BQ2 Summer 2014

SPECIAL REPORT: SUNDERLAND: THE UK’S THRIVING AUTOMOTIVE HUB

BUILDING ON SUCCESS A supply chain champion makes its mark in the region THE REAL DEAL City Deal paves the way for exciting new developments CARBON FREE QUESTIONS Are we ready for the future?

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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 developments in the UK automotive industry

12 IN THE FAST LANE

EDITORIAL Peter Jackson e: p.jackson77@btinternet.com

Sunderland now accounts for one in three cars made in the UK

16 INSIGHT A new City Deal is paving the way for an exciting manufacturing future

24 DRIVING SAFETY A new training centre is improving safety and fuel efficiency

32 BONJOUR WEARSIDE The French students benefitting from Sunderland’s expertise

34 CARBON FREE? Are we prepared for the advent of electric and hydrogen-powered cars?

40 DEMANDING SUPPLY Car makers need a healthy supply chain to maximise efficiency

44 GOING FORWARD Nissan refuses to rest on its laurels and reveals its investment plans

GEARING UP FOR A SMARTER FUTURE

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SPECIAL REPORT: SUNDERLAND: THE UK’S THRIVING AUTOMOTIVE HUB

WELCOME Welcome to this edition of BQ2. It is 30 years since Japanese car giant Nissan moved to the North East, an area with no tradition of car making but a rich manufacturing heritage.

Back then, the UK industry was plagued by unimaginative design, poor quality and tempestuous industrial relations. But Nissan’s gamble paid off – for the company, the region and the UK. As the nation seeks to rebalance its economy and rediscover its manufacturing and exporting prowess, the Washington plant has provided an exemplar.

It has proved a resounding success, breaking records, winning more and more work and supplying markets globally. It is now responsible for more than one in every two cars manufactured in the UK. It has given rise to a highly skilled and sophisticated supply chain, attracting companies to the area. It provides thousands of jobs and is restoring the UK’s reputation for manufacturing excellence.

Constant innovation and improvement has been central to the Nissan success story and the region has taken this on board, striving to anticipate future developments in the industry.

To this end, Sunderland City Council, universities and colleges and automotive companies have embraced the low carbon economy. We look at some of these developments and profile an industry which has proved itself a world-beater.

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DESIGN & PRODUCTION room501 e: studio@room501.co.uk PHOTOGRAPHY Chris Auld e: chris@chrisauldphotography.com SALES Heather Spacey Business Development Manager e: heather@room501.co.uk @Heather_BQ Rachael Laschke Business Development Manager e: rachael@room501.co.uk @Rachael_BQ or call 0191 426 6300

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.

All contents copyright © 2014 room501 Ltd. All rights reserved.

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, September 2014. room501 Publishing Ltd is part of BE Group, the UK’s market leading business improvement specialists. www.be-group.co.uk

BQ Magazine is published quarterly by room501 Ltd.

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Green jobs created in Sunderland, a swimming star gets an electric boost, Haskel shows off hydrogen, old friends return to their roots for business growth, Lear Corporation creates 100 jobs and Sunderland leads the way to the low carbon future

(l to r) Gordon Pattie of Effective Transport Solutions, Cllr Harry Trueman, Deputy Leader, Sunderland City Council and Steve Hunter, managing director, Tadea-UK

>> New business and new jobs in green vehicle zone An energy efficiency specialist is creating nine jobs in Sunderland after locating its new low-carbon driving simulator in the A19 Ultra Low Carbon Vehicle Enterprise Zone.

Effective Transport Solutions, a new division of Tadea-UK in Billingham, is bringing the equipment to the heart of the region’s low-carbon automotive hub at Sunderland with its new base at the Future Technology Centre next to Nissan and Gateshead College’s SASMI skills academy in Washington.

The jobs will be created to run the simulator and teach fleet and professional drivers the skills to make their motoring safer, cleaner and cheaper.

Tadea’s managing director, Steve Hunter, said: “We wanted to be part of the hub of excellence at Gateshead College’s Future Technology Centre, and our move to the centre is a culmination of a lot of work with partners in the low-carbon sector.

“This will be the first simulated training facility of its kind for drivers, with state of the art classrooms and highly-skilled trainers. The project will involve nine staff and we will be recruiting the first seven to work at Sunderland in the next couple of months.”

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The full-scale simulator can be programmed to a variety of situations, from ordinary motorway driving to adverse conditions, to teach motorists to drive safely and simultaneously reduce their carbon emissions. Primarily aimed at companies with fleets of drivers on the roads, such as haulage firms, the emergency services and local authorities, the centre will also teach motorists driving skills to reduce their fuel costs.

Tadea worked with Sunderland City Council to find the right home for its new division, which was set to be fully operational in July.

Hunter added: “Sunderland City Council has been great. They encouraged us in our ambitions and found solutions when we hit problems. They arranged meetings, helped with networking and provided advice and support to help with the move.”

Sunderland City Council deputy leader, Councillor Harry Trueman, said: “Sunderland has long enjoyed a reputation as a centre of automotive excellence, thanks to Nissan and its suppliers.

“Now the low-carbon enterprise zone is enhancing that and offering new incentives and opportunities for companies in this sector to choose Sunderland as a location.”

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Matt Wylie proudly shows that both he and his 100% electric Nissan LEAF were ‘Built In Sunderland’

>> Leaf boost for budding athlete Sunderland athlete Matt Wylie has been given a sponsorship boost in his efforts to fulfil his dream of representing his country at the Rio 2016 Paralympic Games.

The 17 year-old swimming sensation, who attended London 2012 as part of the British Paralympic Association’s Paralympic Inspiration Programme, has taken delivery of a 100% electric Nissan LEAF, built at the carmaker’s factory a stone’s throw from his home and where his father Mike has worked for 23 years.

The double European junior champion, who only passed his driving test in April, will clock

up hundreds of miles a week in the pioneering model – supplied by Wessington Way Nissan dealer Evans Halshaw – as he makes his way to training and physio sessions across the North East and beyond.

And he believes the smooth drive offered by the pure electric LEAF and the low running costs of just two pence per mile, will be a great benefit as he intensifies his efforts to be part of the ParalympicsGB squad in Rio and achieve his ultimate goal of bringing home the gold.

Collecting the keys to his new car, a delighted Matt, who has cerebral palsy, said: “This is absolutely fantastic. Just having a car to get around in is going to make my life so much

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easier and really help me with my training and preparation.

“I travel about 300 miles a week getting to training and physio sessions and it’s important to arrive as fresh as I can. There are charging points everywhere in the North East so it’s going to save a lot of money and the LEAF is so smooth and easy to drive, especially with my disability, that it’s going to help massively with my training.

“I also love the fact I can use my phone to de-ice the car on cold winter mornings and so won’t have to turn up at high intensity workout sessions freezing cold like I did last year.”

But it’s not just receiving the car itself that’s given Matt a boost. He’s also drawn pride and confidence from the fact it represents support from the local community, especially those who work at the Nissan plant and at Evans Halshaw.

Matt said: “Knowing my car was built literally a 10 minute walk from my house is terrific.

Obviously, the factory is a massive part of the area and the dealership is only just down the road too so knowing that I have the support of local people behind me is a great feeling.”

Matt’s dad Mike, who works as an IT Manager at the Nissan factory is also proud of the brand’s support for his son and the fact he’ll be driving a car built in his home city.

Mike said: “It’s incredible and, looking back to the early days with Matt, I never thought I would see anything like this happen.

“I’m really proud that a company like ours is supporting events like the Olympic and Paralympic Games and helping athletes like Matt.

“My colleagues have been really supportive all the way. They’re really happy for Matt and are always following his career.”

The partnership between the dealership and Matt was formed through Nissan’s role as the Official Automotive Partner of ParalympicsGB and Team GB on the road to the Rio 2016 Paralympic & Olympic Games.

As part of this, Nissan has launched the #UniteAndExcite campaign which will provide fans with exclusive behind-the-scenes access to athletes’ stories and news of how Nissan’s innovative technology could improve performance. >>

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Fans can follow #UniteAndExcite at www.nissan.co.uk/uniteandexcite Alan Sedman, dealer principal at Evans Halshaw Nissan on Washington Way, said: “We are extremely thrilled to be able to support Matt on the road to Rio and I’m sure he will absolutely love his new car.

“It’s an especially great source of pride for everyone at the dealership knowing that we are backing an athlete with such strong links to Nissan by giving him a car that was built right here in the city where he was born and raised.

“Knowing that we’re playing some small part in helping him realise his sporting dreams is amazing.”

>> Hydrogen future on show Haskel Europe is using its expertise to build a complete refuelling system to showcase the potential of hydrogenpowered cars.

Haskel engineers in France carried out the detailed design, and the manufacturing plant in Sunderland produced the hydrogen refuelling station which was demonstrated to motoring journalists across Europe.

Graham Fox, Haskel’s continuous improvements and projects manager, said: “We effectively built a garage forecourt – a filling station for hydrogen-powered cars, everything from the nozzle that delivers the fuel into the car, all the way back into the fuel pump.

“The assembly was all carried out at the Sunderland facility. There were three assembly fitters permanently involved in the build.”

Haskel Europe specialises in designing and manufacturing components able to withstand pressures that are typically five to 10 times normal operating pressures – around 6,000 to 130,000 per square inch (PSI).

It has been supplying gas boosters tailored specifically to work with pressurised hydrogen gas for more than 30 years.

Haskel created a bespoke system, working

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within the requirements of the EU ATEX (Atmosphères Explosibles) directive that governs the working environment and equipment used in explosive atmospheres.

Fox said: “It was an extremely complex project because we had to take into account the different ATEX zones and environments.

“With hydrogen being combustible, you have to ensure equipment that can create ignition, for example the electrics, are kept away from the combustible parts.

This is where ATEX regulations are used to support such situations.

“The system took approximately three months to design, and then a further two months to complete the assembly stage.

“The system was a pilot to take around to the various motor shows in Europe inviting journalists to test drive hydrogenpowered cars.”

It is estimated that hydrogen fuel-cell vehicles could account for up to half the UK car market by 2050. The Government plans to make Britain a global leader in this technology, forecasting a possible market share of 30-50% by 2050, according to a report released in February 2013.

>> Friends return to roots to grow Two friends and now business partners have returned to the Sunderland site where they served their time as engineering apprentices to set up a joint base for their sister companies.

4B Fabrications, which started in 2012 initially to support 4B Engineering, relocated to Pennywell Industrial Estate when it outgrew its premises in Washington. Now 4B Engineering has taken the other three units in the same block to expand.

Gary King runs 4B Fabrications and 4B Engineering’s managing director Steve Forbister is also a director of the fabrications business.

King said: “Both myself and Steve served time for Alto Engineering which was based in these units. Now we’ve taken the whole block of units here, and it’s brought them back to life

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which is great news for the area, and makes sound business sense for 4B.” 4B Fabrications is building its customer base across the North East with clients in deep sea operations, automotive and food industries, and the firm is looking to expand its staff numbers in line with the growth of its customer base.

4B Engineering, which has a staff of 12, has been in business for nine years. In addition to working with standard engineering materials, it works with exotic metals and plastics and supplies services for the food manufacturing sector and automotive industries.

“The reason we set up the fabrication business was because the engineering side was subcontracting fabrication work,” said King.

“Steve approached me and asked if I was interested in setting up a fabrication business and keeping the name 4B, so it’s a known name for customers. It’s worked well, and we’re now growing our own customer base as well.”

Around 95% of 4B Fabrications’ clients are in the Wearside area.

4B Fabrications was supported with its expansion and relocation to Pennywell by Sunderland City Council.

King added: “We got in touch when we were exploring options for growth. It was very straightforward working with the City Council and they were very helpful.”

