LONDON: Bosses at car parts firm Nifco UK are eyeing up four potential Teesside sites for a world-class factory that will create hundreds of new jobs.
The Eaglescliffe manufacturer’s order book is growing fast with work from most of the world’s major car brands including Nissan, Ford, Toyota and Jaguar Land Rover.
Now it wants to open its third new factory to cope with the demand – creating around 250 jobs.
The company has not confirmed the exact locations for the four sites in the running for the new factory, but they are thought to include Lingfield Point in Darlington. A spokesman has confirmed the frontrunner will be recommended to the Nifco board in Japan next month.
Just seven years ago, Nifco UK was forced to shed staff as the recession took hold.
The company has since turned its fortunes around, positioning itself as a centre of excellence for automotive manufacturing with a growing R&D division. It recently announced ambitious plans to double staff – and its current £50m turnover – by 2020.
It is expected Nifco UK will turnover £75m by 2016.
The new factory will take overall staff numbers to around 800.
The company’s ability to ride the wave of the UK’s rapidly growing automotive supply chain has been praised by Joe Greenwell CBE, CEO of the Automotive Investment Organisation (AIO).
He said: “We are glad to see such a forward thinking company as Nifco increase their competitiveness, seize business opportunities in the UK automotive market and contribute to further advancements in the UK’s powertrain development.”
Earlier this year, Nifco UK won a 10-year Ford deal worth up to £50m, beating rival companies in Germany, Japan and China.
A three-year Nifco project that will see £285,000 of training delivered to employees through Middlesbrough College is also well underway.
The business is providing productivity training to the value of almost £1,000 per person through its Total Productive Maintenance initiative.
MD of Nifco UK and European operations officer Mike Matthews said: “As a business, we genuinely believe the growth we’ve seen has been down to investing in our people. We believe they are the key to the ongoing success of the business too, so we’re in no doubt that we have to invest in them to realise our full potential.”
