UK Deputy Prime Minister announces new jobs and investment for UK Advanced Engineering Excellence

The UK’s Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg announced a series of deals by UK companies that will lead to hundreds of jobs in the engineering, aerospace and automotive sectors during the keynote address at the British Business Embassy on advanced engineering excellence held at Lancaster House on the sidelines of the Olympic Games.

Senior representatives of major global companies such as Airbus, Jaguar Land Rover, JCB, McLaren Racing, Nissan, Rolls-Royce, Siemens, Atkins, GKN and Spirit AeroSystems attended and participated in panel-led discussions about the strength of the UK as a trading partner and the investment location of choice.

“The skills and expertise of British businesses are gold medal standard and highly sought after across the world. The UK is one of the top ten manufacturers in the world. Our manufacturing sector is a national success story and lies right at the heart of our strategy for economic recovery and growth,” said the Deputy Prime Minister

The summit explored the UK’s capability in this high growth sector and investments into the UK; how the collaboration between academia and business has helped the UK retain and build its leading edge position; supply chain excellence and British engineering.

Also speaking at the event Business Secretary Vince Cable said “The key to a sustainable and balanced economy is having a long-term approach to growth, investing in manufacturing technology, R&D and skills so we have the right talent to make the most of the recovery. Working with business, we are taking steps to strengthen the UK’s manufacturing capability, ensuring a better business environment that will address barriers to growth, encourage innovation, exports and inward investment as well as build UK supply chains.”

Several companies chose to profile and make announcements regarding their international business at the British Business Embassy including:

Tbilisi Aircraft Manufacturing and MARKET-MATS, with the support of The Get It Group LLC, have signed an agreement to locate their advanced manufacturing campuses in the Hereford Enterprise Zone and Model Farm Ross-on-Wye, creating over 1,000 new jobs, over 10 per cent of who will be apprentices, and increasing local spending power by £20 million per annum.

Airbus announced the recruitment of 169 apprentices and graduates in September, in addition to taking on around 600 new UK employees during 2012. This expansion is driven by Airbus’s latest aircraft developments, such as the A350 XWB and A320neo, and the increase in production due to strong global demand. In an important milestone, the first A350 XWB wing was assembled this August at the new Airbus factory in Wales, which was purpose-built to produce wings for the A350 XWB family of aircraft. To date, over 540 of these aircraft have been ordered.

Bifrangi, an Italian steel forger, is expanding its business in the UK. They have received permission for a new steel forge in Lincoln and will invest £39 million, creating 50 and safeguarding 100 jobs.

Pirelli Group is committed to the expansion of the company’s activities in the UK. They announced a £20million investment in R&D and new process machinery; creating 37 new and protecting 120 UK jobs.



GKN plc, the global engineering group headquartered in the UK, announced investment of more than £12million to increase the capacity of its facilities in Birmingham and Telford that, respectively, design and manufacture products and provide services for the automotive and the agricultural, construction, mining and industrial machinery markets. GKN’s expansion reflects both the company’s confidence in the UK car manufacturing sector and the growth in its international contracts being fulfilled from the UK.

Cella Energy, based in Oxfordshire, is an advanced materials and technologies sector company that specialises in safe, low-cost hydrogen storage technology. The company is working with NASA on advanced research programmes, including space satellite radiation shielding, generating new UK jobs.

The UK remains one of the world’s leading manufacturing nations and UK manufacturing output grew 3.6 per cent in real terms in 2010. The country is home to major international manufacturing brands, such as BAE Systems, Rolls-Royce, Airbus, GKN, JCB, Caterpillar, Ford, BMW, Toyota, Nissan and Honda.

Manufacturing in the UK continually reinvents itself and is successfully moving from competing on relatively low costs of doing business to competing on unique value and innovation. In a bid to promote innovation globally, the UK has instituted a prestigious international prize to encourage engineering excellence. The Queen Elizabeth Engineering Prize – worth £1 million – is to be awarded biannually for exceptional advances in engineering. It is open to candidates of any nationality.

Chemicals represent one of the UK’s largest and most profitable manufacturing sectors, with an annual overseas trade surplus of over £8 billion. The UK chemicals industry spends more than £3.8 billion on R&D every year.

The UK has a number of strengths in a range of marine and maritime sectors, including those associated with shipping, ports and financial and business services. The marine industries generate sales of £10 billion per year, including around £4 billion in exports. They contribute about £3.1 billion to GDP and employ more than 90,000 people. The marine industries manufacture and provide support services in the Leisure, Naval, Commercial, Offshore Renewable Energy and other smaller sectors.

The UK has the largest aerospace industry in Europe and the second largest in the world (after the USA), with a 17 per cent global market share. UK aerospace has a turnover of £23 billion (defence – 52 per cent and civil – 48 per cent) and some £29 billion of orders were placed in 2010. Exports of UK aerospace products in 2010 totalled £16 billion, accounting for 70 per cent of total industry turnover. UK technology is in orbit around Saturn, Mars, Venus, and the Moon. It also powers the aircrafts flown by Sri Lankan airlines via Rolls-Royce engines. Incidentally, this year Rolls-Royce is celebrating 50 years of presence in the Sri Lankan market.

UK automotive companies export to over 100 markets which accounted for 9.3 per cent (£27.5billion) of UK manufactured exports in 2010. 11 of the world’s volume vehicle manufacturers have a UK presence, supported by 19 of the world’s top 20 suppliers. Few links in the automotive supply chain are as important as the engines, and the UK has long been a leader in engine production. In 2011, some 2 million engines were produced in the UK, despite the impact of the global downturn. For example, 25 per cent of all Ford engines worldwide and over 50 per cent of all Ford diesel engines are made in the UK.

Interestingly, two thirds of F1 teams are based in the UK – McLaren Mercedes, AT&T, Williams, Mercedes GP Petronas, Renault, Red Bull Racing, Force India, Virgin Racing and Team Lotus F1. Earlier this year it was reported that many British brands are seeing resurgence in sales, including Jaguar, Land Rover, Bentley Motors and Rolls-Royce. In Sri Lanka, Land Rovers are a popular choice among hardcore off-road enthusiasts with over 2000 of its vehicles roaming the country.

The UK construction equipment industry is worth an estimated US$13.5 million to the British economy, employing some 57,000 people exporting more than 75 per cent of production to more than 150 countries. In Sri Lanka too, it is not uncommon to spot JCB machinery at work on roads and construction sites.

For Sri Lankan companies interested in sourcing British engineering or manufacturing expertise for specific upcoming projects or are interested in becoming local agents for specific products, the UK Trade & Investment (UKTI) section of the British High Commission in Colombo stand ready to assist. UKTI Colombo also welcomes stories from Sri Lankan companies about their successful partnerships with British manufacturing and engineering companies – be it one-off projects or continuing business interests.