Councillor Harry Trueman, Deputy Leader of Sunderland City Council, said: “The success of the two 4Bs and the way they have worked together to bring more work into the city’s economy should be applauded.

“We’re delighted to see the two firms based together in Sunderland and are confident their success in Pennywell will play an important part in attracting more businesses to the industrial estate.”

We’re delighted to see the two firms based together in Sunderland

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Lear Corporation production at Sunderland

>> Lear doubles up in Sunderland US automotive giant Lear Corporation is making a multi-million pound investment to more than double the size of one of its Sunderland factories, creating more than 100 jobs.

Lear is extending its plant on Sunderland City Council’s Rainton Bridge Industrial Estate by a further 3,500sq m to house additional production equipment and support growing UK automotive seating foam business.

The factory, which opened in 2011, was Lear’s first UK foam manufacturing facility for vehicle seating and combined with its neighbouring seat assembly plant, now

employs 420 people. The additional jobs are planned over the next three years as the factory ramps up production to meet existing Nissan business and additional new business for Jaguar/Landrover (JLR).

The new foam business for Lear Sunderland will be supplied to its Lear sister assembly plants located in the Midlands. Lear in Sunderland will begin work on the first tranche using its existing equipment and will ramp up production and start creating jobs once the extension is completed next year.

Lear is one of the world’s leading automotive component makers with 221 manufacturing sites in 36 countries, employing 122,000 people. Its seating and electrical components are found in more than 300 types of vehicle

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made by virtually every car manufacturer around the globe.

The US$16.2bn turnover company’s president of Europe and Africa, Gideon Jewel, visited Sunderland from his European headquarters to turn over the first sod of the new development with Sunderland City Council leader, Cllr Paul Watson.

Gideon Jewel said: “We worked closely with Sunderland City Council to bring Lear to the city in 2011 and they have strongly supported the extension of the plant. The Sunderland workforce have a track record of productivity and efficiency and this has been an integral part of the decision to invest further in Sunderland.

“This announcement closely follows the >>

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recent agreement of Lear to acquire the world’s largest provider of leather for automotive interiors, ‘Eagle-Ottawa’.

This along with the expansion of our foam manufacturing capability in Sunderland will further strengthen Lear’s position in automotive seating and support our vertical integration strategy and acceleration of growth.”

The Sunderland plant currently supplies foam seating to Nissan for Qashqai models manufactured at Washington. Once the extension is completed, Lear’s capacity will increase by more than 300,000 car seats per year, taking its total capacity to more than 600,000 per year.

Lear Corporation Sunderland plant manager, Jim Casey, said: “This is an exciting time for the Sunderland workforce and Lear’s decision to make this happen here is testament to the

capability of our employees, our networks and strong links to the city and its university. We strongly appreciate the support of Sunderland City Council through this entire process.”

Cllr Paul Watson said: “This extension and new business is fantastic news for Lear, the region and employment. We have a vibrant automotive supply industry centred on Sunderland and Lear’s decision to extend its Rainton Bridge plant is proof the sector is going from strength to strength.

“The City Council spent 18 months working with Lear to bring the company to the North East back in 2011, and we’re delighted they are confirming their strong commitment to Sunderland with this new investment and job creation.”

The site will be project managed by Marick Real Estate. The contractor is Bowman and Kirkland.

>> New service body launched An alliance for industry service experts has been launched by the North East’s largest manufacturing grouping – with Europe a driving force and inspiration.

The Advanced Manufacturing Forum (AMF) looked to the Continent for role models on which to base the North East Maintenance Forum (NEMF).

It hopes the NEMF will become Britain’s premier collaboration of engineering managers, project planners and schedulers, production managers, maintenance technicians, and others involved in the practical aspects of maintenance.

It has partnered with University of Sunderland’s Institute for Automotive and Manufacturing Advanced Practice (AMAP), which covers a range of industrial applications, digital engineering technologies, and research.

The NEMF launched on 10 July at the Quadrus Centre in South Tyneside.

The keynote address was by Dr David Baglee, project manager and senior lecturer in the university’s department of computing, engineering and technology, and a maintenance expert.

Jack Hanwell, AMF’s manufacturing sector development manager, said: “With the NEMF we are building upon successful models employed in other EU countries.

“With links with other relevant manufacturing groups, the forum will provide direct access to industry and academic experts and to a network of European companies to exchange innovative ideas and practices.

“It is our aim to become the UK’s premier maintenance network forum.”

We aim to become the UK’s premier maintenance network forum

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>> Sunderland wires up for an electric future Sunderland is leading the way when it comes to developing low carbon vehicles and the infrastructure to support them, as we report Sunderland is leading the way in helping to create the best conditions for electric vehicle drivers to use and charge their cars easily.

It is one of the cities benefiting from £500m of Government money being spent to persuade more drivers to switch to electric cars in an effort to drive down emissions.

The city now boasts more than 50 charging points, some of which are double bays. The infrastructure ranges from a network of easilyaccessible points across the city centre to those installed in places such as Herrington Country Park, a popular leisure destination for trips out of the city.

The latest Government investment will provide money between next year and 2020 for cities planning incentives for motorists to achieve ‘ultra low city status’, funding for research, and an extension of the grant scheme to encourage people to make the switch to electric cars.

The plans include £32m to boost the current charging infrastructure, to end what is considered one of the major hurdles to electric car adoption – charging anxiety. Easy access to charging points around the UK is also a key component of the Go Ultra Low campaign, which is a key part of national efforts to persuade drivers to make the switch.

Paul Muir, Sunderland City Council’s Transportation Strategy officer, says: “Nissan’s Sunderland manufactured LEAF is one of more than 20 ultra low emission vehicles already on the road in the UK. Every major car manufacturer will have its own electricpowered vehicle by the end of next year.

“But when we talk to drivers, it becomes apparent that a lack of information is one of the main reasons more people aren’t swapping from conventional to electric vehicles. The council is now aiming to tackle that by providing user-friendly information on electric cars and how and where drivers can charge up their vehicles.

“We have a good network of charging points across the city and we’ve now updated our

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website with more user-friendly information about electric motoring and a map showing drivers where they can charge their cars across Sunderland.’’

He says that it is hoped that by making people aware that the infrastructure is there to charge vehicles more drivers will be persuaded to convert to electric.

He adds: “We are very lucky with our location next to Nissan and we are seeing an increasing number of electric cars on our roads already.

It’s set to become much bigger in the next few years.

“But it is a chicken and egg situation. We are providing these charging points at good locations but we need to raise awareness of their availability and how to use them.”

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Encouraging greater use of low emission vehicles is part of Sunderland’s strategy to become the UK’s national hub for the low carbon economy. In addition to jobs provided by the production of the Nissan LEAF in Sunderland, along with batteries to power the new generation of electric vehicles, the city is also pioneering a number of new initiatives.

The University of Sunderland’s Institute for Automotive and Manufacturing Advanced Practice (AMAP) is leading international research in the sector and last week saw the opening of the Future Technology Centre - a £4.5m investment by Gateshead College and the Government’s Regional Growth Fund to provide facilities for research and

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SUNDERLAND: THE UK’S THRIVING AUTOMOTIVE HUB

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development in the low carbon vehicle industry in Sunderland.

The city’s A19 Ultra Low Carbon Vehicles Corridor Enterprise Zone, on land owned by the City Council, has already attracted £14m in investment to create new technologies and jobs. The money includes more than £5m from the European Regional Development Fund Competitiveness Programme 2007- 2013, with match funding of £4.8m from Sunderland City Council and a £4m loan from the North East Local Enterprise Partnership’s Investment Fund.

Councillor Paul Watson, Leader of Sunderland City Council, says: “Sunderland is leading the way in creating the building blocks for the new low carbon economy.

“Encouraging people to use electric vehicles is a hugely important part of this and we’re hopeful that once people recognise the infrastructure is in place and know where to find charging points, we will see a rapid growth in electric car usage.”

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NEWS

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Vantec Europe’s warehouse at Sunderland

>> Sunderland on the Vantec map Sunderland has been chosen to host the first ever annual general meeting outside of Japan for global logistics group Vantec Corporation.

Executives from Vantec Corporation’s head office in Japan, plus Vantec managing directors and chief executives from America, India, Guangzhou, Mexico, Russia and the Netherlands will be attending the three day meeting in September.

The decision to meet in Sunderland comes after a string of successes for Vantec Europe (VEU), which specialises in logistics for Nissan Manufacturing UK in the North East. And which has which has created 230 Sunderland-based jobs in the last two years.

Vantec Europe in Sunderland opened a £22.5m, one-mile circumference warehouse on the North East Enterprise Zone at Turbine Park Sunderland in 2012. The facility, now operating at full capacity, was built to handle new work from neighbouring Nissan.

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The AGM will be held at Sunderland City Council’s Washington Business Centre within the Enterprise Zone. In addition to Vantec, the Enterprise Zone houses workshops and hybrid units for small and start-up businesses, the Future Technology Centre for low carbon vehicle technologies and R&D, and a pub-restaurant.

Vantec Europe, which employs 1,100 staff in the North East, also runs warehousing and logistics operations with Komatsu UK, Birtley and Cummins Engines, Darlington.

The success of the new warehouse played a key role in securing additional business with Nissan in Russia, where Vantec is working in partnership with Moscow-based Major Auto Trans to supply warehousing and logistics to the Japanese car giant in St Petersburg.

Managing director of Vantec Europe, Martin Kendall, said: “Hitachi Transport Systems bought out Vantec Corporation in 2012 due to its expertise in automotive and freight forwarding.

“Our closeness to Nissan is a key factor in our success. We handle 96% of its logistics

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activity and services and employ over 750 people on the Nissan contract.”

Vantec Europe worked with Sunderland City Council to bring the huge warehouse to the city.

Mr Kendall said: “We have a very close relationship with Sunderland City Council.

They understand the importance of job creation through business growth.”

Sunderland City Council leader, Cllr Paul Watson, said: “Vantec in Sunderland is going from strength to strength and the company’s decision to hold its first AGM outside of Japan in the city is a vote of confidence in the Sunderland business, its staff and management.

“Vantec plays an important role in Sunderland’s growing automotive sector, and we are delighted that the city is being recognised on a global scale by Vantec Corporation’s decision to bring key international players from its worldwide warehousing and logistics business to see what is happening in Sunderland.”

SUNDERLAND: THE UK’S THRIVING AUTOMOTIVE HUB

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INTERVIEW

SUMMER 14

L to r; Sunderland Council Leader, Cllr Paul Watson, and chief executive Dr Dave Smith

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INTERVIEW

IN THE FAST LANE OF RECOVERY >>

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SPECIAL REPORT | SUMMER 14

INTERVIEW

SUMMER 14

Automotive manufacturing centred on Sunderland accounts for one in three cars made in the UK. Peter Jackson talks to the City Council about an industry that has put the city on the map There were high hopes when Nissan first came to Sunderland in 1986, but nobody could have predicted just how much of a success the new car plant would be.

It is a statistic gleefully quoted in the city that every year Nissan’s Washington factory now makes more cars than are produced in the whole of Italy.

It turned out 510,000 vehicles this year and is on target to reach 600,000 next year.

Not only is it now the biggest private sector employer in the region with more than 7,300 people in its factory but it has attracted around it a huge supply chain, so that some 28,000 people are now working in the automotive sector in the North East.

“That’s 48 automotive companies based in the region and 23 of these are located in Sunderland and 75% of Nissan’s supply base is located around the plant itself,’’ says City Council Leader Cllr Paul Watson, with evident pride. “All provide much valued, reasonably well-paid and skilled employment.

“It’s massively important to the economy, not only the economy of Sunderland but if you look at the economy of the North East, the two things that support the whole of the North East region are the chemical industry and the advanced manufacturing and automotive sector in and around the A19 strategic transport corridor.’’

