Member Article

£10m paint shop investment for Coventry automotive supplier

One of the West Midlands’ fastest growing automotive suppliers has given a post-Brexit vote boost to UK industry by announcing a new £10m investment designed to increase capacity.

Brose UK, which employs 900 people at its two plants in Coventry, is in the process of installing a state-of-the-art paint shop that can e-coat more than 3.5 million seats every year.

The announcement was made during a high-profile visit by the Group CEO Jürgen Otto and fellow board member Periklis Nassios, who is responsible for the seats division. They viewed the early stages of the paint shop’s construction and met with staff from across the business.

Due to be completed by August next year, the e-coat line brings an important process in-house that will improve scheduling of production and ensure all structures are finished to the highest quality standards.

It is a move that will create an additional 30 jobs at Brose UK, taking the total number of people at its factories from about 500 in late 2014 to over 1000 by the end of 2017.

“This is a massive show of faith in Coventry and confirms the group’s intention of giving us the technology and capability we need to take on and successfully deliver higher volumes for our UK customers,” explained Juergen Zahl, Managing Director.

“Having the paint shop in-house means we control our own destiny and can have a much more joined-up approach to assembly. The seat structures are also coated to such a high standard that they would be accepted by all of the major car manufacturers in the world.”

He continued: “2017 will see the launch of three new model platforms and will take the number of front and rear seats we produce annually to over 2 million for the first time in our 30-year history.”

Over the last 12 months, Brose UK sales have increased by 25% to £195m and this has included new contracts to supply seats and window regulars to customers including Jaguar Land Rover, Nissan and Toyota.

“Coventry is very special to the Group, as it was one of the first locations to be launched outside of Germany almost 30 years ago. The last decade has seen significant challenges, but the backing and financial support has always been there and our faith is now paying off with significant growth,” explained Jürgen Otto, CEO of Brose Group.

He continued: “I am delighted to see how passionate everyone is about working at Brose and their desire to continually improve. This investment in Coventry is part of the long-term strategy we pursue as a family company.”

Over the last three years alone, Brose has invested more than £50m into its UK operation.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Russ Cockburn .