Gestamp, an international group dedicated to the design, development and manufacture of metal automotive components, plans to build a new manufacturing facility in Four Ashes near Wolverhampton (West Midlands). The new plant will upgrade the company’s industrial capabilities in the region and will entail an investment of over £70 million. Gestamp’s investment will add up to the £56.3 million for the new factory construction developed by Bericote Properties and financed by Tritax.
The new West Midlands plant expects to host state-of-the-art stamping equipment in its 50,000 square metres and is designed to safeguard the 800 jobs at Gestamp’s current Cannock plant by progressively moving production to the new facility.
The goal of the project is to create a more efficient and competitive, customer focused factory with opportunity for further growth with both existing and new clients in the future.
A transfer servo press line, also known as XL press, will bring a completely innovative technology of hot stamping, aiming to provide a better service to customers in the area, namely BMW, Honda, JLR, Nissan-Renault and Toyota.
Plans are for production to start before the end of 2017, according to the project, which has been supported by local Stoke on Trent & Staffordshire LEP, Staffordshire County Council, Cannock Chase District Council and the Department for International Trade in the form of the Automotive Investment Organisation (AIO).
“We have been working on this project for a long time. United Kingdom is one of Gestamp top 5 global markets since the beginning of our operations here in 2011”, said Ian Middleton, Gestamp Country Manager in the UK. “Our company is committed to helping our customers in key aspects such as quality, safety and lightweight innovations, therefore Gestamp wants its facilities to utilise the most modern stamping technologies available to fulfil its objectives”, added Middleton.
Gestamp has already invested over £180 million in its UK plants since 2011 including over £30 million in the existing Cannock facility. Once completed, the annual turnover of the new West Midlands plant will surpass £140 million per year. Part of the existing facilities in Cannock may be retained to accommodate future training and development requirements.
Gestamp in the UK
Currently Gestamp (named Gestamp Tallent in the UK due to the acquisition of Tallent in 2011) comprises 6 production plants in Newcastle, Washington, Aycliffe- where the company counts also with a R&D centre-, Cannock, Llanelli and Fareham, and with a workforce of 3,600 in the country, including agency staff.