all-terrain capability make Land Rover vehicles distinctive and unique, ready to tackle the world’s most challenging and inhospitable terrain.”

>> Defender’s big day A new special edition Land Rover was unveiled to commemorate the 65th anniversary of one of the West Midlands’ most iconic products.

The Defender is the classic 4x4 as far as many off-road experts are concerned. First launched in 1948, it has since sold more than two million units around the world.

To celebrate its anniversary, the Solihull company has launched the Defender LXV with 16-inch alloy wheels, full leather seats and unique markings.

Based on the standard Land Rover Defender is a hard top and is equipped

>> Top of the class for tech A leading Black Country school has been praised for its commitment to design and technology. HME Technology, of Saxon Park in Bromsgrove, a top manufacturer and installer, has won an order to provide £125,000 worth of design technology equipment to Wednesbury-based Grace Academy Darlaston

NEWS

as a sub-contractor of giant building group Kier.

And Julian Davis, HME Technology managing director, commended the school for the importance given to design and technology.

He said: “They enable children to learn technology and manufacturing skills which ultimately are vital for the infrastructure of UK plc. This is the starting point for investing in the future of engineering, making the country more self-sufficient in engineers, and reducing the need to import labour from abroad.

“Many jobs, whether it is car making, vending machines or power stations, depend on people with dexterity. Making the most of dexterity and building skills start in school be it working with a file, a saw or even a screwdriver. This is part of the learning curve.” Founded in 1984, HME Technology products include everything from forges and welding tables to fume extraction systems and CNC machines.

The academy was founded by entrepreneur Lord Edmiston, also founder of the evangelical international charity Christian Vision.

>> Centre spot for Alstom

MTC chief executive Clive Hickman (left) welcomes Rainer Ludorf of Alstom, the MTC’s 50th member

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Power generation and transport specialist Alstom has become the 50th member of the Manufacturing Technology Centre (MTC) in Coventry.

Alstom, which has major West Midland bases in Rugby, Stafford and Wolverhampton, has joined the £40m MTC as a Tier One member, joining the likes of Rolls Royce, Airbus, HP, GKN and Siemens. Rainer Ludorf, vice president of Alstom’s thermal power operations, said the company was extremely impressed by the MTC’s approach to technology and innovation.

He said: “What attracted us was the potential to work closely with non-competitive companies and academic institutions and to leverage that relationship to advance innovations and technology which will benefit us all.

“Our membership of the MTC will allow us to benchmark technological progress, and advance that by working jointly with the MTC and other members.”

Clive Hickman said he was delighted that a company with the prestige and reputation of Alstom had become the 50th member of the MTC. He said: “We look forward to a very fruitful relationship with Alstom. The MTC demonstrates a ‘can do’ attitude and the fact that we are a young and flexible organisation is proving to be of enormous benefit to our members, as are the impressive capabilities of our engineers, technicians and support staff.”

Alstom has a presence in more than 100 countries worldwide. With almost 100,000 employees it turns over more than £15bn a year and invests in excess of £600m in research and development.

The Manufacturing Technology Centre opened in 2011 following a publicly funded investment of £40m.

It is a partnership between some of the UK’s major global manufacturers and three universities: Birmingham, Nottingham and Loughborough as well as TWI Ltd, the operating division of The Welding Institute.

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a sector that’s shifting up a gear The Midlands car industry is in the fast lane and it can only get better, according to Professor Kumar Bhattacharyya – one of the most influential individuals in the battle to re-balance the region’s economy.

John Duckers reports

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Investment, transformed management-union relations, quality improvements and strong leadership have seen the automotive sector thrive in the Midlands.

It is now producing cars the world wants to buy at a price it is prepared to pay. And the spin-off is providing the supply chain with new impetus, growing profits and jobs.

But the change for the better has only come in the last five years, led by Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) and the direction given it by its parent – Indian conglomerate giant Tata.

What a contrast from what went before. Rover had collapsed, Ford was retrenching, Peugeot pulled out of Coventry, van maker LDV went bust. It looked like the Midlands car industry was as good as finished.

But Lord Bhattacharyya had a vision and he persuaded Tata, headed by his boyhood friend Ratan Tata, to buy JLR from Ford.

And in 2008 he encouraged them to stick with it in the depths of a recession, reckoned by some to be on a par with the 1930s Great Depression. Just five years ago, sales collapsed, pleas for government help fell on deaf ears, there was talk of axing the Castle Bromwich factory and Tata questioned whether it had done the right thing.

Today the contrast is staggering. Global sales at JLR shot up by 30% in 2012, marking a record-breaking performance. The company sold 357,773 vehicles in 177 countries in a year which also saw China become its biggest market.

JLR also posted strong sales in the UK and the US with performance driven by demand for the Range Rover Evoque, which topped 100,000. Overall, JLR now has big ambitions to double production to 700,000, and to do so it is creating thousands of new jobs and pouring in investment.

Recently it announced it was to pump another £150m into its new engine manufacturing plant at the i54 South Staffordshire business park, taking its total investment to more than £500m. The move, before the complex has even opened, is expected to create another 650 jobs at the site in addition to the 750 the car maker announced in its initial proposals

Much work is going on to boost and bolster Midlands suppliers, encourage them to invest and operate collaboratively to improve quality

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OVERVIEW

for the plant. The factory will make the next generation of lightweight, four-cylinder, low emission diesel and petrol engines. It will launch later this year with the first engines expected to come off the production line in 2015.

Meanwhile the Whitley-headquartered company is also planning to invest £2.75bn in product development to support eight new or refreshed models during 2013, including the Jaguar F-Type.

With expansion at both the reprieved Castle Bromwich site and the Land Rover Lode Lane plant in Solihull, all this is feeding through into the supply chain.

Last year JLR revealed plans to spend an additional £1bn with UK suppliers over the next four years – in addition to the £2bn of contracts JLR awarded to more than 40 of them in 2011.

Lord Bhattacharyya says: “There is no great secret to all this. It is down to sticking with a strategy, providing leadership, investing, encouraging skills development, nurturing and working with suppliers, and producing cars which the market wants.”

The leadership has come from Tata along with a willingness to guide rather than be handson, getting the right people in place, and leaving managers to manage in a team led by chief executive Ralf Speth.

Lord Bhattacharyya says: “With a background in the German car sector, he brought a new perspective which all around him have bought into. His managers are focussed, behind a successful blueprint, with engineers at the forefront, and are able to design the cars they want to design, with belief in where the company wants to go.

“Similarly the workforce has seen this leadership, seen the billions of investment, seen all the new jobs, and want to be part of that success.”

It is backed up by a big research and development budget, much of it in collaboration with the Warwick Manufacturing Group (WMG), headed by Lord Bhattacharyya at Warwick University.

JLR’s Advanced Research Group is based at WMG’s International Digital Laboratory.

They will be spending more than £100m on collaborative research programmes with >>

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WMG over the next few years. Tata Motors’ European Technical Centre is also growing its team of highly skilled engineers who are based at WMG by 40% over the next few years.

WMG is playing host to a new UK Energy Storage research and development centre for the advancement of electric and hybrid vehicle batteries, co-funded by government (to the tune of £9m) and industry (another £4m). There is also the Low Carbon Vehicle Technology Project and the centre is one of the partners in the Government’s first Catapult, addressing high value manufacturing.

Undoubtedly, the sector’s rapid growth has stretched the limited skills pool and small firms mutter about alleged poaching of their staff, lured by bigger and better salaries.

Lord Bhattacharyya says: “As everyone knows we have some of the best engineers in the world here in the Midlands, but we simply don’t have enough of them.

“There is a big rump of unskilled people in and around the Birmingham area and there is a danger of the region failing to capitalise.

Professor Lord Bhattacharyya (left) with Jaguar Land Rover CEO Dr Ralf Speth “Similarly the Midlands supply base is not as strong as we would like, with a shortage of first tier operators, resulting in a lot of business going abroad. Much work is going on to boost

and bolster Midlands suppliers, encourage them to invest, operate collaboratively to improve quality… and we are seeing considerable progress. But there is a long >>

Why backing for innovation is the key to recovery Funds carefully targeted at innovation are the key to Britain’s long-term manufacturing recovery, according to Lord Bhattacharyya.

He says: “We all know how difficult things are for the British economy, but it doesn’t explain why Britain has found it so hard to recover.

“Of course, there is a global crisis. Yet others are navigating the storm more swiftly. Whether Germany, the US or China, those with a record of long term investment in research and development (R&D) have more to offer growing markets.

“Unfortunately Britain’s investment in R&D is lower than the OECD and EU averages. It is even well below our own target. This means our core innovation implementation is patchy.

Yet, it is only by encouraging innovation and investment that we will create sustainable growth.

“This requires long term commitments - on capital, research and infrastructure. There are positive policies happening, yet the steps forward don’t cover enough ground.