There are also automotive suppliers such as TRW, who moved to the city in order to expand it’s European base in 1989. TRW

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now exports all its products, principally to VW, Ford and General Motors.

It is another source of pride to Cllr Watson that Sunderland’s automotive sector is leading the way in the UK’s battle to export its way to a more sustainable and broadly based economy.

He says: “Overall some 80% of Nissan’s products are for export and there are 136 countries around the world we export to.

This demonstrates the importance of Nissan and the automotive sector in Sunderland making this the only region in the country with a positive balance of trade.

“You saw the problems we have had nationally with the economy, which came out of just depending on the commercial and financial sectors for the country to make a living, and then we had the crash. The mantra now is to have an export led economic recovery with manufactured goods and in that regard we can see that Sunderland is the recovery. We are not waiting for the recovery to happen, we are making the recovery happen and that’s through this massive success story that is Nissan and the supply chain in advanced manufacturing.’’

The City Council chief executive Dr Dave Smith points out that the Nissan story is about more than just scale, it’s also the diversification.

“More and more there are a different range of models being manufactured at Nissan.

There are more suppliers in the area, not just to Nissan itself but to other car manufacturers. In research and development there is a new plant

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for the production of the battery for the Nissan LEAF Electric Vehicle and the examination of further opportunities around improving and developing further electric car technologies. All that is helping to embed the industry, not just in the production of cars but in the development of the automotive sector over all.’’

Furthermore, Nissan in Sunderland is not only exporting its cars but also the secrets of its success as it is increasingly seen as a global exemplar.

“The experiences and leadership within the Sunderland plant are being used to develop and evolve existing and new plants in mainland Europe, including Russia and Eastern Europe and that expertise is coming from Nissan UK,’’ says Dr Smith. “It’s like a hub for Europe. That gives us some sense of comfort that Nissan continues to have a long term future.’’

There is an increasing confidence in the future.

Cllr Watson says: “Clearly the auspices are good. Nissan and its supply chain are investing £500m and more in developing new premises and factories. Nissan has introduced its quality marque in the Nissan Infiniti and it’s gearing up to produce the Q30 and QX30 SUV in Washington. This is high level investment and companies don’t invest that kind of money if they’re not stopping long enough to recoup their investment.

“The Government has backed our City Deal which includes an International Advanced Manufacturing Park (IAMP), focusing

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on unlocking more potential growth in manufacturing and advanced engineering in Sunderland and the wider region. So the Government sees a long term future, the automotive industry sees a long term future in terms of investment, the supply chain are investing as much as Nissan to ensure their ability to supply them. I think that demonstrates the robustness of the sector going into the future. Markets and the world economy are difficult to second guess but everything is pointing to a future that is rewarding the hard work of the people involved, the good management, the loyalty and the diligence of the workforce.’’

The world of technology, however, moves at an ever quickening pace and new developments can soon render factories obsolete. Sunderland is only too aware of this and is eager that its automotive sector should stay at the leading edge of developments, which are centred around low carbon in general and electric vehicles in particular.

Dr Smith says: “The technology is evolving and with each new development the opportunities, in terms of the range and scope of electric vehicles and also the cost base reduces and so it makes it a more attractive option at each phase of its development and I hope that continues. A key issue for us in supporting the technology is ensuring, as far as possible, that the infrastructure continues to develop.

A key to this, in the current technologies is charging points.

“We have invested heavily in that in Sunderland and so has the wider North East. But we need to continue to encourage Government to invest in the infrastructure nationally so it increases the attractiveness of the offer of electric vehicles for national travel and not just local and regional travel.

“It’s important for us to keep that story going and keep that understanding there. It helps as more car manufacturers move into electric vehicle territory because that in itself increases the desire to put the infrastructure in across the country and in mainland Europe. We would want to continue to see that evolve to maximise the commitment that Nissan has already made to the development of electric cars.

“Most important in the near future is how the

battery technology evolves so the range of the vehicles increases and the cost of the batteries comes down. It’s interesting that Nissan continue to look at their financial models to deal with those issues in a way that’s attractive to potential purchasers.’’

While there are manufacturers in the West Midlands which are producing hybrid vehicles, no other region is focusing on electric vehicles in the way that Nissan has in the North East.

“We want to press that case as a consequence of that, not just in terms of manufacture but in continued evolution and development of low carbon technology,’’ adds Dr Smith.

Next to the Nissan test track Gateshead

We have an excellent track record in terms of out ability not only to attract business but to keep them here College has opened its £4.5m Future Technology Centre to develop and implement low carbon vehicle technologies, a move welcomed by Cllr Watson.

“It will obviously be a flagship location for the development of all the low carbon technologies and not just electric vehicles,’’ he says. “It’s an ideal location for businesses and researchers in the industry to work together and combining that with a 28 Kilometre performance track, the facilities there are for research and development are excellent.’’

Dr Smith says: We have supported that development with Washington Business Centre which is on the same site, a £6m development that we have recently opened which is a mixture of flexible spaces, focused on R&D and development around manufacturing.

That’s an important move for us on that site. The industry itself and all those ancillary businesses want to be close to the centre of it

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and that’s why we chose the location we did and we think it’s going to pay off.’’

Both men emphasise that it is the city council’s approach to business and the importance it places on working in partnership that has contributed to the success of its automotive sector.

Cllr Watson says: “We have a really good track record with partnership. Even our economic partnership board is chaired by private business. We are not precious and we understand how we need to work with people who have expertise in different areas. So, we have the major businesses in the area such as Nissan, Liebherr and The Bridges shopping centre sitting on that economic board. That’s one way we make sure they are at the heart of our economic master plan. We also work closely with our partners in the university and the college.

“We have a dedicated team inside the council which fosters the facilitation of new businesses and their aftercare in the area, so we do put our money where our mouth is in that regard, to ensure that businesses are not only welcomed here but are looked after.

We work closely with them to develop their proposals to the NELEP and the Government for grant funding. We have an excellent track record in terms of our ability not only to attract businesses but to keep them here.

We ensure we build relationships with all the businesses that come in from outside and our indigenous businesses.

“We work with businesses in lots of ways and on lots of levels on their current needs and their requirements when they want to move buildings or expand. We have a team of people to work with them to ensure they get what is best for them. If you ask our businesses, we come highly recommended.’’

He is convinced it is an approach that has paid off handsomely.

He says: “Look at how this industry and how our economic fortunes have expanded during one of the worst recessions in living memory. That has been a phenomenal achievement to grow the economy in that time. It’s important people understand the difficult environment we worked in to be part of creating a recovery rather than waiting for it to happen.’’ n

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YOU AIN’T SEEN NOTHING YET!

Sunderland has secured a City Deal and with it the promise of an even more exciting manufacturing future, as Peter Jackson discovers

Sunderland’s position as a centre for the automotive industry and advanced manufacturing is poised for massive expansion following a successful application for a City Deal.

In partnership with South Tyneside Council it was included in the latest round of City Deals that will give 20 cities the green light to negotiate plans to get the freedom, powers and tools needed to shape their economic future.

The Sunderland and South Tyneside City Deal means £5m of funding to back a new International Advanced Manufacturing Park (IAMP).

The IAMP development will be across Sunderland City and South Tyneside Council’s boundaries north of the Nissan

car plant alongside the A19.

It is predicted that the project will enable the construction of infrastructure, bringing a predicted £295m in private sector investment and the creation of more than 5,200 new jobs by 2026/27 with more than 500 new jobs being created every year from 2018. A further 3,700 jobs are anticipated by 2031.

Potentially the site could cover 100 hectares, the equivalent of 140 football pitches.

Sunderland City Council chief executive Dr Dave Smith says: “It’s difficult to appreciate the scale of it at the moment because it’s not delivered yet. But what Paul [Cllr Paul Watson, Leader of the City Council] negotiated on the City Deal is the biggest single industrial expansion since Nissan came.

“It is a massive commitment that we have

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entered into. It’s going to take us 15 years to deliver the whole programme because it’s that big – as big as Nissan coming in the first place.

That scale won’t dawn on people until this thing is delivered.’’

The IAMP will entail transport infrastructure development, including the new crossing over the river Wear and the Sunderland Strategic Transport Corridor, giving improved access to the Port.

Cllr Watson says: “The whole idea of the Sunderland Strategic Transport Corridor and the river crossing is to ensure that we have the right transport infrastructure to ensure that businesses can get their goods to market.

It was important that the City Deal reflected our priorities in making the city a prosperous place to live and we do that obviously by >>

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supporting indigenous businesses and clearly public infrastructure is very important to them.’’

It will also address a shortage of future development land to accommodate the rapidly growing automotive and advanced manufacturing sectors.

Cllr Watson says: “That’s partly the reason why we are doing the IAMP. Parts of it need to be brought out of the Green Belt, other parts need to be developed that were restricted in other ways with things such as settlement breaks. We have had to go through some throes to accommodate Nissan and its supply chain and the Enterprise Zone which has attracted a lot of people. We need now to look forward to the future and see where any future inward investment will be accommodated.’’

Dr Smith adds: “A number of the big suppliers, Vantec being an obvious one, and Calsonic Kansei, Unipres, TRW – all those have put huge amounts of additional investment in so their demand has been for both new premises and bigger premises. The Vantec site alone is a quarter of a mile long. That easily takes up all available spare land we’ve got, so unless we plan now, appreciating that to make this land available on this scale takes a number of years to achieve, we needed to act now so that we didn’t run out of land.’’

Central Government will help with assembling the land for the park and in the planning process and the Highways Agency will assist in delivering the required road infrastructure.

Dr Smith says: “The third element was to support a proposal that was put forward by

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When we are talking about £500m being invested, companies need to know they have some security – some proper backing – to recoup this investment the NELEP and backed by Sunderland which was a new approach to skills development that would help us support the industry’s increasing need for skilled labour, particularly engineers of different types.’’

As well as the physical development, Cllr Watson believes one of the most important aspects of the City Deal and the IAMP is the message it sends about Sunderland and the North East.

He says; “For me the first and foremost thing it does is that it indicates to inward investors and businesses that both the City Council and Government are willing to back with resources and investment their inward investment. It gives them the confidence that we understand them. When we are talking about £500m being invested, these companies need to know that they have some security and some proper backing over the next 20 or 30 years to recoup this kind of investment.

“I think this demonstration by Government and the local authorities to go in and de-register Green Belt shows our absolute support for industry and its development in the area. That’s an important sign to other inward investors that we are backing business.

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“It sends a message to the current industry here and the prospective industries that may come here that this is a place where you will get support and the backing of the local authorities and Government recognises us as a place where things happen.’’

Clearly the IAMP will accommodate Sunderland’s burgeoning automotive sector but it is also hoped it will attract other advanced manufacturing businesses, which will broaden the area’s economic base.

“What we do need is to understand how we diversify the economy for this part of the North East in South Tyneside and Sunderland to ensure when fluctuations in international markets happen we have some protection from them,’’ says Cllr Watson. “In Sunderland we have quite a large contact centre sector, we have other manufacturing sectors, we have companies like Rolls Royce in aerospace and BAE Systems.

“We believe there’s a wider advanced manufacturing demand out there that we can service because of the nature of the workforce and the availability of the infrastructure.

We believe that there’s a much wider set of manufacturing that’s both automotive related and unrelated to automotive that

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will wish to take the opportunity that we will make available to them.

“We are looking to diversify a little more in keeping with our traditional skills in engineering and manufacturing and we can accommodate that because it has synergies with what we do. There are other sides of manufacturing that we can attract and also increase the value added nature of the jobs so that we get more graduate jobs and Software and technology jobs.’’

