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North East plastics manufacturer given £300k grant to invest in growing workforce

North East plastics manufacturer Nifco UK Ltd has received backing from the Department for Business Innovation & Skills to invest in the future of its employees.

The Eaglescliffe based car parts manufacturer has been approved for a grant from BIS’s Employer Ownership Fund (EOF) and now has nearly £300k to invest into its growing workforce.

The funding will be awarded on the basis of Nifco investing some of its own cash into the development of its people, and meeting a number of measures and milestones along the way.

Nifco plans to use the funding to provide staff with programmes of extra training in areas such as maintenance, quality and principles.

The programmes will take three years to rollout across the business, which now employs more than 400 staff.

The business, which manufactures functional plastic parts that are used in the engines of cars produced by Nissan, Ford, Honda, and Jaguar Land Rover among others, has a current turnover of more than £50 million and is aiming to reach a turnover of £100 million by 2020.

Managing director and European operations officer at Nifco, Mike Matthews MBE, said: “We’re committed to helping our staff develop and improve their skills, something that we believe is absolutely fundamental to spur on the growth of the business.

“Nifco employs talented people, but we believe that ensuring their skills remain at the cutting edge is essential if we are to continue to innovate and create products that meet the demands of the market. This grant allows us to push our development strategy further.

“We’re delighted that we’ve been offered this grant, and we will put it to really good use to ensure that we further the positive effect Nifco has on the local and regional economy.”

“We cannot grow the business without the support of all of our colleagues and continue to appreciate the efforts from all teams.

“I have no doubt we will see a positive return on investment from this funding and Nifco UK will continue to grow.

“Investing in people is a vital part of our effort to address the skills gap that still remains a real threat to businesses in this sector.

“Supporting employees to develop their skills is a responsibility that all businesses should take seriously, and we’re doing everything we can to ensure our team is given every chance to be the best it can possibly be, through training and development.”

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