“For example, the most recent Budget in March talked about £1.6bn for an industrial strategy including the Aerospace Institute.

“But this money is over ten years, and £1bn of it is committed to just one sector. Surely an industrial strategy should include other key export drivers?

We need to look at the structures that support commercial R&D in Britain. Offering businesses incentives to innovate is useless if there is no innovation capability for them to invest in. To grow, you must build on your strengths.

“In Britain, we have outstanding academic research, so we should use that as our super-magnet to attract industrial R&D spending. We need to shake up the whole system of research funding so it attracts backing from companies large and small.

“Today, the weight of government R&D funding is insufficient to support business innovation. The Technology Strategy Board is an excellent organisation but its budget is too small compared to that of the research councils, while the Higher Education Innovation Fund is nowhere near enough to shape academic research priorities.

“The Small Business Research Innovation Fund must be made to work. Finally, we should establish a ‘One Stop Shop’ approach for industrial innovation budgets.”

Lord Bhattacharyya adds: “I have long been an advocate for government ‘demonstrators’ and ‘grand challenges’ as a catalyst.

“The Government has identified eight priority technology areas – from robotics to advanced materials – and has allocated them £600m.

“We should make attracting industrial innovation funding central to our ‘grand challenges’.”

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From being a basket case the Midlands is now thriving. But we have a long way to go yet to rival the Japanese and the Germans

in the supply chain. Of course, there is more to the Midlands car sector than JLR. For instance, Toyota employs around 3,000 at Burnaston, Staffordshire, although recently it has not been helped by the economic crisis in Europe, where much of its output is targeted.

Aston Martin has seen a re-financing, MG has a small but growing presence at Longbridge and there are important niche operators like Morgan.

Last year, UK car production hit 1.6 million and there are hopes of going through the two million barrier within two years, fuelled by growing global demand.

Indeed, according to Society of Motor

Manufacturers and Traders, it is forecast to grow 9% a year to 2.2 million vehicles by 2016, with £3bn of supply opportunities identified for UK-based businesses.

Lord Bhattacharyya says: “It is reckoned the sector supports more than 700,000 jobs nationally. From being a basket case the Midlands is now thriving.

“But we have a long way to go yet to rival the Japanese and the Germans.

“For example, JLR is only now in the process of opening a manufacturing base in China, years after all the world’s major players. We have made a start, our suppliers are on the same journey, and we need to build on it.” n

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way to go.” However, these areas are being addressed. Lord Bhattacharyya says: “Through our dedicated SME Knowledge Exchange programme we have been working with over 1,200 SMEs since 2007.

The programme is designed to enable small businesses to innovate and bring user focused products to market.”

WMG is in partnership with component makers Stadco, Covpress, Sertec, Premier Group and Whiston Industries – known as the Body in White Technology Guild – with work centred on five areas: advanced materials for exterior panels, advanced materials for structural panels, hydroforming, panel lubrication strategies and aluminium tailored blanks. And in terms of new alloys, assessing their mechanical and formability properties.

Young people are also being encouraged into the industry.

Lord Bhattacharyya says: “The WMG Academy for Young Engineers, in partnership with over 40 key employers including JLR, IBM, EEF, National Grid, SCC and Automotive Insulations as well as the Local Enterprise Partnership, Coventry and Warwickshire Chamber of Commerce and others, will see students learning by making things and creating things – just as engineering businesses do every day.”

Many of these new recruits will likely end up

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Warwick Manufacturing Group (WMG) was founded by Professor Lord Kumar Bhattacharyya in 1980 to reinvigorate manufacturing.

Starting with an office, a chair and a secretary, over the years he has built one of the greatest centres of its kind.

From its inception the mission has been to improve the competitiveness of organisations around the world through the application of value adding innovation, new technologies and skills deployment, bringing academic rigour to industrial and organisational practice.

Knowledge transfer is at the heart of it, linked directly to WMG’s research base and emerging technologies.

An academic department of the University of Warwick, it utilises multi-disciplinary teams that combine both industrial and academic experience.

It takes in areas such as digital healthcare, experimential engineering, light weighting, low carbon technologies, polymer innovation, product evaluation technologies, service systems and sustainable materials An international role model for how universities and business can successfully work together, it has over 450 people across five buildings on the Warwick campus, all supporting an annual programme of £150m including industrial and in-kind support.

There are collaborative centres in India, China, Malaysia, Russia, Singapore and Thailand.

Politicians and study groups regularly visit to view the operation, assess the impact universities can have on industry and business, and then head home to develop similar initiatives in their own countries.

An unpaid adviser to the Thatcher government, the Blair/Brown government and now the coalition government, Lord Bhattacharyya’s sayings are legendary.

These include: “I have long believed that science and technology are central to almost every issue we face as a nation.

“I speak from personal experience. When I served as a young apprentice at Lucas Industries, the company was a global leader. Yet a lack of investment in innovation meant Lucas was very quickly overtaken by emerging companies from Germany and Japan. They are now global giants.

Lucas no longer exists.”

And another goes: “Risk is at the very core of innovative research. Innovation always involves venturing into the unknown.”

A Labour peer, Lord Bhattacharyya speaks regularly in the House of Lords.

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casting a new role in an age-old sector Iron foundries sound hot and dirty – but they are also exciting places where specialist parts for everything from sports car brakes to Olympic torches are made. Edward Stephens reports >>

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ENTREPRENEUR

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ENTREPRENEUR

With a top speed of more than 250mph, the Bugatti Veyron is not only one of the fastest cars in the world, but also one of the most glamorous and expensive.

So it’s perhaps somewhat surprising to find that having reached that speed, this much drooled over piece of automotive finery is brought safely to a standstill thanks to the expertise of a small company based in the Black Country.

Alucast Ltd specialises in aluminium castings, and when Bugatti needed a company to produce a highly complex, multi-pot brake calliper to stop its one-million-pound-plus supercar, it was the Wednesbury firm it turned to.

After casting the highly specialised monoblock callipers, and even X-raying them to make sure they are perfect, Alucast sends them to AP Racing of Coventry, which assembles the braking system capable of slowing the car from its top speed to zero in just 10 seconds.

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For Tony Sartorius, the winning of the contract to supply Bugatti in 2006 was one of the many highlights in his career as managing director and joint owner of the small company which is rapidly making a big name for itself.

“For us it was a really prestigious contract to win and it stimulated the interest of everyone in the company,” Tony tells me.

“It meant many hours of research and development and was a very challenging product to take on.”

The work, however, was worth it.

Just one year later, the all-black callipers with the name Bugatti in bright metalwork on the side, won Alucast the prestigious 2007 Component of the Year Award from the Cast Metal Federation.

Tony, who was born in Cumbria but is proud to tell you that he has lived most of his life in Birmingham, has more than 30 years of manufacturing experience.

He started his working life, however, as

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an accountant at Brintons Carpets in Kidderminster. Some 10 years ago he and group operations director and fellow joint owner John Swift joined forces to buy Alucast, having worked for a while with the then owner. At the time the company – which was started in 1967 as a sand caster – had a turnover of £5m. The success of their partnership means that today Alucast has a turnover of £7m, and the plan is to grow that to £10m in the next three years.

It was only this March that the dynamic duo bought the company premises after renting for a decade.

“We have been a profitable, cash-generative business for 10 years and we have a strong balance sheet,” Tony says.

“We have made a loss but that was in the recession when pretty much every manufacturer did, but we re-structured and think we have a bright future.”

Thoughtfully, he adds: “There is always the

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notion that a foundry is rather like a Dickensian type mill, but our business and businesses like it are today involved in producing very high tech products. The Bugatti brake calliper is just one such example.

“Manufacturing is so important to the economy, which is why the Government wants to improve manufacturers’ GDP as a percentage of the overall GDP of the country.”

Around 25-30% of Alucast’s business is with the automotive industry but it currently only works with premier brands.

“We are not set up for high volume manufacturers like Vauxhall or Ford, although that’s not to say we couldn’t do some of their more specialised low volume work,” says Tony.

“Our automotive product range goes into Bugatti, Bentley, Lotus, Morgan and Aston Martin, and what we are trying to do is develop further so that when the Jaguar Land Rover i54 development opens in Wolverhampton we are well placed to provide

ENTREPRENEUR

components to JLR.” This would leave Alucast needing to get the appropriate quality accreditation TS16949, but as car production in the UK is set to increase, attaining that accreditation will leave the company well placed to secure more business.

“The plan is that the UK will increase the volume of cars produced from the current 1.5 million units to two million units by 2015/16,” says Tony.

“That’s a 33% increase in the volume of cars being manufactured in the UK, which is going to be great for UK manufacturing and great for exports, but equally it means there is big potential for auto component suppliers to help fill that gap in terms of parts requirement for vehicles.”

Tony proudly pointed out, however, that it’s not just parts for four-wheeled vehicles that Alucast produces. It also makes all the aluminium engine components for the trendy 130mph Norton 961 Café Racer motorbike.