The IAMP is a joint Sunderland and South Tyneside enterprise and the way in which the two authorities will work together to manage it has yet to be finalised, as Dr Smith explains.

“We are still debating the exact nature of the governance but there will be some joint governance led by the two leaders but engaging significant business

interests within that.

“The delivery of the project is over a number of years in phases so this is a long term commitment so we want to ensure the governance will provide that stamina and will also look to the most effective use of the resources available.’’

It is a huge project taking considerable planning and preparation which will inevitably mean some time before people see significant physical development.

“For the next couple of years there’s a lot of work behind the scenes that has to go on in terms of the land assembly and preparation and application for the development of the land, planning permissions and putting services in,’’ says Dr Smith. “So I anticipate the first phase would start to be seen in terms of physical development on the land in three or four years’ time.

“There will be some road

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development which will be seen pretty early on as they deal with the A19 requirements.

They will be the first things to see.

“The progress totally depends on investors.

The approach we will take is not just to assemble the land and carry out infrastructure work, it will also be to establish the marketing and the approach to attract investors well in advance of the site being available.’’

The site of the IAMP is not included in the current enterprise zone but that remains an option for the future.

Dr Smith says: “It’s not currently in the enterprise zone, although we may seek over time to advocate that it is, so we can bring in new ways of incentivising opportunities for business. We will have to wait and see, time will tell what policies are in place nationally when the first part of the site becomes available. But we will seek to make it as business friendly as we possibly can through whatever policies are put in place by whatever government is in power.

“That’s always been our key, that we have always been willing to maximise opportunities for the businesses that have come here and I think that’s why we have had such a good record. So when we are talking to new potential investors our experience is that it’s not the story we tell that matters, it’s the story other businesses tell, the likes of Nissan who talk about what it’s like to be based in Sunderland. They have always proved to be really positive stories and have helped land the investment we have benefited from.’’ n

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BUILDING ON THEIR SUCCESS Vantec Europe Ltd is integral to the huge automotive supply chain and is making its mark on the region in more ways than one. Peter Jackson spoke to senior project officer Ian Hepplewhite >>

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Regular users of the A1231 where it meets the A19 would have been struck by the rapid erection of a building a quarter of a mile long which now dominates the junction.

This is Vantec Europe’s massive new warehouse, built to cater for the expanding operations of its leading customer, Nissan. It represents Vantec’s largest ever overseas project.

Work on the £22.5m warehouse, which measures a mile in circumference and dominates Turbine Business Park, was started in May 2012 and completed in December that year, the fastest ever design and build of a facility of that kind in the UK. Ian Hepplewhite, senior project officer at Vantec Europe, oversaw the building. He says: “On a lot of the projects we do we don’t see something physical at the end of it, it’s about putting processes and transport routes in place, so this was nice to see a finished article risen from the ground.’’

The warehouse forms part of Vantec’s strategy to increase staff at Sunderland by more than 230 in five years. While construction was underway, Vantec Europe won three major contracts with global automotive companies, which have all chosen the company to carry out long-term logistics contracts. These have already created 86 new jobs at Vantec and the jobs related to these contracts will increase by another 98 over the next two years.

Vantec Europe provides warehousing and logistics to Nissan Sunderland, Komatsu UK, Birtley and Cummins Engines, Darlington.

The company was awarded £2.7m from the

second round of the Regional Growth Fund to support the warehouse project.

The new 421,000 sq ft building complements Vantec’s existing 148,000 sq ft warehouse at Cherry Blossom Way in Sunderland.

As Nissan continues to expand, so does Vantec Europe.

“We are preparing internally for Nissan launching their Infiniti model next year and that requires us to set up a small sequencing centre,’’ says Hepplewhite. “We obviously have to cope with an expansion in products stored which will either require us to rent or to build another facility.’’

Vantec currently employs some 1,100 people in its operations in the North East and its warehousing covers more than 100,000 sq m – including two buildings which it leases at Port of Tyne – which ship out some 50,000 cases of items every day to various clients in the region.

Hepplewhite explains: “We provide that final link in the logistics chain. The parts come from all over the globe into us. We store and handle them with strict controls and then we deliver them onto the customer on a just-in-time basis. If a customer wants a product every 10 minutes, 30 minutes, every hour, whatever it happens to be, we deliver the parts so they don’t have to store the parts on their production lines and they can just bring the product in as they demand.

“We integrate our systems with theirs, so their manufacturing system pushes a demand to us and our system picks up that message automatically. We pick the parts and then send

We provide the final link in the logistics chain. The parts come from all over the globe to us. We store and handle them with strict controls and then we deliver them onto the customer on a just-in-time basis – Ian Hepplewhite

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a message back to tell them the parts have just been shipped. The communication goes two ways continuously throughout the day.’’

The customers tend to order the parts themselves but the order is copied to Vantec which prepares to receive the product and automatically notifies the customer once it has arrived so the customer can marry them up to the order. The aim is that the whole process should be seamless.

“Whichever customer we are working with – Komatsu, Cummins or Nissan – it should be like them having an internal warehousing function so that we are not really seen as a supplier at all,’’ says Hepplewhite.

Vantec has other operations to serve the rest of the UK with freight forwarding offices in London, Heathrow, Liverpool and Manchester.

“One of the things we are looking at for our five year expansion plans is to set up a base in the Midlands as well to supply to the automotive industry around those areas,’’ says Hepplewhite.

The Sunderland operation is, of course, the European HQ and Vantec has ambitions on the continent.

Hepplewhite adds: “We are looking to try and expand within Europe as well and we are talking to numerous companies in Europe at the moment as to how we might take on some of their products. The companies we are looking at at the moment are in France and Germany.’’

Sunderland-based Vantec Europe won a major two year contract in Russia to provide the Nissan automotive manufacturing plant in St Petersburg with warehousing and transport services.

Vantec worked in partnership with a Russian company, Major Auto Trans, based in Moscow.

The new contract followed Nissan’s announcement that it planned to double its manufacturing capacity in Russia to 100,000 vehicles by 2014. Russia is Nissan’s largest single European market.

Hepplewhite, who also worked on that project, says: “It was a challenge getting it settled down.

“However, it’s going well now and we have trained staff and a management team over there. We’ve set up a Russian company now. We originally opened up one set of

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premises and we have now opened a second next door.’’

But it is in the North East that Vantec’s influence is most keenly felt, not only providing jobs but also taking steps to nurture the skills for a whole industry having felt there was a lack of provision for the necessary training. Hepplewhite explains: “We don’t think there’s enough, industry-wise, for

transportation and logistics.

“The nearest of the government bodies that are supposed to look after logistics is in Leeds to cover the whole of the North of England and Scotland.

There’s a lot of support for manufacturing but not necessarily for logistics and the transport industry.

“When it comes to training, there are a lot

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of courses you can go on for manufacturing and production but very little when it comes to logistics.

So we are working with Gateshead College to develop our own, a combination of NVQs and IoSCM (Insitute of Supply Chain Management) qualifications that we can get registered.’’

If it succeeds, Vantec will be building careers as well as buildings. n

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DRIVING THROUGH ROAD SAFETY GOALS Education and training can contribute to the creation of a low carbon economy, and Sunderland is at the forefront of developments

Tadea’s Effective Transport Solutions driver training centre has signed a three-year contract with asbestos management firm Lucion.

The company provides comprehensive driver training packages designed to make fleet motoring safer, greener and more financially sustainable.

Lucion Environmental is the first company to sign up to the new service, which officially launched in July.

Lucion has seven offices nationwide and a workforce of more than 150 employees – of whom more than 100 drive as part of their role. In an effort to cut carbon emissions and boost road safety, the company will send all of its new drivers through Effective Transport Solutions’ centre in the Future Technology Centre in Washington, as part of its induction process.

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Training for Lucion staff will take place using the centre’s classroom facilities and its full-scale driving simulators. The focus will be on fuel efficiency, motorway driving, hazard perception and driving in adverse weather conditions.

Tadea-UK managing director Steve Hunter says: “We’re delighted that Lucion has decided to team up with Effective Transport Solutions.

Lucion – a company with clear environmental

goals – is looking to seriously improve the fuel efficiency of its driving fleet, and we’re here to help them achieve that.

“This contract is not just a sign of Lucion’s environmental commitment, but also a mark of the potential they see in the Effective Transport Solutions service and the part we can play in helping them to achieve their goals.

“This is the beginning of a partnership that >>

We’re delighted Lucion has decided to team up with Effective Transport Solutions...it is looking to improve the fuel efficiency of its driving fleet, and we’re here to help them achieve that

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will help reduce emissions, cut running costs and boost levels of safety on our roads. We are very proud to be a part of that”.

Effective Transport Solutions offers base level simulators which use three-screen technology and simulation software. There are also higher specification simulators, housed in BMW Minis, which have wrap-around projector screens providing a more immersive and authentic training experience. Both types of simulator can switch between internal combustion engine and electric vehicle.

Nine staff at Effectve run the simulators.

Phil Rozier, health & safety director at Lucion, says: “We are constantly looking for innovative ways to improve the safety of our drivers and other road users. To tie into our ongoing Health and Safety Driver Initiative and continue work on safer driving techniques, Lucion have now introduced driving simulation training for all new drivers who join the company.”

Effective Transport Solutions received an investment boost last month when it was awarded £114,750 by the Let’s Grow Fund, a collaboration between independent business services group BE Group, The Journal and Evening Gazette, and UNW LLP which provides grant support for capital investment and research and development projects creating or safeguarding jobs in the North East.

Simon Allen, senior project manager, BE Group

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says: “We are pleased to support Tadea’s Effective Transport Solutions driver training centre through the Let’s Grow Fund. This is a unique service – one that has not been offered in the UK before and one which clearly has a great deal of potential.

“Having such a centre in the North East is a great opportunity for the region: not only can Tadea’s Effective Transport Solutions help to create new jobs and establish new networks, but it also looks set to open up driver training to groups and businesses not typically able to access it – helping to significantly boost levels of sustainability and safety on the UK’s roads as a result.”

Effective Transport Solutions is a service division of Tadea – a Billingham-based employee owned organisation working with individuals, communities and businesses to manage their use of energy and resources.

Tadea chose to locate its new division in Washington at the heart of the A19 Ultra Low Carbon Vehicle Enterprise Zone.

Hunter adds: “We wanted to be part of the hub of excellence at Gateshead College’s Future Technology Centre, and our move to the centre is a culmination of a lot of work with partners in the low-carbon sector.

“This will be the first simulated training facility of its kind for drivers, with state of the art classrooms and highly-skilled trainers.’’

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With its classroom facilities, a team of transport experts and full-scale driving simulators, Tadea’s Effective Transport Solutions service works to help organisations cut fuel costs, reduce emissions and keep employees safe behind the wheel. It has a range of programmes designed for potential customers from local authority fleets to road haulage firms and from the emergency services to the passenger transport sector.

This is a unique service – one that has not been offered in the UK before and one which clearly has a great deal of potential...it will help boost safety on the UK’s roads

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Tadea itself provides specialist, sustainable project management and advice services.

Established in 2002, its specialisms include energy efficiency, renewable technologies and sustainable transport.

In August 2013 Tadea became an employeeowned company. Its aim is to provide advice and project management services around sustainable energy and carbon reduction through the provision of: • Energy management services for businesses, including energy audits, Display energy certificates, and energy efficiency and renewable technology project management services.

• Project scheme management, including home insulation schemes and health improvement projects.

• Corporate and consumer advice services, available on the phone, online and face-toface.

• Energy assessments for domestic properties, including Energy Performance Certificates, Green Deal and whole house energy assessments.

• Consultancy services, including: water hygiene data collection and monitoring, feasibility studies and marketing and communications expertise.

The company manages and delivers projects across the whole of the UK. Tadea worked with Sunderland City Council to find the right home for its new division.

