SECTOR FOCUS: MANUFACTURING
Alan Lusty: Jobs boom
Record numbers for the manufacturing sector
Engineering jobs boom in pipeline
Adi Group, the Kings Norton headquartered engineering firm, is on track to generate major employment opportunities – planning to create 500 new jobs by 2020. Since 2005, it has quadrupled in size and now boasts a turnover of £80 million. Chief executive Alan Lusty, who
founded the company in 1990, said: “While still a challenge for many, a number of the markets that we service have seen steady growth in capital investment over recent years, and we expect that trend to continue.
‘Our job will be to continue to support the development of the next generation talent’
“At the same time however, our clients are under increased pressure to deliver cost reductions, which can be realised in part through our self-delivery model. By delivering our services in-house, we can be confident in the quality of our offering as well as our ability to manage tightly and provide streamlined communication channels to our customers. Consequently, we are able to pass on these efficiency and cost savings to our customers. “Equally important is a trend
among blue chip companies in the UK and Ireland to steadily reduce the size of their supplier lists through the introduction of increasingly stringent criteria, with a particular focus on encouraging a sustainable supply chain. Our recent Gold accreditation under the EcoVadis platform – which is a pre- requisite for global leaders like Coca-Cola Enterprises, Nestlé and Akzo-Nobel – sets us apart from our competitors. “Now, our job will be to
continue to support the development of the next generation talent, working with Government, local authorities and our education partners to enthuse and inspire the young engineers of tomorrow and our recruits of the future.”
52 CHAMBERLINK MARCH 2016
Selling well: Jaguar Land Rover’s Range Rover production line T
he Midlands is exporting more vehicles – by value – than the rest of the UK combined as the region’s automotive sector continues to make
rapid growth post-recession. According to a report from the Midlands Economic
Forum, which brings together the public, private and voluntary sectors to evaluate economic trends, the UK auto industry has now one of the highest levels of productivity in Europe, with significant growth being generated throughout the supply chain. It says that the proportion (by value) of components sourced domestically has risen by five per cent since 2011. Although Jaguar Land Rover is now the UK’s largest
car manufacturer, and Toyota’s Burnaston plant in Derbyshire has seen robust growth of over ten per cent during last year, the Forum states that the region’s expertise extends well beyond car production, with companies like Dennis Eagle producing specialist commercial vehicles. During 2015, British manufacturers made more cars
than any year since 2005, when 1,595,697 vehicles were produced, one growing export market being India where car sales have more than trebled in the past five years.
The Forum’s report follows the creation of the
Midlands Economic Model, a new tool created by the Forum and Birmingham City University, which uses data to analyse and predict economic trends in the region. Commenting on the last quarter of 2015, the Forum
said that although manufacturing, nationally, was flat in key Midland sectors such as automotive, aerospace and food production growth was probably stronger. “Additionally, the related business services sector again recorded firm growth and as a result, based on preliminary estimates, we forecast that quarterly output growth in the region was 0.7 per cent,” it added. Looking ahead, the Forum suggests that although
difficult industrial conditions in certain sectors, such as steel and the wider metals industry, are likely to continue to challenge the region over the next 12 months, the global environment also presented opportunities.
• The commercial vehicle sector is to showcase its products at the CV Show at the NEC in April, the event being the the UK’s most comprehensive road transport and logistics event
Midlands leading in mergers
Manufacturing businesses in the West Midland attracted significantly more interest from overseas’ buyers last year, although overall deal volumes across the region remained static, according to a new study. Analysis by law firm Irwin Mitchell of data provided by Experian has highlighted that manufacturing
mergers and acquisitions (M&A) activity in the West Midlands stood at 132 last year. In 2014 it was slightly higher at 134. Although deal activity remained static, more than a third (36 per cent) of the transactions in the region
where a West Midlands-based business was the target involved a bidder based from outside of the UK. This is significantly above the national average, and also last year’s figure for the region of 24.7 per cent. Out of the deals involving West Midlands based manufacturers, 15 per cent involved a local firm targeting a
businesses in another country. In addition to the region’s share of manufacturing M&A falling, only six deals last year in the sector were
backed by private equity. In the previous 12 months, the figure across the region was more than double (13). Nick Dawson, corporate partner at Irwin Mitchell in Birmingham, said: “This latest analysis paints a mixed
picture of manufacturing M&A trends in the region. Deals numbers are lower but companies based here are attracting more interest from overseas.
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