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Without warning Tony reaches into his office cupboard and pulls out what at first glance looks like a shiny aluminium tube, but is in fact triangular shaped and perforated all over with cigar-sized holes.

“Do you recognise this,” he asks smiling proudly. Before I have the chance to answer he says: “It’s the Olympic torch, and we were involved in the manufacture of thousands of them.

“We were specially recommended for the job because of our expertise and to get involved with it was absolutely terrific.

“All the workforce were very excited about the project.

“There wasn’t a person in Britain who was more than 10 miles away from a torch as the Olympic flame passed through the country and they were seen worldwide.

“We were all very proud.”

Because of its expertise, Alucast was given the task of manufacturing the top and bottom >>

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ENTREPRENEUR cap sections of the Olympic torch, the sections that hold the inner and outer skin in place.

More than 15 employees from the 93-strong workforce were involved in the work, ranging from design and technical staff to the quality department and experienced casters.

By the time it had fulfilled the order, Alucast had made the parts for more than 13,500 torches, as each of the 8,000 runners involved in the torch relay around the UK were allowed to retain one and others were needed by the Games’ sponsors, as well as those used for ceremonial events.

But while the talented foundry team was capable of creating such a modern icon, it’s also just as capable of replicating products of a bygone era.

When Birmingham City Council needs to replace old Victorian lampposts in areas of the city where it wants to retain the existing look, Alucast is the company it uses.

The firm manufactures the base with the Birmingham logo ‘Forward’ on it, as well as the traditional ladder bar for the lamppost. It then buys in the steel post and assembles the complete unit. ”In order to retain these traditional areas the local authority does like to have traditional refurbishment carried out and that’s where we come in,” says Tony.

Alucast also provides components for a wide range of other industrial sectors including: electrical; construction; hydraulics; pneumatics; medical; instrumentation; compressors; storage systems; white goods; heating; automatic dispensing equipment; and garden machinery.

Alucast, through Tony’s representation, is also a member of Santander’s Ambassador Forum, which involves diverse businesses meeting quarterly to discuss common issues .

Tony says; “Santander wants to work with Midland industries and it’s worthwhile having these discussions so the banks understand the issues that are coming from the manufacturers and how best to resolve them.

“Certainly one of the big topics that came up at the last meeting was training. Fifteen to 20 years ago, when the industry was reducing, they didn’t carry out any training to bring young people on in casting technology; perhaps they should have done.

“Now we see there is an ageing workforce

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Businesses are realising they have to get the knowledge transferred to the young people if they want to retain that industry

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and within some of these businesses they are realising they have to get the knowledge transferred to the young people if they want to retain that industry.”

Certainly in order to keep Alucast moving forward, Tony is conscious of the need for new blood in the form of apprentices and wants to see more companies in the industry training youngsters.

“We have had three apprentices so far. One has finished and two are going through at the moment. Our idea now is to take on two every year.

“Sadly there were years when this didn’t happen in this industry, particularly if we go back to the 90s. The main problem was that the colleges closed.

“The main college for casting technology was Wednesbury College and that closed many years ago.

“Today it’s a housing estate.”

As well as training apprentices, Tony and John are keen to involve the rest of the workforce in helping the business prosper, and have brought in external trainers to encourage team-building to ensure people are involved in projects which will help them spot possible efficiency savings.

“They are the ones who are working on the shop floor,” says Tony. “They know where they can make savings, and if they can have a degree of training to understand how to make things happen and create those savings that’s to everyone’s advantage.”

Alucast currently exports products to the USA, Hungary, Korea, the Czech Republic, France and Holland, and boasts that it has the ability to manufacture castings as small as 50gms and as large as 750kg.

And while Tony is justifiably proud of all the products his company makes, he admits that as a self confessed “petrol head” the automotive side of the business is of particular interest to him.

“I do like Brit cars, and if everyone bought Brit built cars it would certainly help the economy,” he says.

And this likeable, straight-talking, adopted Brummie is a man who puts his money where his mouth is. He is the owner a Jaguar S-Type, a Land Rover Discovery and a 1951 Riley – and is proud of it. n

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Taking part Neil Barrell, director, automotive advisory, Grant Thornton Paul Bennett, president, Black Country Chamber of Commerce Steve Brittan, managing director, BSA Machine Tools Ltd Susan Davies, deputy regional director, Santander Corporate Banking, West Midlands John Duckers, former business editor of the Birmingham Post, now an independent journalist and PR consultant Chris Hallam, regional director, business development, Santander Corporate and Commercial Banking, Midlands and Wales Lorraine Holmes, chair, Manufacturing Advisory Service Clive Jennings, business partner, Semta Stephen Karle, consultant, Challinors John Leech, head of automotive, KPMG Leon Marklew, regional director, Santander Corporate Banking, West Midlands Tony Sartorius, managing director, Alucast Ltd Peter Turnock, managing director, CMA Moldform Ltd In the chair: Caroline Theobald, BQ Live Venue: Hotel du Vin, Birmingham

in association with

time to drive out skills gap fears

BQ is highly regarded as a leading independent commentator on business issues, many of which have a bearing on the current and future success of the region’s business economy. BQ Live is a series of informative debates designed to further contribute to the success and prosperity of our regional economy through the debate, discussion and feedback of a range of key business topics and issues.

The issue: How do we address the continuing skills gap and improve training capability for manufacturing businesses within the West Midlands automotive supply chain, and what are the key issues for consideration in addressing our skills shortage to ensure future growth and development?

A diverse group of 13 business leaders, industry experts and bankers got together for a wide-ranging debate on skills and training in the automotive sector. BQ West Midlands editor Steve Dyson recorded the comments made during dinner, and edited the shape of the discussions that emerged.

Guests were asked to introduce themselves and to state any opening positions on skills gaps and training needs in the automotive sector.

Leon Marklew, regional director of Santander Corporate and Commercial Banking, explained

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that he was hosting the event to hear about the problems facing the automotive industry.

He said Santander wanted to “give a voice” to industry’s concerns about skills shortages, and added that he also had an interest as a parent, as well as being a banker who wanted to help industry.

He said: “Why am I interested? I’ve got a young lad at university, in his first year of economics, who really wants to get involved in manufacturing when he leaves, but he’s really worried about what it might look like in two or three years time.”

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Stephen Karle, the former chief executive of the West Bromwich Building Society, was attending as a consultant for Challinors solicitors, although he said that he was also active in industry as chair and director of the Black Country Re-Investment Society. He said: “We lend money to small firms where banks aren’t able to help them.” Stephen explained how he’d been involved in West Midlands industry and finance in various roles for 30 years. He added: “I’ve had my ear to the ground as to what the issues are confronting businesses... I’ve got the burn marks, I’ve got

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the history, and I’m just interested in what we can do positively to change the agenda.”

Clive Jennings was representing Semta, the employer-led sector skills council for science, engineering and manufacturing technologies in the UK. Born and bred locally, he told how he was once a young engineer at engineering firm GKN, and spent 35 years in manufacturing before joining Semta. He said: “I’m very passionate about the skills agenda and attracting young people into engineering.

Looking at the graduate situation – there seems to be a stigma that SMEs are reluctant to engage in taking on graduates because of the perceptions, and we need to change that, the same as with apprenticeships.”

Neil Barrell, of Grant Thornton’s automotive advisory section, said: “We specialise in helping businesses going through significant amounts of change. I travel all over Europe and that gives me a panoramic view of what’s going on in the industry.

“I’ve spent five years studying in Cranfield and in Cardiff on leadership and change processes, and the industry leaves me with massive amounts of frustration.

“We need to think outside the box and to focus on change to instill in the workforce what we need to be doing to move forward…

We’ve got to develop the leaders of the future, going back to the grassroots of training, back to the schools and back to the education colleges… this isn’t a short-term fix.

It’s a long-term journey.”

Lorraine Holmes, of the Manufacturing Advisory Service, has worked in the business

support sector for the last 15 years, via roles in Chambers of Commerce, Business Link and the Training and Enterprise Council. She said: “Believe me, I’ve got an awful lot to say on this issue.”

Chris Hallam, business development director at Santander, said he’d got sons aged nine and six, and that the younger one “spends all his times making things” and that this was encouraged at his school. He said that the “big school” he hoped his son would go onto “has engineering clubs where they build cars, racing cars, to participate in student races”.

Chris said: “Do all schools do that? Is there a desire for schools to do that? Is it just because he goes to a private school that that happens? Where is the desire – not necessarily amongst the children, but amongst the teaching staff to promote engineering, going into manufacturing? And let me assure you, my two sons will not do what I do because they don’t like sitting at laptops all day. So I’m interested in where the future lies and how educational establishments can help direct that.” Paul Bennett, a lawyer and

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current president of Black Country Chamber of Commerce, told how his father had once been a chief shop steward in an engineering business, before developing a career in management. His father was very passionate about engineering apprenticeships and used to say to him: “If you don’t work hard you’ll end up working in a factory like me.”