Hunter says: “Sunderland City Council has been great. They were extremely helpful and encouraged us in our ambitions and found solutions when we hit problems.

“They arranged meetings, helped with networking and provided advice and support to help with the move.”

Sunderland City Council deputy leader Cllr Harry Trueman says: “Sunderland has long enjoyed a reputation as a centre of automotive excellence, thanks to Nissan and its suppliers.

“Now the low-carbon enterprise zone is enhancing that and offering new incentives and opportunities for companies in this sector to choose Sunderland as a location.

We are delighted Tadea is bringing its new equipment to the city and that the company is creating additional skilled jobs.” n

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Rapidly moving technology will transform the automotive industry but one department at the University of Sunderland is staying ahead of the curve as Peter Jackson discovers talking to Professor John MacIntyre

CARS GEAR UP FOR A SMART FUTURE Imagine that you don’t have to go to the supermarket to shop anymore, that you don’t even have to get the supermarket to deliver your weekly groceries.

It may be, in a few years, that you have downloaded a grocery chain’s app to your car so it could alert you when you are a couple of miles from one of its outlets. It can tell you your shopping is due and propose you pop in for a cappuccino while it has your usual order loaded into your boot and while it recharges your vehicle’s battery.

According to Professor John MacIntyre of the University of Sunderland, this is the way we could be interacting with our vehicles in the near future.

Prof MacIntyre is pro vice chancellor at the university, dean of the Faculty of Applied Science. Part of the Faculty is the institute for Automotive and Manufacturing Advanced Practice (AMAP), which, among other things, researches leading edge technology.

According to him, what he describes as “the vehicle as a software defined product’’ will be

the future for the automotive industry. In this future, software in the vehicle will not only provide engine management systems but will interface with the driver and perhaps the passenger. It will also, like a smartphone, allow the downloading of new software.

He says: “In the next decade we are going to see huge developments in the automotive software world.

“That is a really burgeoning area. There are all sorts of options and potentials around how vehicles might communicate, they will communicate with the internet, with each other, with intelligent street furniture, vehicles might communicate with their environment generally.

“There are huge implications for business.

If you have downloaded a business’s app and they know where you are in your vehicle through GPS, they can make you local offers.

They can build a business model around that connectivity.

“Hitachi have estimated that the software update market in automotive come 2020

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will be US$80bn worldwide.’’

Such systems could be used to levy congestion charges or regulate the use of bus lanes, allowing access to electric and other low carbon vehicles. With open innovation the software could be used as an open access platform allowing third parties to write applications.

“Small and large companies can be creating software and ultimately you choose what you want,’’ says MacIntyre. “That’s a real way forward in enhancing passenger experience and therefore adding value that can be translated into monetised business models.

“You and I might buy the same vehicle in 10 years’ time but your vehicle might have a completely different utility to mine because of new ways to personalise the vehicle.’’

In terms of hardware, AMAP is also researching a number of areas.

One of these is graphene, a material made from a single layer of carbon atoms, which is stronger than diamond, lightweight and flexible, first discovered in 2010. >>

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Since the discovery, the European Commission is investing €1bn as part of the Graphene Flagship over 10 years, which aims to take graphene related technologies from academic laboratories to everyday use in multiple industries, creating economic growth and new jobs in Europe.

The Graphene Flagship is supporting the 21 proposals from 19 countries. University of Sunderland is working with research partners from Italy, Spain and Germany on the iGCAuto proposal, which will see the group conduct a series of tests analysing the properties of graphene to determine how it behaves when it’s used to enhance the advanced composite materials used in the production of cars.

The automotive industry is tipped to use the greatest volume of advanced composite materials in the production of light vehicles.

However, the challenge remains to reconcile the introduction of lighter and greener cars to the demands of safety and crashworthiness.

In this project, a novel graphene-based polymer material will be investigated, modelled, and designed to enhance both vehicle and occupant safety while remaining light.

For a number of years the university has been researching means of powering low carbon vehicles, looking at batteries’ fuel cells, which combine organic gases – usually hydrogen – to produce electricity and alternative fuels for the internal combustion engine.

AMAP is looking at combining batteries with other energy sources to give them greater flexibility and longer life. It is also looking at battery operations at extremely low temperatures. One of Nissan’s biggest markets for the LEAF electric car is Norway where winter temperatures can plunge to -20C or -30C. Lithium ion batteries don’t like being frozen and then switched on and thawed.

AMAP is researching new ways of keeping the batteries from freezing.

“The idea that electric vehicles powered only by batteries, or indeed the existing hybrids, is the solution is moot,’’ says MacIntyre.

“There are still a lot of different technologies out there. Fuel cell technology, the idea of being able to create electricity and drive a low carbon vehicle by very simple organic chemistry is old but the challenge is to

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There’s a significant part of the industry that is saying the internal combustion engine is going to be here for a long time... they are probably not going to disappear in the next 50 years

make it work in a modern, low cost, compact family vehicle.’’

AMAP has been researching the potential of hydrogen for nearly 10 years and made a hydrogen powered Nissan Almera and converted old buses to run on hydrogen fuel cells which it ran as research vehicles. It is currently looking at the potential of a fuel cell as a range extender for a battery powered vehicle and hopes to be testing

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that on the Nissan test track next year.

Fuel cells themselves have something of a track record, having been around since 1838.

The region is particularly well placed to benefit from any demand for hydrogen fuelled cars since some 60% of all the UK’s hydrogen is produced on Teesside as a by-product of the chemical plants.

Moving on from dual fuel vehicles, AMAP is also researching mixing hydrogen with petrol or diesel which would lead to dramatic reductions in the amount of emissions. As Prof MacIntyre makes clear, whatever alternatives there may be, there is still plenty of life left in the old internal combustion engine.

“There’s a significant part of the industry that is saying the internal combustion engine is going to be here for a long time,’’ he says.

“ICs are not going to disappear in the next 10 years, they are probably not going to disappear in the next 50 years. Therefore, petrol and diesel fuelled engines and making them efficient and making them as low carbon as possible is still a very significant part of the direction of travel of the automotive industry globally, so we are also doing work in that area.’’

AMAP is also working on new nano materials that could be inserted into the exhaust system of a conventional internal combustion engine to “massively reduce the emissions’’ extracting many of the particulates.

“That’s not about the engine itself, but it’s still a low carbon technology,’’ says Prof MacIntyre.

“You can do that without reducing power.

Other exhaust systems in the past have always been compromised around engine power.’’

Sunderland and the North East are a key area for the automotive sector and Prof MacIntyre and the university are keenly aware of that importance.

He says: “The fact is that the Nissan plant in Sunderland already makes more cars annually than the whole of Italy means that Sunderland has become a truly world centre for automotive manufacture and that great success has been predicated on the plant at Nissan being a world class innovator in manufacturing process. Nissan as a business and its research team at Cranfield are working on the next generation of vehicles and the generation after that.’’ n

SUNDERLAND: THE UK’S THRIVING AUTOMOTIVE HUB

Port of Sunderland: immediate access to the open sea Sunderland’s coastal location has always played a huge part in its economy. The city’s port is ideally situated, with immediate access to open sea and three kilometres of river and dock berths. Add to that a track record for 24/7 delivery, dynamic, commercially minded management and a ‘can-do’ outlook, and you can see why the Port of Sunderland is flourishing.

E info@makeitsunderland.com T +44(0)191 553 2100 W makeitsunderland.com

Scotland

England

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(r to l) Jim Casey of Lear Corporation, Deputy Mayor Cllr Brian Curran, Deputy Lady Mayor Mrs Curran, St-Nazaire students Simon Barreau, Nicolas Manneville and Clovis Diguet and Dirk Kok of AMAP with Lear employees. Photo of Lear Corporation at Sunderland

FRENCH CONNECTION Sunderland’s reputation as a manufacturing and automotive hub has crossed the Channel

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Sunderland is helping to drive forward the ambitions of students from Saint-Nazaire, the city’s twin town in France.

Lear Corporation, Rayovac, the University of Sunderland’s Institute of Automotive Manufacturing and Advanced Practice (AMAP), and Sunderland City Council have hosted four students from Polytech’Nantes, Saint-Nazaire.

The young people have benefited from three months of first-hand experience in manufacturing and automotive development in a project organised by Sunderland City Council’s international team.

This is the sixth consecutive year that Sunderland companies have taken part in the programme for students from SaintNazaire. They are offered an opportunity to work alongside automotive and manufacturing experts and learn for themselves the detailed work that goes into manufacturing components.

Lear Corporation makes vehicle seats for Nissan Sunderland, and Rayovac manufactures hearing aid batteries. AMAP researches traditional and low carbon automotive development. They have all given their time and expertise to work with the students during their time in Sunderland. The students are Simon Barreau, (at Lear Corporation), Nicolas Manneville (at AMAP), Clovis Diguet (AMAP) and Sébastien Rouxel (Rayovac).

More than 2,500 jobs in Sunderland are with French-owned companies, excluding Nissan, which is a strategic alliance of Nissan Motor Company and Renault. The French companies include EDF Energy, SNOP UK (part of the Financiere SNOP Dunois Group), Faurecia, Valeo, Hamelin, ARC International Cookware and Assystem UK. Including Nissan the total rises to more than 8,500 jobs with French-owned companies in Sunderland.

The twinning partnership between Sunderland and Saint-Nazaire has been active since 1953, and celebrated its 60th anniversary last year.

The Deputy Mayor of Sunderland, Councillor Brian Curran, met the students and key figures from the host companies during a tour of Lear Corporation at Rainton Bridge, and praised the dedication of everyone involved.

He says: “We are very proud of our international links, and particularly of our

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This is a great hands-on programme that gives French students rare opportunities to study manufacturing and automotive development with international companies and a leading research institute relationship with Saint-Nazaire, which we have been twinned with for more than 60 years. It is very pleasing that we can work together on exchange programmes such as this one, which benefits the students taking part as well as the host companies.”

“This is a great hands-on programme that gives French students rare opportunities to study manufacturing and automotive development with international companies and a leading research institute.

“We’re proud to be a European city, and delighted that Sunderland’s business links with France are thriving.”

Dirk Kok, research engineer at AMAP, says: “Both Nicolas and Clovis have been valuable

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members of our project team during their time here. We have gained important insight and perspective from them, and they have gathered valuable experience and training from the work they have done.”

Jim Casey, Lear Corporation plant manager, says: “We are very pleased to have taken part in this programme for another year, and to help share our expertise in our field with students from our twin town. We have enjoyed working with Simon and are grateful for his contribution during his time with us.”

Automotive engineering student Nicolas Manneville says: “This has been a fantastic experience for us, and we’re very grateful for the opportunity.” n

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INTERVIEW

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It’s this chicken and egg situation... you won’t get the vehicles without the infrastructure but if you put the infrastructure in without the vehicles you get slaughtered in the press

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SUNDERLAND: THE UK’S THRIVING AUTOMOTIVE HUB

INTERVIEW

FUTURE IS A CARBON FREE ZONE Emerging technologies are set to transform not just transport but the way we power our lives, as Peter Jackson discovers talking to Dr Colin Herron

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Crystal ball gazing is one thing and making the future happen is another, but at a site in Washington one organisation is engaged in both.

In 2009 the North East was officially designated a Low Carbon Economic Area in ultra low carbon vehicles and, a couple of years later, Gateshead College set up a subsidiary, Zero Carbon Futures, to further the advancement of technologies surrounding low carbon vehicles and examine the impact that these technologies will have on homes and cities in the future.

Based in the Future Technology Centre in the heart of Sunderland’s automotive zone, the company, which has 10 staff, is supporting the regional drive to position the North East as a leading European centre for Low Carbon Vehicle expertise.

