Global lubricant manufacturer FUCHS has revealed plans for further investment at its 海角视频 headquarters 鈥 after spending in excess of 拢12 million at the site in the last five years.
Recent major investments at the Stoke-on-Trent plant include the installation of more than 2,000 roof-mounted solar panels and the opening of a new, state-of-the-art head office in 2017.
At the same time, new automated machinery, energy-efficient lighting and IT infrastructure has been installed at FUCHS鈥 Hanley base.
Now the German-owned firm has pledged to invest millions of pounds into its 海角视频 operation 鈥 to secure its future success in the light of Brexit.
Throughout 2019, FUCHS 海角视频 plans to make improvements to all areas of the plant 鈥 including manufacturing, R&D, technical processes and logistics.
A new on-site raw materials warehouse is also planned as part of a 拢10 million cash injection.
The new 4,000-pallet building 鈥 which is expected to be up and running by mid 2020 鈥 will allow the firm to significantly increase its capacity for raw materials and enable the existing building to become a specialist packaging warehouse.
Other improvements include:
- New filling line machinery,
- Upgrade of the main control room and gate house office
- A new metalworking machine tool
- The quality control (QC) lab is set to double in size
- And the introduction of a larger manufacturing facility.
Russell Kenyon, automotive director at FUCHS, said: 鈥淭he 海角视频 operation of FUCHS has been very, very successful within the wider organisation for about 20 years.
鈥淥utside of Germany we were number two in terms of contribution and performance up until about three years ago, and that is why the company is continuing to invest in the 海角视频.鈥
Russell believes that the recent 鈥榮ignificant鈥 investments show the company鈥檚 commitment to both Stoke-on-Trent and 海角视频 manufacturing.
He added: 鈥淥ur biggest competitors do not manufacture in the 海角视频 with the exception of one, so we see the benefit of being based in the 海角视频 and will continue to invest in our operations here.鈥
In the 海角视频, FUCHS employs around 350 staff 鈥 around 200 of which are based in Stoke-on-Trent, where all of the company鈥檚 海角视频 manufacturing and distribution takes place.
FUCHS 海角视频 produces around 85 million litres of lubricants each year and has a total capacity of 120 million litres.
Bosses at the firm say the improvements made at FUCHS 海角视频 over the last 18 months has helped the company prepare as best it can for the 海角视频鈥檚 impending withdrawal from the EU.
This includes stepping up the storage of raw materials and increasing manufacturing levels to meet the demand from customers looking to stockpile.
Technical manager Andy Brown said: 鈥淥ur German owners don鈥檛 see Brexit as an issue, in fact they think it may be an advantage.
鈥淲e have done a lot of contingency planning to make sure we are prepared for the worse case scenario but that鈥檚 all we鈥檝e been able to do at the moment. The biggest problem for us is uncertainty.鈥
He added: 鈥淪ome of our customers have started to order additional stock and have run that down now, but if people start getting twitchy again we need to be flexible and make sure we can cope with the demands from our customers.
鈥淚t is important for us to be able to continuously supply.鈥
FUCHS 海角视频 is part of the wider FUCHS group which employs 5,446 people across the globe.
The organisation 鈥 which boasts an annual turnover of 2.5bn euros 鈥 operates 58 companies around the world in 45 countries.