Paul told how things had since come around full-circle and that now, seeing some of the challenges in the legal profession, his own children – his father’s grandchildren – aged five and six, might actually be encouraged to go into engineering rather than the legal profession. Paul added: “When I became Chamber president I said there were two things we ought to focus on – collaboration and ambition.

“One of the things we have concentrated on is a much closer working relationship between businesses and schools.” And his ambition?

“Broadening horizons of young people, particularly in the Black Country, and realising that within manufacturing there’s a whole wealth of skill sets required, not just on >>

We’ve got to develop the leaders of the future, going back to the grassroots of training, back to the schools and back to the education colleges

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the shop floor; it might be in marketing, language skills, IT skills.” Peter Turnock is managing director of CMA Moldform Ltd, a family business based behind Fort Dunlop on Spitfire Park in Erdington, Birmingham.

They specialise in ‘rapid prototyping’ and producing scale models. He said he was currently looking to increase his workforce by 15%, and that funding, skills and a supply base was “very important to us”. He added: “I’m attending these things to try to get someone to listen because 90% of the growth we’re creating has been our own funding from our own profits...

“So I’m after funding, I’m after support that I haven’t really got... We talk about these things, I haven’t really seen much of that becoming action... We are manufacturers, we are innovators, we are designers, we have the best in the world, we can make that better if we act on what we’re doing now, and not get into a hole with a lack of skills and a lack

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of funding.”

Susan Davies, Santander’s deputy regional director, said: “Instead of sitting behind our desks, let’s get out into the market and engage with our community. It’s about being part of the change that’s needed. I’m passionate about the skills agenda, getting into schools early, motivating, and bringing something different to them.”

Tony Sartorius is managing director of Alucast Ltd, an aluminium castings specialist from Wednesbury, in the Black Country. Tony said the casting industry had reduced in the last 25 years, which meant that the training had been “virtually eliminated”. He said they had only survived in terms of skills because of a pool of staff available from firms that had closed down.

But he added: “Those people who were young 30 years ago are not young any more, and we need to do something about it. And we have. We work with the Institute of Cast Metal

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Engineers – what you’d call the foundrymen – to ensure that training does continue, and in the last three years we’ve worked with Bradford and Dudley colleges to provide training courses for apprentices, to get new blood into the industry.”

Tony urged other engineering sectors to work directly with specialist institutes to engage with local schools and colleges, and to create the training courses needed for the future.

He added: “Perhaps some of the industrialists around the table go out and do roadshows at the schools, take their product along, explain to the kids what they do so they can understand... there are exciting products that perhaps the children will be interested in.”

John Duckers is the former business editor of the Birmingham Post, where he worked for some 18 years. Today he’s an independent journalist and PR consultant, and one of his major clients is automotive expert Professor Lord Kumar Bhattacharyya, of the Warwick Manufacturing Group at Warwick University.

John recalled his years on the Post: “It was tremendously frustrating watching how different governments did all that chopping and changing of training and skills, and too many different organisations took their money and never gave quality training. At the very top we can still produce great engineers, but we haven’t produced enough. I think we’ve probably failed young people for the better part of 20 years.

“We’re now in the situation where the Government is coming up with all these ideas, which is encouraging. So you’ve got a push on apprenticeships, technology colleges and academies. That’s coinciding with a tremendous boon from Jaguar Land Rover and car manufacturing generally, so at the moment there are opportunities. And the one good thing that’s come out of the financial crisis, and the vilification of bankers, is that young people are rethinking how they’re going to approach life – apprenticeships or spending a lot of money of degrees. Or a bit of both, with the start of graduate apprenticeships.”

John added: “This debate is beginning to start – young people are thinking ‘perhaps industry can give me a good career’. I think we have a possibility of getting a system that finally does justice to people in terms of training and skills,

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if we can get it right... but can we?”

John Leech, a partner and head of automotive at KPMG in Birmingham, has spent 20 years working with car makers like Rover, LDV, BMW and so on – seeing many of the highs and lows. He said: “I got asked by the SMMT [Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders] to do a positive piece of marketing for them... Some of the things we found were that the number of governmentsponsored apprenticeships had doubled in the last four years, the amount of money the government’s putting into appreticeships has doubled roughly in the last four years, and the starting salary of engineering graduates in the automotive industry is 10% above the average starting salary for all graduates in the UK. “We’re expecting the number of cars made in the UK to increase by about a third in the next four years – there’s a lot to be positive about. I hope we can remember some of those positives, because we do suffer from an image problem.” However, John said that there were lots of issues facing the industry. At a recent SMMT forum, he recalled how Nissan said suppliers should think globally – not just supplying them in Sunderland, but thinking about their needs in Europe and worldwide.

He added: “I do worry that this move towards global platforms might mean we miss out... and the skills issue is going to be our main constraint, alongside finance.”

Steve Brittan is managing director of BSA Machine Tools Ltd in Kitts Green, Birmingham, which he said engineered “everything from a car to a bomb”. He is also the current president of the Birmingham Chamber of Commerce Group, and a governor of Birmingham Metropolitan College. Steve said that in the 1960s, the UK did have enough apprentices, but that this was no longer the case – as opposed to countries like Germany which has continued to over-supply for the skills it needs.

He said that experts had calculated that the UK “is only doing 25% of the accelerated apprenticeships today to give us the skills we want.

“We’re currently working with over-60s because they’re the product of the 1960s when we did have apprentices before they stopped in1985... so now we’re having to

depend on old people to keep us going.”

Steve said that the Institute of Mechanical Engineers reckons the UK is only generating 10% of what it needs to meet its ambitions to balance the economy in 2020.

He said: “That’s how serious the skills thing is,” and added that head teachers and governors are crucial to the future needs of industry, and that more governors should be from industry to try to drive the skills issue.

So who’s to blame for the lack of skills and training, and how do we tackle it?

Lorraine Holmes said: “Skills is now the number one issue – you bankers are off the hook now!” She described how schools and colleges needed to change their curriculums for 14-19 year-olds, to help drive those who were interested into engineering. But she added that the problem – and the solution – also started in the boardrooms of companies.

“If they’d been doing their jobs, they’d have

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seen this coming, and they’d have done something about it before now.”

She added that there had been a UK “obsession” with national targets and qualifications. “When I started work,” she said, “people weren’t that bothered whether you had qualifications or not, they would train you to become competent at doing the job they needed you to do. We’ve lost sight of competence in favour of qualifications – they’re not the same thing... Employers have got to take responsibility for the training agenda again – you’ve got to push schools and colleges if you want to change things.”

Tony Sartorius picked up Lorraine’s point and said: “We have businesses to run – but it’s down to us making a strategy that gives some time to get out to schools, because it’s easy not to do it.”

The dinner debate took place in the week of Margaret Thatcher’s funeral, and Steve >>

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Brittan referred to the historic woman when he recalled how the UK’s first female prime minister had done “a great thing” by taking the unions on in the 1980s. But, he added, she also “threw manufacturing out” and that since then there had been little interest or support in entering the sector, whereas in Germany there is still an over supply of skills.

Then, he said: “Blair really did it when he said we’ve all got to go to university, so we’ve got a lot of people who are unemployable, have high expectations, and the worst thing is they should have had the vocational skills we need.”

Steve said the country had now realised the economy needed rebalancing, and that “we need to make things”, but added “we’re trying to catch up on 30 years”.

John Leech said he was concerned that the current government’s industrial strategy was perhaps too high-tech, and was potentially not targeting the right skills. He encouraged those at the dinner debate to make their voices heard. He said: “Pick up the phone to Paula Crofts [head of automotive and advanced manufacturing showcasing at the Department of Business Innovation and Skills] and she’d be very keen to listen to views, and the more she hears as they finalise that strategy about broadening out the funding, beyond a lowcarbon only focus, would be very helpful to us all.”

Stephen Karle brought up the issue of finance for developing skills – what he called the “human capital challenge”. He said: “We should be looking at the overall capital

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issues facing businesses in the manufacturing sector. If we expect entrepreneurs like you to be supplying into the global manufacturing sector, it is simply unrealistic to expect you to be able to fund that from accumulated profits, it simply won’t work...We’ve got to create a regional investment bank to provide government assistance, coupled with bank funding... the nature of the problem is so great.” Peter Turnock agreed: “We had the opportunity to go to Stuttgart to exhibit under the SMMT banner – we couldn’t afford it, plus the time of technicians that was needed... It gutted me we couldn’t do it.”

Clive Jennings talked about the problems of approaching schools, and how engineers could help solve them.

He said: “Why does the SMMT not come up with a DVD? Kids’ perception of an engineer is a dirty green pair of overalls, head under the bonnet, backside up in the air, fixing a car.