Zero Carbon Futures managing director Dr Colin Herron explains: “One of our main purposes is to scan the horizon for new >>

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INTERVIEW

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technologies which the college converts to curricula for either young people going into the market or people who need to be retrained.

“We also work as an independent consultancy and what we do is to pull together consortia to demonstrate product such as smart homes and different types of charging. We are looking at all the technologies associated with low carbon vehicles that are off the car, so we are looking at hydrogen, battery storage and infrastructure.’’

Dr Herron himself worked for Nissan for a number of years before being seconded to the Regional Development Agency, One North East, where he helped build up an automotive group and he worked extensively with Gateshead College to develop its automotive strategy. When the RDA was abolished by the new Coalition Government, he joined Zero Carbon Futures.

Currently one of Zero Carbon Future’s main projects is the installation of charging points for electric vehicles throughout the UK and the Republic of Ireland. An early Government project was to put more than 1,000 charging points in the North East and the company is now project managing a European project of a consortium of Nissan, Renault, BMW

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and Volkswagen for the installation of 74 quick chargers – which charge a car in about 25 minutes – in a transnational corridor up the spine of the UK, across into Northern Ireland and from there to Southern Ireland to complete a link from Paris to Dublin. It has installed 10 so far.

Charging points represent emerging technology but Zero Carbon Futures is already looking at developments beyond that, namely contactless charging.

Dr Herron explains: “In the future, in theory, you can have a vehicle which will not have to connect to a charge point. It’s done by converting electricity to a magnetic flux in the same way as a toothbrush charges. As you drive along you just gradually take a charge from the road or when you stop at a crossing you’ll get a charge.’’

Another major area of interest for Zero Carbon Futures – working through the North East Hydrogen Forum – is the hydrogen economy.

The North East produces more than half of the UK’s hydrogen and the forum is exploring the use of pure hydrogen for fuel cell vehicles, its use in duel fuel vehicles and using the gas to power homes and businesses.

“This as a substitute fuel could be a massive economy,’’ says Dr Herron. “You can extract

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it from waste as well, you can convert household and industrial waste into a fuel to drive vehicles and we think that’s the next really big thing.’’

He adds: “You can put brown hydrogen into diesel and we are going to produce a vehicle like that very soon. We are working with Sunderland University to inject hydrogen into a diesel vehicle which will reduce the particulates.’’

With hydrogen vehicles, as with electric, the challenge is to have the infrastructure in place to make their mass operation viable with plenty of locations where motorists can fill up with the gas.

“It’s this chicken and egg situation which we have got, where you won’t get the vehicles without the infrastructure but if you put the infrastructure in without the vehicles you get slaughtered in the press,’’ he says.

“It’s a difficult decision and unfortunately government has to be strong enough to support that because there’s no business case for doing it if there are no vehicles.

“You have to put it in, go through the Valley of Death until you get the volume when it starts to pay for itself.’’

Google’s driverless car has captured the public imagination worldwide but Zero Carbon Futures has been looking into so-called autonomous vehicles and their implications for some time.

Dr Herron says: “The main thing about autonomous is that it will come in in stages and each stage is designed to take away some of the stress and introduce more safety factors into the vehicle.

“The day when we are all going down the motorway at 70 miles an hour hands free is quite a way off but there’s actually no reason why not. If you do that you can actually increase the density on motorways because there is no bunching up and you will get through your journey more quickly. You can have zero emissions and zero fatalities.

Another key point is that it will allow the ageing population to drive longer.’’

If driverless cars did become universal Dr Herron believes it would radically change our relationships with our cars.

He says: “It would be like getting on the bus, it would be like a personal bus. People like me

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couldn’t care less. If I could just get in the car and press go and end up at work, I’d be over the moon. But petrol heads will hate it and I can just imagine the outcry that will come.’’

All of these changes would only make up a part of a transformation in the way we live our lives.

Dr Herron explains: “All of this is leading to the city of the future, which is what we are really interested in. What is the future city, how does it operate, what are the key elements of it, how does transport and housing and energy and water and lifestyles and the fact that the population is ageing all come together?

“At the moment, cities are, by and large, not co-ordinated in how they function, they don’t have an image of where to move to.

If you look at the city of the future, it will have integrated resilience, it will be able to respond to floods, power cuts etcetera. It will also be potentially self-sufficient in its energy generation and it will integrate things like its travel, its aging people and all those aspects will come together, but the city will be built to that specification and will evolve to that specification.

“What we do now is build a city and then think about putting other things on top of it.

If you buy a house now, you buy the basic house and then you spend thousands making it green. That’s really silly. If we build it in, it will be a lot cheaper and a lot more effective.

“There is the opportunity now to have offgrid, self-sufficient towns which can operate on their own if required or they can be part of the grid. One of the beauties of this is that it reduces the peak power generation that we have to make. Islands are going down this route to stop having to import their fuel.’’

An element of this vision of the city of the future is an integration of home and car.

A hydrogen car could be powered by fuel generated from domestic waste and an electric car could both be powered by the home and power it.

“The emerging vehicles which are coming onto the market are not simply a form of transport but are part of an integration into the infrastructure,’’ he says. “They have storage capability and power generation capability.’’

It would be like getting on the bus.

– it would be like a personal bus.

But people like me couldn’t care less.

If I could just get in the car and press go and end up at work, I’d be over the moon.

But petrol heads will hate it and I can just imagine the outcry that will come

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INTERVIEW

To demonstrate this Gateshead College and Zero Carbon Futures have built a house which can be powered from a car’s battery at times of peak demand and then recharge the vehicle after midnight.

But, with so many new technologies emerging, whether it be electric or hydrogen or other combinations, aren’t policy makers faced with the old VHS/Betamax video tape format dilemma of not knowing which horse to back?

“I spend a lot of my time telling people that that’s a silly argument,’’ says Dr Herron. “In my opinion, until 2050 you are going to have a mixed economy, it’s not one or the other.

For instance, in Teesside, with an abundance of hydrogen, we would ideally have a hydrogen economy, so you could run the buses and trucks and regional transport off hydrogen down there but I wouldn’t see Cornwall as a hydrogen economy.

“What you will see evolving in the cities and towns of the future is something which is specified as ideal for them.’’

He cites the Highlands and Islands of Scotland which he believes will be able to use energy from wind turbines to power the electrolysis of distilled water to produce hydrogen during the night.

“Islands will take away diesel and petrol completely because there’s no need for it, but in other areas that will be very difficult,’’ he says.

Zero Carbon Futures is exploring these possibilities in European projects with others in Scandinavia. The organisation’s work is now attracting attention globally.

“We are fortunate in that we are producing hard data from everything.

We are presenting around the world this year and we are talking to people about contracts as far away as South Africa.’’

With such international interest and with the pioneering work being done in the North East, Dr Herron believes that the region’s businesses have a huge opportunity.

He says: “There are a lot of SMEs opening up in the region that we are working with and with which we are forming consortia to develop all this technology.

“For this region there is huge potential for us to grasp.’’ n

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FIRM IS READY FOR GROWTH

Council support, personal service and fostering good contacts is helping Nsert expansion plans

l to r: Cllr Paul Watson, Leader of Sunderland City Council with Pauline Butler and Jimmy Lamb of Nsert An expanding Sunderland-based engineering supplier which counts Nissan as one of its biggest customers has moved into new premises to provide space for further growth.

Nsert UK Ltd has taken space at The Industry Centre on Sunderland Enterprise Park after outgrowing its previous offices at the city’s Southwick Business Centre. The company distributes and supplies engineering tools to companies across the North East and makes bespoke equipment in its small machining workshop.

Nsert was founded in 2007 by Jimmy Lamb, who previously worked for Rolls Royce and Mitsubishi Hardmetals. He set up Nsert to source and distribute equipment to engineering firms, specialising in carbide cutting tools.

In addition to Nissan, it counts Tata Steel and a range of oil and gas sub-contractors

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among its customers.

It specialises in carbide cutting tool technologies, offering a large range of products and services designed to reduce customers’ tooling costs and increase the efficiency of their production.

It works closely with international carbide manufacturers such as Taegutec, Walter Tools, Tungaloy and Safety Tooling, threading and milling specialists Emuge Franken as well as Mollart. It stocks brands including Seco, Sandvik Coromant, Mitsubishi MMC and Kennatametal.

Business development manager Pauline Butler says: “We have a personal relationship with our customers. A lot of distributors just send out the tools by courier but we deliver around 90% of orders ourselves. This allows us to provide a fast turnaround as well as making staff available for any technical queries.”

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She joined Nsert last year along with a despatch worker and apprentice as part of the company’s growth on the back of the general improvement in the regional economy as it came out of the recession. The business plans further expansion after taking the new offices.

“The office will help to raise our profile because there are a lot of people coming in and out of The Industry Centre for training courses,” says Butler.

“Nsert is next door to AMAP, the University of Sunderland’s Institute for Automotive and Manufacturing Advanced Practice, and we are hoping to gain more contacts. The company is growing and we are aiming to raise our image.

“It’s a lovely building. Before, we just had an office but now there is plenty of space to hold meetings and conferences, and to display the equipment we supply.”

Nsert is not a volume manufacturer but can provide a specialist machining service for customers having bespoke tooling requirements. If this specialist side of the business grows, the company plans to create additional engineering jobs.

Nsert’s growth has been backed by Sunderland City Council. The council’s business investment team originally worked with the company in 2012 and has also helped with the move to The Industry Centre. There are plans for further advice and support as Nsert continues to grow.

Butler says: “Jimmy was not aware that there was support and advice available to move into bigger premises. The City Council has helped us and is also offering advice on marketing and promoting the business. They have been extremely supportive.”

Cllr Paul Watson, Leader of Sunderland City Council, says: “We hope as many new and growing companies as possible are aware of the variety of business services offered by the City Council and that they get in touch with us to find out more about how we can help them.

“Nsert has expanded successfully in its own right and now it is working with the City Council, the company is poised for the next stage in its growth. We wish Nsert the best of luck in its new home and look forward to continuing to support the business in the future.” n

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COMPANY PROFILE

Driving growth to the North East The North East Local Enterprise Partnership area is one of the country’s leading automotive manufacturing regions. This sector is key to creating long-term economic growth in the region, and is identified by the North East LEP in its strategic economic plan, which has as its aim that “by 2030, the North East will be a globally competitive economy, with more and better jobs created through making, trading and innovating.”

Since Nissan, the UK’s largest car plant, chose Sunderland for its European base in 1986, it has developed world-class facilities, broken production records and attracted a strong supply chain of component manufacturers.

Around 250 companies and well over 20,000 employees are directly involved in automotive manufacture with 7,000 more in dedicated support services such as research and development, logistics and training. North East based automotive components companies include Lear Corporation, Mecaplast, Unipres, Calsonic Kansei, Johnson Controls, R-Tek, and Financiere SNOP Dunois (FSD) Group. The North East Enterprise Zone includes a large site at Sunderland which was the first in the country to attract a major development – Vantec Europe’s £22.5million investment.

Paul Woolston, chair of the North East LEP, said: “In recent years, global economic circumstances have changed way beyond anything we could have anticipated.

“It is vital that we grasp how to position ourselves to be more globally competitive, create more jobs, and ensure that all of the people in the North East have an opportunity to contribute to and benefit from economic growth. Strong automotive, offshore and digital and technology sectors are important for economic confidence, alongside the region’s resources, such as the Enterprise Zone, City Deal, skills development and business support.

The LEP and its partners are managing and driving these to bring about more and better jobs.”

The successful City Deal for Sunderland and South Tyneside will create an International Advanced Manufacturing Park. It will provide the location and agglomeration benefits needed for the region to compete globally in a competitive manufacturing environment.

