Engine of Growth Set to Fire on All Cylinders
Inside William Hall savours the wide range of MANUFACTURING food and drink producers in the region, including the in North-West England makers of the Vimto brand FINANCIAL TIMES SPECIAL REPORT | Tuesday March 2 2010 Page 4 www.ft.com/north-west-manufacturing-2010 Engine of growth set to fire on all cylinders Recession in the region between 2006 and 2009, as trucks were sold to 44 countries as far afield as has been deeper than Mexico and Australia. the national average but Production hit record levels, sharply increasing output to about 24,700 the sector is recovering, units in 2008, from 13,000 units in writes Andrew Bounds 2002, while the workforce grew by a fifth to 1,300. As late as March 2008, the company was taking on 80 staff, anufacturing has become introducing a night shift and expect- Flight plan: final assembly of the Eurofighter Typhoon at BAE's Warton plant, near Preston. The region's aerospace sector is the biggest in the UK fashionable in the UK ing annual production of 25,000 again, but in the north- trucks. By December that year, it was manufacturers had repatriated pro- looking to add a stable income stream has produced a myth-busting bro- handouts when they should be updat- west of England it never announcing 250 job cuts. duction lines over past two years. to smooth out demand. chure and is setting up the UK’s first ing or changing their products to give Mfell out of favour. It is part of the Now, however, aided by the fall in Mr Maier also argues that foreign Tony Wilson, of Klarius, a car com- Fab Lab, where people can design customers what they want.” DNA of a region that invented the sterling, manufacturing is recovering.
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