Why can’t they produce a simple, ten minute video to get the kids’ attention, showing all of the different things that go on in automotive engineering, from start to finish.

“Then, after warming them up, instead of people like me, get a level three apprentice talking to the kids, talking about what they’ve been doing as an apprentice.”

Clive also talked about the potential pool of workers that might be available if the engineering industry thought carefully about applicants. He told how companies like British Airways and Jaguar Land Rover had thousands and thousands of applicants for hundreds of jobs, and have systems of sifting through CVs, “whittling down” the numbers to manageable levels. “What happens to all those people who’ve gone through that assessment process? They should pool that information for the supply industry, where all of the screening has already been done.”

Paul Bennett said: “On the skills issue, we have over 1,500 members in the Black Country Chamber, and there are some inspiring programmes our members are doing.

For example, one has been going into local schools teaching hydraulics lessons within their maths and physics classes – very relevant for her business which is involved in calibration

Blair really did it when he said we’ve all got to go to university, so we’ve now got a lot of people who are unemployable with high expectations

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and testing equipment using hydraulic technology. It’s actually contextualising the learning of the students.

“But the problem is, out of my 1,500 members, there are probably 30 places all with the same people that are actually getting engaged. I think that’s the challenge – broadening the participation around members and businesses.”

Referring to Steve Brittan’s comment about business leaders becoming school governors, Paul said that he had been one himself, but only for a short period because he felt boards of governors were “too politicised”. He also said he was really disappointed at the “lack of engagement from parents”, citing an example of one parents’ evening he’d been to where, out of 30 students in a class, only four parents had turned up.

He said: “So the challenge for us, particularly where we’re dealing with communities where people have had cycles of not being in active employment, is to get alongside the students and learners as business people to act as role models, to act as mentors, to get alongside their parents too, but just as importantly to get alongside their teachers, because a lot of people who go into teaching as a profession have not got the experience of working in a business.

“One of the things the LEP in the Black Country is looking at is a programme where you bring the teacher to work. We’re trying to encourage the students who’ve got work experience to bring the teacher into the workplace. On access to finance, I’ve done

some work at a national level and I think there is a need for an investment bank, a very different investment bank to what the coalition government is currently proposing, but I think that has to have structural significance within the economy, and is something that is a longer term project than in one particular parliament – and it does require cross-party support.

“I’m not sure there’s the political will at the moment to deliver a national investment bank... What we really need to do is see that traditional banks are empowered to get back to proper relationship management and proper autonomy at a local level.”

Leon Marklew asked whether some sign-posting service was needed to direct businesses to the right bank finance. He explained: “I’m in financial services and I find it really complicated keeping abreast of exactly what’s available, what’s going on, how to get access, who to approach and who to talk to.

If I’m doing that, how hard is it for someone running a business hands on to understand what potentially could be available?”

Paul Bennett added that another project being put to government was the idea of an “intellectual tax credit” rewarding companies who invested in skills training, meaning that if they spent the time and money on helping schools they would see some reward on their bottom line.

Lorraine Holmes took up this theme of “human capital”, and bemoaned the fact that it wasn’t easily available. She said: “If you want to put up a new building, if you want to

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buy a new piece of kit, I know it’s not easy to find, but somewhere out there, there is some money that can help you do it. If you want to invest in your human capital, it’s not that easy to get anything to support it... It should be joined up as a business issue.”

John Duckers talked about the national curriculum, and was critical of how design and technology lessons were currently being downgraded. He said: “This seems to have slipped under the radar – we need to lobby government furiously to try to maintain design and technology in schools.”

Neil Barrell said one of the needs was to “rebrand” engineering as an ‘in’ word, to “re-establish the word ‘engineering’ as it is in Germany in terms of what it means to society and where it fits into society.” He added that one of the words that he’s always struggled with was the word ‘entrepreneur’, in that “everybody wants to be an entrepreneur” when, in reality, “what we want is lots of engineers”. He added that the industry needed to watch that because “entrepreneurs are dangerous creatures”...

He then added his worries about the quality and capability of current managers in British industry. Neil said: “We’re on a journey with skills... My biggest issue is: have we got the leaders in industry to exploit those skills when they arrive, to put a sustainable manufacturing base into this country? There is a fundamental issue with the calibre of middle and senior management in this country. It’s the whole we’ve got to look at, not just the apprentices and the youngsters >>

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I’m very worried about further alienating bright young women. If we really want to make a difference, we need to tap into female talent coming through the schools.”

Clive Jennings highlighted what he thought should be the importance of appraisals and training, but said that many company bosses weren’t insisting on managers doing this because of what they felt would be an extra cost to their business. He said: “All they’ll do is look at what they have to do to train people to meet the legislative and regulatory requirements. Anything else on top of that is not seen as the day job.”

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John Leech recalled the 1% “training levy” that was brought in after the Second World War – via the Industry Training Board – a system that then saw companies “paid back” a proportion of the levy for every person they trained. This sparked plenty of agreement from debate guests about the need to create a modern version of this training levy for industry in 2013. Lorraine Holmes said: “The day I started work they put a training plan together because they could claim some

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money back. It was a powerful motivator. If we could have a ‘human capital’ tax credit in the same way, then that could be a way...”

Steve Brittan blamed the perceptions created in schools for the lack of interest in the industry. He said: “School teachers are probably the worst because they are actively driving people away from engineering.”

Referring to the opening ceremony at the 2012 Olympics, he said that although it was “impressive” it had done little to create a modern picture. He said: “We’ve still got the smoke stack image... What are the kids really interested in? It’s going to be an iPad isn’t it? If we link engineers and manufacturing to their lifestyles, that’s the way to get them interested.”

Guests then discussed the types of engineering that could interest children of today, and ideas included everything from basic bike maintenance to F1 racing cars.

This subject then led to a short, but heated, debate about whether engineering was too male-centric – and whether industry, and some guests at this debate, were paying enough attention to the skills and interests of women.

Stephen Karle said: “It’s very important that we don’t get too stereotyped – I’m very worried about further alienating bright young women. If we really want to make a difference, we need to tap into female talent.”

Stephen went on to highlight the shortage of women on the boards of engineering companies, and suggested that it might be a good idea to promote extra non-executive roles for women to create some “diversity of opinion” and to drive changes to the industry.

Some other guests didn’t like the idea of any such roles being created that were not on merit, with John Duckers and Peter Turnock particularly vociferous.

Stephen insisted that he was talking about “quality women” who often had simply not been asked, and Lorraine Holmes supported the idea, but other guests were quite disparaging towards this idea.

After a few heated comments, Leon Marklew helpfully turned the conversation towards the more general vision of getting people – whatever their gender – to go to see the frontline of engineering to better understand it. He said: “We need to find a way to inspire

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people so their eyes light up when they go and have a look.”

Concluding the evening, guests were asked if there was one small thing they could commit to doing to help drive improvements to skills and training.

Lorraine Holmes said: “With my role as a governor of Warwick UTC [University Technical College] I’m going to be a hell of a lot tougher to monitor and drive up the proportion of female students we attract to that school.”

Tony Sartorius said: “I can contact my local school and take along some product, stick it on the desk, say this is what we do, these are the interesting products we make.”

Clive Jennings said he was going to talk to his boss at Semta about how they could take forward his idea of a “databank” of people who’d previously applied for manufacturing jobs at places such as Jaguar Land Rover, so that “smaller companies can tap into a bank of people who’ve previously applied” and encourage them to “come forward and reapply”.

John Leech said: “Part of my role is to have regular contact with the media, and so what I commit to do is to sing the praises of the industry and underline the advantages of employment in the industry.”

Steve Brittan said: “If I’m going to try to pick out something I think is key, I think my problem is the word ‘engineer’ – it’s been hijacked. What we need to do is reinvent the industry, the product, what it is we do, and get that message out.

“I’m a fellow of the Institute of Engineering and Technology, but I’m going to commit to working with the IMechE [Institute of Mechanical Engineering] to get as much exposure to raise the profile of engineering – or whatever we choose to call it in future and make it sexy. I’m going to work with a new body to do that.”

Peter Turnock said: “Is there a teachers’ training college in the West Midlands? I might just wander down there and have a word, show them what we do and what it’s all about. ‘Teach teachers’ are two words I’ve written down.”

Chris Hallam talked about the cost of school trips, and how parents often had to pay – not an easy thing to do for some parents whose

children were in state schools. With that in mind, he committed Santander to funding such a trip.

He said: “I will commit to funding one school trip [around one of your factories], and see how it goes from there.”

Neil Barrell said: “The leadership agenda is very important and I’m seeing deficiencies all the time, so I commit to banging on about it.”

Leon Marklew explained how Santander was a relatively new entrant into corporate and commercial banking, but said that he and his team wanted to offer something new to the marketplace. He said: “What I can promise you is that there will be opportunities for funding. We will give every single opportunity a really fair hearing, because we have a desire to help people.