Baroness Stowell with (l to r) Paul Woolston, North East LEP, Cllr Simon Henig, NE Combined Authority and Dave Cann, Mecaplast. LEAF cars in production at Nissan Sunderland

LOW CARBON As the UK’s first designated Low Carbon Economic Area, the North East is pioneering the adoption of electric vehicles and low carbon vehicle technologies.

Smith Electric Vehicles, Nissan, SEVCON and AVID Vehicles lead research and production in ultra low carbon vehicle manufacture, alongside companies such as Caterpillar, Komatsu and Cummins.

The North East was the first UK region to have a comprehensive network of electric vehicle charging points. Nissan is also investing in a portfolio of low-emission technologies such as clean diesels, efficient internal-combustion engines and hybrids.

SKILLS The region’s colleges and universities offer a comprehensive range of automotive skills training courses. The North East boasts a raft of ‘firsts’ in skills and training resources.

Nissan and Gateshead College with Zero Carbon Futures have opened the Future Technology Centre which focuses on the electric vehicle industry with R&D facilities. Gateshead College’s Skills Academy for Sustainable Manufacturing and Innovation (SASMI) is the UK’s first education centre dedicated to the clean technologies sector.

The North East’s first performance track, on the Nissan/Turbine Park site, offers a 2.8km, publicly accessible track for conventional and LCV development, testing and trialling.

The University of Sunderland’s Institute for

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Automotive and Manufacturing Advanced Practice (AMAP), has internationally recognised expertise in low-carbon vehicle technology.

Paul Woolston, chair of the North East LEP said: “The LEP’s long-term plan offers a great opportunity to truly transform the North East LEP area’s economy. It builds on strengths such as our thriving automotive sector, and is vital for continued growth and productivity across all key business sectors.

“We have a strong track record in designing and taking forward innovative initiatives such as the Skills Incentives Pilot, our North East Investment Fund and the North East Enterprise Zone. These all impact on investment in automotive and other business sectors, and through the enterprise partnership’s clear, cohesive strategy, the LEP and its partners can channel future investment most effectively and propel long-term growth in the North East.”

For more information contact the North East LEP at 0191 222 3180 or email info@nelep.co.uk www.nelep.co.uk

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INSIGHT

CAR MAKERS LACK CRUCIAL SUPPORT In the UK the automotive supply chain is big but it could be bigger.

Peter Jackson talks to an organisation which is working to grow the number of suppliers

Vehicle manufacturing in the UK has made a remarkable recovery from fighting for survival to being a world leader.

Until the mid 1980s motor manufacturing in the UK was plagued by inefficiency, troubled industrial relations and poor quality. Contrast that to today when it has become the golden boy of UK industry.

In the words of Lawrence Davies, deputy chief executive of the Automotive Investment Organisation, AIO: “The UK Government is absolutely delighted with the automotive industry. We build 1.6 million cars a year, only a few years ago we built a million cars and we plan to build over two million by 2017.

So, why wouldn’t everybody be delighted?’’

However, an end of term report on the industry might remark: ‘could do better.’

The Automotive Council, set up by Government, includes the UK heads of all the original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) such as Nissan, Ford and Jaguar to examine key issues in the automotive sector.

“One of the things they have come up with is that there is a lack of suppliers in the supply chain,’’ says Davies. “The average UK-built car has approximately 35% UK parts, an average German-built car has over 60% German parts.

You could argue the UK supply chain has hollowed out over the years.’’

A number of reasons lie behind this. The OEMs looked further afield, particularly to Asia for their components as UK suppliers at one time could not offer the required quality.

A consolidation of the supply chain 10 to 15 years ago meant car manufacturers were looking for larger, multinational suppliers and some of the smaller UK businesses fell by the wayside.

To address this issue and encourage new suppliers in the UK, the Government, via the Automotive Council, set up the AIO, which is part of UKTI and is heavily staffed by exindustry figures. Its chief executive is Joe Greenwell, formerly chairman of Ford, >>

The average UK-built car has 35% UK parts, an average German-built car has over 60% German parts. You could argue the UK supply chain has hollowed out over the years

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and Davies was formerly head of procurement and supply chain at General Motors UK. Its first task was to talk to all the OEMs and as a result of those discussions, draw up a list of components worth £3bn annually.

“We have a list of components called the Three Billion List, which is a list of components the OEMs would like – if commercially viable – to purchase from the UK,’’ says Davies.

“It’s components which they either can’t buy in the UK, or they can buy in the UK but there’s insufficient capacity, so we have a shopping list.

“We are doing a refresh of that at the moment and we expect it to have significantly increased because, of course, volumes have increased.’’

In its approaches to overseas components manufacturers to persuade them of the merits of siting factories in the UK, the AIO finds that our manufacturing has a much healthier reputation than it did prior to the mid 1980s.

Davies says: “The UK is now regarded as one of the highest quality vehicle manufacturers in the world. We are second in the world for manufacturing premium vehicles, the first being Germany. In the UK there is Jaguar, Aston Martin, Bentley; that shows how far the UK has come with quality.’’

The AIO has drawn up another list; this one of more than 100 companies across the globe, of which a reasonable percentage already has a UK presence – and many of those are in Sunderland. The AIO is trying to help those companies expand that presence.

It is targeting four countries for inward investment: China, Japan, Germany and the US and is making frequent trips to those countries to press the UK’s case.

“Sometimes we come across the old view of the UK,’’ says Davies. “We are also finding a lot of them do not realise how far the UK has progressed, to be building 1.6 million cars and to be building two million by 2017.

“But one thing they are seeing is the UK as an outlier in Europe. We are doing very well, we are on an acceleration month-in-monthout and the rest of Germany and the rest of Europe is still rather flat. We are finding that a lot of companies are now considering the UK for inward investment, not just for manufacturing for our own market but

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looking at the UK for export to the rest of Europe as well. That’s what is encouraging us.’’

It’s early days but, so far, the signs are good.

The Government set AIO a target of doubling the number of jobs in the supply chain that were created in the past three years, which meant 15,000 jobs over the next three years.

The target for the first year was 4,000.

“Against the year one target we have ended up at over 5,600 jobs,’’ says Davies.

Another target was to bring on 18 new R&D projects in the UK. “This tends to be a low number of jobs, but it’s very good for the future,’’ he explains.

“Statistics prove that if you do R&D in a country, if that turns into manufacturing, there is a 70% chance of that manufacturing

and Nissan is always a very important market to them because of its sheer size. We deal with a lot of companies in the North East and Sunderland area, companies such as Nifco, a plastics company which has just built a new plant and R&D centre and ElringKlinger, which has just added 50% to its plant, TRW, Lear, Unipres, Gestamp and Calsonic Kansei – we work with all of those companies. I think probably in every single case they are going through an expansion programme of some sort, whether it’s an extension, new factory or just employing more people. They are all in a boom.

“And they are not just in a boom on the back of Nissan, they are also winning contracts outside of the Sunderland area

Statistics prove that if you do R&D in a country, if that turns into manufacturing, there is a 70% chance of that manufacturing then taking place in that country. So R&D is really important for the future then taking place in that country. So R&D is really important for the future and, against the 18 projects target, we achieved 38.

“We were also asked to deliver a total of 61 projects and a project can be anything from a company employing 12 people to building a brand new factory. Against that 61, we achieved 80.

“So we’ve had a really good year one but we still think we have a long way to go for years two and three.’’

With the North East producing one in three of the UK’s cars the AIO has been devoting much of its attention to the region.

Davies says: “The North East is an incredibly important area for our work.

Nissan’s Sunderland plant is the largest car manufacturer in the UK, and produces more cars than all the car manufacturers added together in Italy do.

“When we are talking to inward investment companies across the globe, Sunderland

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with people like Jaguar Land Rover, Ford, BMW and GM.’’ Apart from manufacturers in the region, AIO also works closely with local government and other organisations.

“We work very closely with the LEPs and local authorities in the area, they are very proactive,’’ says Davies. “They have arranged various meetings for us up there, meeting with the companies, helping the companies up there link up with new customers and new OEMs. Sunderland is also very fast at reacting if there’s some support needed.

“I also find the companies in the area have an extremely good work ethic and a strong technical ability which is helping them to support Nissan and support other OEMs. This is proven by Nissan themselves who are consistently among the top Nissan plants in the world and they buy a lot of their components locally. Whenever I’m with the companies in the area I find the

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INSIGHT

AIO at Calsonic Kansei: l to r) Lawrence Davies of the Automotive Investment Organisation, Cllr Harry Trueman, deputy leader of Sunderland City Council and John Barnett, operations director at Calsonic Kansei, during Lawrence Davies’ visit to Sunderland’s automotive companies

enthusiasm for work, the work ethic, the knowledge and the technical ability to be very high.’’

He also believes Nissan is showing a good lead in driving the low carbon agenda with electric cars.

He says: “There are other companies in the area working on low carbon and, as we go forward, we will see a lot more from the North East.’’

AIO is also working closely with the world of motorsport.

Davies explains: “We have made that decision because we see a lot of link ups and we see a lot of technology coming out of motorsport and coming into high volume car producers like Nissan. There’s a lot of technology movement between the two.

“We also see suppliers in both directions.

I’m talking with companies in the North East that are looking to win contracts with the McLarens of the world and the Mercedes, but we are also looking at smaller companies that manufacture motorsport components which want to upscale to be an OEM supplier and eight out of 11 Formula 1 companies are based in the UK and we are finding that is quite a pull when we are talking to overseas companies.’’

He emphasises that another strength of the UK’s automotive industry is not just its ability to export cars but also car engines.

“We build a significant number of engines.

We build 2.5 million engines now in the UK. The predominant company there is Ford but after Ford, you’ve got Nissan themselves.

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These could be engines that go straight into a vehicle in the UK or they could be engines that get exported to other plants.

“There’s a lot of engine production which is also a good pull for us when we are talking to suppliers.’’

The UK automotive industry has covered a lot of distance since the dark days of the early 1980s as is underlined by the way in which it is now viewed by a new generation.

As Davies says: “We will have 7,600 apprentices and 1,700 graduates by 2018 and that’s just what the Automotive Council members have signed up to, so there’s a massive pull of people coming into automotive and I think the younger generation are now looking at automotive far more favourably than they were a few years ago.’’ n

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INVESTING IN THE FUTURE

Nissan in Sunderland is driving into the future with confidence, as Peter Jackson discovers talking to Kevin Fitzpatrick Nissan’s plant in Sunderland is the foundation and driver of the region’s burgeoning automotive industry.

True, many firms in the supply chain make parts for other car manufacturers and some don’t count Nissan among their customers at all, but, had the Japanese car maker not chosen to come to the area in 1984, it’s hard to see how the North East would have an automotive sector of any significance.

Nissan is at the heart and head of automotive – and arguably of manufacturing itself - in the region.

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So it is encouraging that the company is continuing to invest huge sums in its Washington operation.

Kevin Fitzpatrick, vice president UK Manufacturing Operations, details the recent round of investment.

“We’ve just finished a really big package of investment where we have put in the new Note, new Qashqai, new LEAF, and battery plant. Infiniti is going into production in August next year and that’s worth about £250m, that’s a very big project. We have also just done a facelift on Juke and that

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was just over £20m. In total that’s more than £1bn since 2010.’’

All this investment would be good news for the region anyway, but it is doubly encouraging when taking into account that much of it has been undertaken in the teeth of one of the severest global economic downturns in decades.

In 2007 European car sales were about 22 million vehicles, which dropped to 17 million in the immediate aftermath of the Lehman Brothers crisis and last year sales had still only recovered to 17.3 million.

“While things are starting to come back a bit, it’s still about 4.5 million away from where it was at its peak and there’s an awful lot of spare capacity out there,’’ says Fitzpatrick. “In Russia industry volumes have dropped and it’s difficult, the Mediterranean countries have

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been difficult since 2009 but Spain is starting to come back a bit, Central Europe is starting to pick up and the UK is doing okay.’’