“I can’t promise we will always help, but what I can promise is we will be fair and give everyone a hearing, and we’ll come out and see businesses and see if we can signpost them in the right way.

“What you’ll also get from us is more

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opportunities like this to put like-minded people together around the table to say: let’s not just talk about it, but let’s also get some actions, some agreement and let’s make it happen.” Lorraine Holmes asked if Santander might be able to sponsor an initiative around getting teachers along to big skills shows.

Leon replied: “Perhaps what we could do is find out what teachers’ perceptions are, because maybe we’re making assumptions.”

Finally, John Duckers made a fitting conclusion: “Fundamentally, what Birmingham needs to get back across is that we were always good at manufacturing, and we need to get back to that. The salvation of Birmingham is to recreate it into a city of a thousand trades.” n The debate was held in the private dining room at Hotel du Vin, Birmingham, with the support of Santander. It was chaired

by Caroline Theobald, managing director, Bridge Club Ltd.

Fuelling Ambition This lively debate has fuelled the ambition of West Midlands’ businesses to take positive action in their own communities, to focus their passion and to engage with schools, colleges and universities to promote engineering and manufacturing as valuable options for 16-24 year olds.

It is evident that every business has a clear responsibility to address the skills gap.

Collectively, we must build a sustainable model. We must engage with government agencies to look beyond party politics, to join forces with local businesses and promote the West Midlands as a strong region, proud of its history and completely focused on its future prosperity. We should not cast aside our historic industries. We should embrace them, encourage them and exemplify them.

Schools, colleges and universities have a significant role to play in this as it is vital we have strong pillars in place at every stage of the learning process. It should start at primary school and be a continuous feature of the everyday education agenda. We hope they will join with us to ensure the prosperous future of the West Midlands.

As individuals, we each have a responsibility to inspire future generations. Whether it is our children, or our children’s children, we must make it an ongoing priority rather than something we will do if we have the time.

At Santander Corporate and Commercial we have made a commitment to support local businesses, providing relationship banking support to help them fuel their ambition and achieve their goals. A collective commitment can and should be made across the region to address the skills gap so that each and every one of us can fuel individual ambitions and promote economic growth.

Leon Marklew, Regional Director, Santander Corporate and Commercial Banking, West Midlands

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SUCCESS STORY

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SUCCESS STORY

still rolling on the right track Global tyre brands Goodyear and Dunlop have been around for 125 years – and they’re still making specialist tyres right here in the West Midlands. Edward Stephens reports It’s not that easy for the average person to get excited about tyres.

To the man in the street they’re black, they’re round and most people don’t think about them until it’s time to replace one.

But to people in the know, there’s a lot to get excited about as more and more innovations are brought to market with one intention – making motoring safer.

In Birmingham, tyre-making is synonymous with Dunlop, which this year celebrates its 125th anniversary. But I suspect most Midlanders wouldn’t realise that Goodyear Dunlop – the two companies were both formed in the 1890s but didn’t join forces until 1999 – not only makes tyres for the road but also for the moon.

The Goodyear Spring Tyre was co-developed with NASA to explore the outer reaches of space, not to mention some of the most brutal terrain here on earth.

Instead of rubber it’s made of more than 800 load-bearing springs designed to carry heavy vehicles over much greater distances than the wire mesh tyre used on the Apollo Lunar Roving Vehicle, which Goodyear also helped to design and build in 1971.

And while this airless tyre is far from typical of the everyday product that Goodyear Dunlop produces, it is typical of the sort of innovation that the company is capable of.

Sadly the days when thousands of tyres for all corners of the globe were produced in the Midlands ended in 2006, but 300,000 highly-specialised motorsport and vintage car tyres are still made at a small plant within the shadow of the iconic Fort Dunlop building – the original Dunlop tyre factory in Erdington, Birmingham. And just a few miles away in Wolverhampton, a plant still produces vast quantities of the compound which is >>

It’s a tough environment for everyone but what helps us are the innovative products we have

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In Birmingham people almost always say thank you. It’s a different way of interacting and that fits better with my culture used to manufacture the tyres, although this is now exported to the company’s factories in Germany, France, Luxembourg and Slovenia which make the final product.

The Wolverhampton operation is also responsible for churning out thousands of re-treaded truck tyres, which is big business in

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the UK. Just under 1,000 people now work for Goodyear Dunlop in Britain, with almost 400 of them employed at the company’s sales headquarters adjacent to the motorsport plant.

Heading up the UK and Ireland operation is group managing director Erich Fric, who only

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took over nine months ago, but who has been with the company for more than 18 years.

Born in Vienna, Erich is a mechanical engineer by profession, and has spent most of his working life in the automotive industry, both in the USA and Europe.

Before moving to Birmingham with his wife – he lives in the city centre in a townhouse next to Brindley Place – he was based in Stockholm, where he was in charge of Goodyear Dunlop Tyres Nordic. But he says he prefers the Midlands because the people are much more sociable than the Swedes.

“In Stockholm they always drove me nuts because pedestrians and cyclists couldn’t care less about you when you were driving,” he says. “They would cross the street when the lights were on red against them and if you gave way no one would say thank you.

“In Birmingham people almost always say thank you. It’s a different way of interacting and that fits better with my culture.”

Erich says the UK arm of Goodyear Dunlop has achieved great success in the past few years and the future looks bright.

“Until three years ago the UK was an operation that used to lose money but my predecessor applied the right strategies, put the right people in place and turned things around, making it a profit-making company.

“My job is to grow the business even more and ensure it’s profitable and sustainable on top of what we have already achieved.

“It’s a tough environment for everyone,” he admits, “but what helps us are the innovative products that we have.”

Erich says the national tyre-labelling scheme, which was introduced last November, has given the company – which now has 20% overall market share – a massive boost because their products performed much better than the competition.

The scheme – similar to the one used to rate the efficiency of white goods like washing machines and refrigerators – means the public can check the labels on each tyre and see exactly what they are buying.

The company’s latest EfficientGrip Performance tyre, developed after two years of intense research at the Goodyear Innovation Centre in Luxembourg, has been given a BA rating – B for rolling resistance and A for wet >>

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grip – and takes the company closer to the ultimate AA rating manufacturers aim to get into production as soon as possible.

Arthur de Bok, president of Goodyear Dunlop Tyres Europe, the Middle East and Africa is on record as saying that the difference between an A-graded tyre and one graded G could be the difference between life and death, with the stopping distance of one being as much as 18 metres better than the other.

Erich says another innovation the company is working on is one which will automatically ensure people’s tyres are always at the correct pressure, dramatically improving safety for car drivers and removing the chore of manually checking tyre pressures.

The company says that 40% of drivers are putting their lives at risk by not checking the pressure in their tyres even once a year.

The new air maintenance technology system, due to come to market before the end of the decade, will remove that danger.

The system works using a fine rubber tube integrated into the circumference of the tyre wall. Each part of the tube is compressed by the weight of the car or truck when that section of the wheel is in contact with the road. As the wheel turns and the weight is removed the compressed section of tube opens up again – sucking in air through a tiny filter in the tyre wall.

At the same time the next section is compressed and the process is repeated. It’s simple but very effective.

A valve located inside the tyre constantly monitors the pressure then releases just the right amount of air as it is needed to maintain a constant reading.

But if there is one thing that the Goodyear Dunlop boss would like to see it’s the British fitting winter tyres when our temperatures start to plummet.

Coming from a country where all residents have, by law, to fit winter tyres by a certain date every year, Erich is a staunch defender of their ability to save lives.

“When you get below seven degrees, a summer tyre loses out to a winter one when it comes to wet grip and braking,” he says.

“Where I come from – Austria – and in the Nordic Baltic countries, they sell more winter tyres than summer ones so people are used to

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the concept of having two sets of tyres and use them according to the season.

“In Britain, sales of winter tyres are negligible, but we are currently doing a feasibility study for the UK to see if – as a good compromise – all-season tyres will sell here and, if we think they will, we will order them from our manufacturing plants.

“At the moment they are only producing for Germany so this would be a first and a big change for us.

“I think, however, it could be a good step towards the acceptance of winter tyres and

It could be a good step towards the acceptance of winter tyres and would make the roads of the UK much safer

would make the roads of the UK much safer.”

Erich is also keen to see the tightening up of the sale of illegal part-worn tyres, with regular checks on outlets selling them.

“We know Trading Standards in Birmingham used to have a budget for carrying out these checks but they stopped a couple of years ago.

“The UK has a law regarding the sale of illegal part worn tyres but it’s not being enforced – even though around 98% of all part worn tyres don’t comply.”

And with some 150 tyre brands now on sale in the UK – a large percentage of which are imports from China – he is also concerned that British motorists buying new tyres ensure they get the best they can afford, as the stopping distance between cheap imports and premium

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brand tyres can be dramatically different.

“The new label is a good indication but people should go at least for a C grade tyre,” he says.

“It could mean the difference between life or death where pedestrians are concerned.”

And while he wants people to buy Goodyear Dunlop, he suggests that motorists who have to buy lower priced tyres should go for one of the company’s budget priced brands – Ebica from Poland or Saba from its Slovenian plant – rather than buy a tyre of uncertain origin and quality. “We have these alternatives if people can’t afford Goodyear Dunlop,” he says.

“And because they are produced in our factories we know they are reliable and dealers will confirm that this is a product that comes from the Goodyear Dunlop organisation.

“If people really can’t afford our premium brand tyres they should buy these.”

Erich is keen to bring on new talent in the Midlands and the company has an active apprentice scheme, which was re-invented in 2008 when six youngsters were taken on.

All have gone on to find full time employment in the business.

The latest influx includes the first female apprentice, 18-year-old Emily Morgan from Wolverhampton, whose goal is to become an engineer in the tyre industry – just like her father.

And on the sales side of the business there is an active placement scheme for both graduates and undergraduates.

The company also prides itself on educating young drivers with its driving academy, which helps youngsters from the age of 11 to 17 learn about driving safety before they get behind the wheel, and then gives them the chance to put the theory into practice using dual-control vehicles in an enclosed environment.

Despite his enthusiasm about working in Britain, Erich knows his time here is limited as, like army officers, the top executives working for Goodyear Dunlop are usually given a new “posting” after three to five years.

This charismatic Austrian, who is already popular with the workforce and business leaders in the region is determined, however, to make his mark in that time because of his dedication to the company and his fondness for life in the West Midlands. n

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black day fuels drive for success Avoiding a terrorist bomb by seconds was an experience that changed Christian Warden’s outlook forever.

Paul Robertson reports >>

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The date July 7 2005 will forever be etched on the memory of Christian Warden.

It is a day that had a profound effect on his life and is the catalyst for his determination to ensure everyone who he knows and works with makes the most of opportunities in life.

As the manager of skills body Semta’s West Midlands operation, Christian is responsible for supporting businesses of all sizes to recruit, train and retain apprentices and graduates that are so badly needed in the advanced manufacturing and engineering sector.

He is driven by his time as a former apprentice and the business trip to London where a twist of fate saw him avoid serious injury or even death. “We were due to have a meeting on how to get more young people interested in engineering,” says Christian.

“As the train pulled into Euston I got a call from my sister about a bomb on the underground. She was obviously concerned, heightened by the fact my wife was at home expecting our first child just two weeks later.

“By the time I got off the train there were people milling all over.

“When this sort of thing happens, there is never usually more than one incident so I carried on my journey. I asked a policeman

I think to myself, why didn’t I run back to see if I could help, but I just wanted to get away...I often think about the American family and wonder if they survived

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what was the best way to get across London.

He advised me to get the bus.”

Then, as he made his way to a bus stop in Russell Square, Christian recalls: “There was an American lady with two children, one wearing a green rain Mac. “There was a lot of pushing and shoving.

A colleague phoned to say there had been another bomb so I decided to call my wife Jennie to let her know I was OK before catching a bus.”

It was then that the bus the American family had boarded, and the one he planned to catch, exploded – killing 26 people.

“I think to myself, why didn’t I run back to see if I could help, but I just wanted to get away,” he says.

“The phone cut off so I ended up walking through London for seven hours before anyone knew where I was.

“I often think about the American family and wonder whether they survived.

“It puts life into perspective. I realised that this could have been it. My unborn child could have lost his father.

“I use the story when I talk to young people about apprenticeships.

“They have to make the most of all the opportunities that come their way.”

Happily, two weeks later Dylan was born.

A year later, Scarlett arrived to complete his family.

It’s all a lifetime since Christian joined Peugeot as an indentured apprentice on leaving the Blue Coat School in Coventry.

At the time they sponsored his beloved football team, Coventry City, who were flying high in the old First Division.

“My first day at Peugeot saw me working alongside a chap on the shop floor who had been on the same machine for 40 years and so that was the impression I got of how the job would be,” recalls Christian.

“However, it wasn’t like that. I worked all over the world, was involved in military, football, rally teams, F1 racing with Jenson Button and Lewis Hamilton, jet aeroplanes, luxury yachts and I even got to talk to someone about the engineering that went into David Beckham’s football boots – and met three successive Prime Ministers.”

Christian’s five-year apprenticeship saw >>

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Helping others follow in his footsteps As a former apprentice himself, Gerry Dunne is determined to play his part in keeping the UK at the forefront of manufacturing.

Now the managing director of Westley Engineering and chairman of the Midlands Assembly Network (MAN), Gerry has been through the comprehensive programme run by the old Engineering Industry Training Board, and was keen to ensure those he took on had a similar experience.

And that is where the Semta Apprenticeship Service came in.

Gerry says: “They offered me exactly what I was looking for. I already had one recruit and they provided me with a list of high quality applicants. I offered one of them an apprenticeship. As a small company it is important that we had something which was full-time. Semta is like an old training officer. Everything is in one place.”

Based in Pritchett Street near Birmingham city centre, Westley Engineering designs and manufactures press tools and is recognised as one of Britain’s major and most efficient suppliers of both pressed and precision machine components.

By using the most advanced technology, the company has combined traditional values of craftsmanship and customer service with rigorous quality control and meticulously applied monitoring and management systems to provide all of its customers with press tooling, stamped components and assemblies or precision machined components that are unsurpassed in their accuracy and quality.

Westley Engineering has 28 employees and has recently invested over a £1.5m in new facilities and machinery.

Gerry was instrumental in setting up a programme to further enhance training through MAN, where apprentices working towards the national qualification spend time with another manufacturer. This provides greater experience in more disciplines of engineering and a better understanding of how different companies and industries work.

Gerry says: “They continue to do their college work and learn on-the-job with the employer and this grounding is improved by doing placements at companies that can teach them new skills and techniques. This reciprocal arrangement gives them a true foundation for jobs in the sector – benefiting both the young person and the firms involved.”

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We have an ageing workforce and we need to act now if we are to avoid a skills crisis and remain a region which is world class for manufacturing

him become skilled in electrical and mechanical engineering and robotics before moving into Peugeot’s external relations department.

After a successful start to his career, he moved to North Warwickshire and Hinckley College to run the engineering training provision and help to train the apprentices. And he believes this background has been the perfect preparation for his current role.

Over the past two years the West Midlands has seen an increase of 227% in advanced manufacturing and engineering apprentices, with 5,930 starts in 2011/12 compared to 2,420 the previous year and 1,810 in 2009/10.

It has been driven by a resurgence in the car industry and the positive impact that has had on the supply chain.

But it has also been the result of some hard work, financial incentives and persuasion, with

a lot more to come. With less than 15% of firms in the region taking on apprentices it is a task Christian is relishing.

“I see the West Midlands as having a real resurgence in terms of building on the heritage of advanced manufacturing and engineering,” he says. “The region is home to lots of really good small and medium-sized companies.

“It is a huge opportunity and we don’t want a lack of skills to block the employment of apprentices. We have an ageing workforce and we need to act now if we are to avoid a skills crisis and remain a region which is world class for manufacturing.

“Our research suggests the West Midlands needs to recruit 21,500 people across our sector by 2016 just to replace those who are retiring.

Half of those currently in technical roles also

Factfile The West Midlands accounts for 16% of UK engineering employment and 14% of all UK engineering employers.

201,100 people are employed in 9,420 engineering establishments. Of these 92% (8,666) companies employ less than 50 people.

122,100 people (61%) are employed in direct technical roles as engineers, scientists and technologists.

Approximately 13% of the technical workforce is aged 60 plus, with only 5% aged 16-24 years old.

27% of companies reported skills gaps.

Semta is the employer-led Sector Skills Council for Science, Engineering and Manufacturing Technologies in the UK. The sectors it represents are: Aerospace, Automotive, Composites, Electrical, Electronics, Maintenance, Marine, Mathematics, Mechanical, Metals and Engineered Metal Products, Renewables and Science.

Semta’s role is to raise skills levels and competitiveness in the 126,000 companies and 1.66 million-strong workforce that make up these sectors. Its National Skills Academy for Manufacturing delivers an independent national standard for manufacturing training content, delivery and process by focusing on business return which is typically 6:1.

More details can be found at www.semta.org.uk

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need higher level skills – that’s 56,700 people.

“We need to show parents that an apprenticeship isn’t just a good thing for everyone else’s child – their own children can forge a fantastic long-term career starting out as an apprentice.

“An apprenticeship in engineering is three to four years. There are entry requirements – four GCSEs at Grade C, including English and Maths – and a rigorous programme of on-thejob as well as academic training.

“A recruit is taken on as a full-time employee, earning while learning at salary levels often well above the minimum wage.”

Christian accepts employing an apprentice can be a big undertaking for small firms. They can have difficulty accessing finance, or lack training or HR resources, but that is where Semta steps in.