But, despite challenging market conditions, Nissan has shown sufficient confidence in the performance of the operation in Sunderland to entrust it with the production of its premium brand Infiniti. The new production line will have the capacity to produce 60,000 cars a year for markets all over the world and the company will be taking on about another 200 people to work on the two models to join the current workforce of 6,700.

The Infiniti represents two major firsts for the Washington plant: the first time it has made a premium car and the first time it has made cars for export to the US. This means new lessons have to be learned and new skills acquired.

“We have never built a premium product before so we are going through a process now of benchmarking the mother plant in Japan that makes Infiniti cars to see what the differences are in engineering standards and what the market expectations are,’’ says Fitzpatrick.

The plant is currently undergoing a process of validation for the Infiniti by Japan, as it manufactures in what is called the Nissan production way, which is similar to the Toyota production system. There are, however, differences between plants that build other Nissan cars and plants that build Infiniti cars, so the plant is going through the process of stepping up its production system, not in terms of its facilities, but in the way it manages the process. It also involves training to move from standard production to premium production.

Nissan has two large plants in the US, in Tennessee and Mississippi and two factories in Mexico which also supplies the US market so it is something of a coup for Sunderland to be exporting there. But it means more lessons to be learned.

“The Quality Assurance director and myself are going out there next month to see what the different market requirements are, but we do understand that the States has probably the highest customer expectation and market requirements globally,’’ says Fitzpatrick. “It’s seen to be the most demanding market in

terms of what the customer expects from the car and the service from the dealer. We need to understand what that means.’’

The process of Sunderland making its bid to build the Infiniti and the decision to award it the work was a relatively swift one, taking just three months. Now that decision has been made it represents a major vote of confidence in the plant.

“It was a feather in the cap to get it but now we have to deliver it. Being a plant that’s capable of building premium quality within Nissan is a big deal. Currently there’s the mother plant in Japan, the Tennessee plant and one of the Chinese plants and later this year, Mexico, so there will only be five plants globally that make Infiniti cars.’’

Another new vehicle for Sunderland is the all-electric LEAF which the plant began producing last year.

“The LEAF is going well,’’ says Fitzpatrick.

“It has grown year on year. Last year we did about 13,000 and the production plan this

CASE STUDY “Ideally we would like to see one in every petrol station which may not be realistic. But within Europe, with other companies, such as BMW, coming into the market, it’s starting to expand faster than it was,’’ says Fitzpatrick.

“There are now 1,100 quick chargers in Europe. Some markets like Norway have got very impressive infrastructure in place and electric vehicle sales are very high. In February this year the LEAF outsold the Golf in Norway.’’

In fact, Fitzpatrick is so impressed with the LEAF he has one himself.

“I think it’s great,’’ he says. “It’s simple, you just take the cable off the reel, plug it in when you park it up and it’s much better than going to the garage and it’s a lot cheaper.’’

The advent of the LEAF underlines the rapidly changing nature of the automotive industry and the technologies it is exploring and, in some cases, embracing.

“Electric vehicles will obviously continue to grow,’’ he says. “I think internal combustion engines will continue to get smaller with big

The Leaf is going well...it’s simple, you take the cable off the reel, plug it in when you park and it’s much better than going to the garage and a lot cheaper year is to increase that again. The battery plant is a lot busier than that because we also produce batteries for our plant in Spain for the e-NV200 electric van. Globally the LEAF has sold 110,000 and we have sold over 25,000 in Europe.

“From a product point of view it has been very good. Because it’s an electric vehicle the power train is far more reliable than in traditional internal combustion engines because it doesn’t have cooling systems and all the rest of it.

From a product performance point of view it’s excellent and, in fact, in terms of customer satisfaction, it has the highest ratings, at 93%, of any car that Nissan makes.’’

Clearly the success of the LEAF as a model and the rate at which it is taken up depend on the installation of infrastructure, particularly charging points.

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turbos to get fuel efficiency and emissions down. Diesels will become increasingly more expensive because of the emission regulations.

There is a lot of work going on in fuel cells and at some point they are going to be commercially mass produced. I think there will be a lot of collaboration between companies on that. Nissan are in alliance with Renault but we are also collaborating with Daimler and Ford.’’

Whatever the future holds for the industry, Nissan’s would appear to be secure in Sunderland.

Fitzpatrick says: “We’ve been here 29 years now and we are still served very well by the local infrastructure with Port of Tyne and the A1 and A19. We have a very supportive local authority and we have a very good partnership with Sunderland City Council.’’ n

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STUDENTS GET AN EDGE IN EMPLOYMENT A low carbon economy needs a workforce with new skills. Peter Jackson looks at a new initiative to respond to the sector’s needs This summer saw the opening of the £4.4m Future Technology Centre near the Nissan plant in Sunderland and it has already attracted six companies.

Built by Gateshead College, it was funded by the college and with £2.36m from the Regional Growth Fund. An adaptation of an existing building with a new extension, the centre has space for businesses to lease, including office space, workshop and manufacturing facilities, and design and testing facilities.

Judith Doyle, principal and chief executive of Gateshead College, explains the reasoning behind it.

“The college has a reputation in the region for anticipating and understanding the skills needs of employers, particularly in the engineering

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sector. We are also proud to have a strategic relationship with Nissan to train their apprentices. We already had a Skills Academy for Sustainable Manufacturing and Innovation (SASMI) that we built four years ago on a site neighbouring the Nissan Sunderland plant and we were supporting their work around the development of their low carbon technology and it became obvious through all that work and intelligence that there was a growing need to develop that capability with other businesses.

“We also saw an opportunity to look at some economies of scale and bring together some of those forward thinking organisations in one centre which would benefit them in terms of the work they could do together while retaining their competitive advantage.

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Also it would benefit the opportunity to provide bespoke training to those organisations which are ready to employ people because the college has a clear strategy of getting young people into work.

“It’s a very exciting opportunity for us and we are putting down a marker and reaffirming our commitment to being the college which is there to train and respond to any business in the region that wants any kind of training in a field that we know is going to be a key to our economic regeneration.’’

The Future Technology Centre is a two-way street, on the one hand allowing Gateshead College to keep up to date with cutting edge technology which allows it to identify and respond to future training needs.

“We are on the spot here, working >>

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SPECIAL REPORT | SUMMER 14

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side-by-side with these organisations,’’ says Doyle. “We can understand their technology and therefore respond very quickly to their training needs and that’s what they want.

“It’s a very competitive market and we want to have these training contracts and we want to be training their apprentices and providing for their training needs.’’

The range of facilities available in the centre is designed to cater for companies at different stages of development and with different requirements.

“We have provided different touch points for all the companies coming in,’’ says Doyle.

“Some want to do research and development in a very protected way close to the performance track. Also, some want to do some manufacturing and develop their own products.

“We are already beginning to see some of the spin-offs, some of the companies are already working together and forging business relations. We have had really good feedback from the tenants so far that it’s meeting their needs.’’

Most of the current tenants are in the automotive sector and include Smith Electric Vehicles; Hyperdrive Innovation; the college’s own subsidiary, Zero Carbon Futures; Tadea’s Effective Driving Solutions; and ELM EV. To date, about four fifths of the available space is taken and about 150 people work on the site.

The college is already in discussions with some of these companies on their future training needs, which could be on site or at the college’s other facilities.

“It’s not just about apprentices, there is a range of training needs we can meet,’’ says Doyle. “Our students will get really meaningful employment from all of this work which is ultimately why we are doing it. We want our students to have the employment edge and to

be the most highly prized in the jobs market.

Having the opportunity to work with these employers in these high quality facilities is a great opportunity for our students.’’

When the centre is fully let, Gateshead College would consider extending or

replicating the facility.

“We are always looking to build on what we know works well, especially when we know it’s meeting the needs of employers and making sure our students are the most employable. Absolutely, if this works we’ll >>

Our students will get really meaningful employment from all of this work which is ultimately why we are doing it...we want our students to be the most highly prized in the jobs market

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SUNDERLAND: THE UK’S THRIVING AUTOMOTIVE HUB

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INSIGHT

SUMMER 14

be looking to do more of it,’’ says Doyle.

The college already runs a range of courses related to low carbon, particularly for Nissan’s Leaf electric vehicle and battery plant. Its Construction Centre in Gateshead’s Team Valley does training around sustainability, photovoltaic cells, smart metering and smart homes.

“We feel we are being very responsive and brave in investing our money but we are entirely convinced that this will have a huge spin-off for the college and for the region,’’ says Doyle. “This is what this region will need in terms of skills and we are responding to and recognising what this region needs to really accelerate its growth. The Low Carbon Corridor that’s around this area is going to be central to that.’’ n

Research into energy storage and smart home technology as part of the Zero Emission Centre of Excellence

We feel we are being responsive and brave in investing money...but convinced this will have a huge spin-off for the college and region

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SUNDERLAND: THE UK’S THRIVING AUTOMOTIVE HUB

Supporting Innovation Automotive Automotive & & Manufacturing Manufacturing in Manufacturing Advanced Practice

Practice and Our expertise covers a broad range ofAdvanced industrial applications digital engineering technologies and we are able to provide a www.amap.sunderland.ac.uk range of valuable services to manufacturers www.amap.sunderland.ac.uk Tel: Tel: 0191 0191 515 515 3888 3888

• Innovation in design – through digital engineering and computer aided design, as well as reverse engineering.

• Innovation in product development – based around product lifecycle management and design for manufacture.

• Innovation in process improvement – using our expertise in productivity improvements, lean methodologies, and adoption of new technologies to improve the manufacturing process.

The University of Sunderland support the skills needed within manufacturers through: • Workforce Development • Graduate Recruitment • Internships • Management & Leadership, including executive coaching • Partnerships and collaborative projects For further information contact Adrian Morris, call 0191 515 3888 or email adrian.morris@sunderland.co.uk or see www.sunderland.ac.uk

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Our partnership Our partnership with with was OurAMAP partnership with AMAP was in raising skill in AMAP the was critical critical raising skill levels raising the skill levels levels ofthe our of of our our employees, employees, employees, helping helping us to deliver helping us to us to deliver deliver in a in a fiercely competitive in a fiercely competitive fiercely competitive market. market

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Driven by experts with experience of working with, and in, industry, AMAP effectively covers three activities:

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Sunderland: The UK’s thriving automotive hub Nissan’s plant in Sunderland is acknowledged as one of the best in the world. Smashing all previous productivity records, the plant is on course to become even bigger, with the commitment of several new models - including the first premium luxury compact car under the Infiniti brand - creating thousands of new jobs.

Sunderland also plays host to an unrivalled international components supply chain which boosts the industry’s successful growth, and Sunderland has a proven track record of attracting significant Investment in the automotive sector.

FLIGHT TIMES In 2013 the city secured 15 new projects, 1,028 jobs and investment of £276 million from international automotive companies.

London Heathrow - 1hr 10mins Amsterdam - 1hr 20mins Paris - 1hr 50mins Dublin - 1hr 5mins Aberdeen - 55mins

One of the key factors behind the city’s success is its highly skilled, loyal and flexible workforce.

Sunderland is reinventing its economy, replacing coal mining with cars, and shipbuilding with software.

The city’s comprehensive transport infrastructure, with a deep-sea port, two regional airports and easy access to the east coast’s principal north -south road and rail routes, mean Sunderland is an easy, ‘go-to’ location for any business.

Sunderland has a range of excellent development sites for automotive suppliers, all of which are close to the main transport networks. The city council plays a very active role in attracting companies to the city, encouraging, nurturing and developing each new investment.

E info@makeitsunderland.com T +44(0)191 561 1194 W makeitsunderland.com

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