It helps firms to access funding, quality training providers and a suite of tools designed to give a return on their investment. It supports the recruitment, mentoring and training of apprentices and graduates, assesses supply chain capability to help produce a company training plan, and provides high quality work programmes with demonstrable results from the shop floor to the managing director.

“There is plenty of evidence that the benefits of apprentices far outweigh the costs, which is why we need to do all we can to support SMEs,” says Christian.

“An apprentice will not contribute towards the business in year one but between years two and four they make a major contribution.

They become a valued, loyal employee, making money and providing home-grown skills.

“Employers are struggling to get the skilled people they need, yet youth unemployment remains high so there has never been a better time to bring these issues together and meet the challenge head on.” n

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The West Midlands is renowned for its wide range of quality suppliers to the car industry. But the Government now needs to focus on the future, according to Jaguar Land Rover boss Mike Wright. Steve Dyson reports

thinking about tomorrow The successful growth of Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) has been a precious piece of good news for the automotive industry during the gloom of the recent recession.

And nowhere is this the case more than in the West Midlands, where tens of thousands of

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jobs have been created in recent years – not only at the car maker itself, but also at scores of engineering firms that supply parts.

Indeed, JLR might not still be based in the region if it wasn’t for the strength and reliability of highly-skilled car parts firms that

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are so close by.

That’s the view of Mike Wright, executive director at JLR, when asked for his views on the quality of the automotive supply chain in the West Midlands.

Mike says: “We compete around the >>

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world with 80% of our business outside of the UK, so we have to be genuinely world class to compete with other manufacturers and other brands.

“If we haven’t got world class skills or a world class supply base, then it would be very difficult to compete against those global competitors. If we weren’t happy about what is happening locally, then we do have choices elsewhere, but we’re very committed to this part of the world.”

And that commitment, according to Mike, comes from the fact that all the engineering skills and high quality suppliers it needs are well-provided for in the West Midlands.

Mike says: “We engineer and research all of our products here in Birmingham and the West Midlands, the heart of our design and innovation process.

“And, out of that, our products for Jaguar, the XF, the XK, the XJ models and, on the Land Rover side, the Range Rover, Range Rover Sport, Range Rover Evoque, Discovery, Defender and Freelander, are all engineered in this part of the world.”

Jaguar Land Rover is made up of two great brands – Jaguar and Land Rover – which were once separate companies but joined together under the ownership of Ford in 2000, before being bought by Indian multinational conglomerate Tata Group in 2008.

The company, well-known now as JLR, currently has £13.5bn worth of sales a year in 180 markets around the world, and employs 24,000 people directly in the UK, the majority in the Midlands.

Government figures estimate that this translates to about 170,000 people in the UK whose employment is dependent on JLR’s activities, either directly in its own plants or indirectly in its supply chains and dealerships.

The company has two design and engineering centres in the region – one in Whitley, Coventry, and the other at Gaydon, just outside Warwick. Its main Jaguar factory is in Castle Bromwich, Birmingham, and its Land Rover factory is in nearby Solihull.

JLR seems to be ever more successful in the highly competitive automotive sector – but Mike points out that it can only carry on doing this if it maintains a world-class design and

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manufacturing base.

“One of the great benefits that Jaguar Land Rover enjoys in the West Midlands is its relationship with the educational world,” says Mike.

“We have a very strong relationship with all the local universities, Birmingham, Aston, but particularly Warwick through the Warwick Manufacturing Group where our advanced research and design takes place.

“Any automotive manufacturer has to have

It is investment in innovation that will make the difference to growth in the UK economy

a really good relationship with its supply base and the history of Birmingham, in terms of the automotive industry, is one where that skill base and supply base is readily available.”

Despite his plaudits for the region’s skills and suppliers, Mike is insistent that the Government needs to continue to support measures to develop innovation and engineering skills – to help ensure Britain’s future manufacturing competitiveness.

“It is investment in innovation that will make the difference to growth in the UK economy,” says Mike, citing JLR’s track record over the past two years – creating more than 9,000 new jobs and investing almost £10bn in the UK supply chain.

He is keen to highlight the ongoing challenge of supplier finance incentives and the shortage of graduate engineers, as well as the fact that the UK stands at only 17th in OECD countries for research and development support as a percentage of GDP.

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Mike says: “We recognise that the Government has been working on these issues but if we are to rebalance and grow the UK economy, we need a continued focus on government investment support for research and development, improved supplier access to finance – especially for small and medium size enterprises – and support for more engineering studies and skills training.

“If our suppliers cannot access the right skills, technology and finance, then they may not be able to invest as much in the UK as we would all like.

“Engineering-led businesses like Jaguar Land Rover need the education system to deliver a high quality, up-to-date technical education so young people can join our business and our supply chain with relevant skills.

“If schools can promote STEM subjects and offer every pupil the opportunity to develop knowledge of electronics, systems and computer-aided design, they will better reflect modern industry. This will also help to inspire and encourage them to consider a career in engineering and manufacturing.”

Mike’s words are known to resonate down at Westminster, mainly because JLR has been putting its money where its mouth is. The company is soon opening a new £500m engine factory on the i54 South Staffordshire business park near Wolverhampton, directly employing up to 1,400 workers.

Mike says: “This will be the most advanced engine plant in the UK – and one of the largest in Europe. These are very complex business decisions but it was a location that suited our needs. Our history and our heritage is in this part of the world so choosing Wolverhampton and the i54 site between a number of our manufacturing plants makes distribution of the engines easier.

“Also, Wolverhampton has a long tradition of engineering skills and we’ll be able to tap into those. We take our responsibilities with school kids and apprentices very seriously.

“We have a long association with, literally, hundreds of schools in the region, encouraging them to think about an engineering and manufacturing career.”

Therefore, while calling for more commitment and action from national government, Mike shows clear warmth for the West >>

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Midlands itself. He adds: “The West Midlands has got a really good track record of looking after business and Jaguar Land Rover has enjoyed a long association with Birmingham, Solihull, Coventry and other major locations.

“Any company that invests in the West Midlands is quickly going to find that the established business links are very, very robust, whether it’s chambers of commerce or whether it’s the local enterprise partnerships.”

The other successful factor of the West Midlands, according to Mike, is that it’s at the heart of the UK rail network and national motorway network, with air, road and rail networks providing access to 400 million people across Europe.

Meanwhile, Birmingham Airport serves 143 direct scheduled and chartered routes, and its runway extension plans will soon see direct links with the Far East and South America. This will be crucial for Jaguar Land Rover – with its parent Tata Group based in India and one of its major growing markets in China.

Mike adds: “The West Midlands’ infrastructure is really helpful; good motorway connections, good railway connections and, of course, its own international airport. Business is at the heart of Birmingham and Coventry, Solihull and Wolverhampton. Its location is ideal, at the centre of the UK, extremely well connected to Europe and other parts of the world.” n

Any company that invests in the West Midlands is quickly going to find that the established business links are very, very robust

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(left to right) JLR Executive Director, Mike Wright, the Rt Hon Vince Cable, Secretary of State for Business and JLR CEO, Dr Ralf Speth at the Jaguar Land Rover stand at the Geneva Motor Show

Building for the future Jaguar Land Rover’s latest plans for investment in technology and innovation were unveiled in March, at the Geneva International Motor Show.

The company announced it would reinforce its commitment to manufacturing in the UK by increasing the investment in its new engine manufacturing centre at the i54 South Staffordshire business park near Wolverhampton to more than £500m.

In addition, JLR will invest £2.75bn in product creation during the year to support its ambitious growth plans that will see the business introduce eight new or refreshed products during the year. The company sees the new engine factory as essential to support the company’s long-term strategic growth plans, as it will be the home for a new generation of technologically advanced, lightweight 4-cylinder low emission diesel and petrol engines.

Speaking at the show, JLR’s CEO Dr Ralf Speth, said: “This is a clear demonstration of our business strategy guiding our investment plans.

“Not only does it bring our engine supply back to our production doorstep, but it gives us significant new resource as we continue to innovate with new products and markets.”

The state-of-the-art engine factory is the first in the company’s history to be entirely designed and specified by JLR. At almost 100,000m², the plant will include an engine testing centre alongside the manufacturing and assembly halls.

The company said the building will meet the highest standards of sustainable production and will feature a variety of energy efficiency technologies.

JLR calls the new factory the ‘Engine Manufacturing Centre’, and it is set to open later this year, with the first engines coming off the production line in 2015.

Meanwhile, the £2.75bn investment in product development will support the launch of eight new innovative products to help achieve its business growth strategy.

These include the Jaguar F-TYPE and the introduction of the world’s first nine-speed gearbox in its Land Rover product line-up.

Dr Speth added: “Since 2008, we have invested in our business and will continue to do so in order to support our strategy for measured, sustainable growth over the next five years.”

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