Jobs boost for car parts firm Tallent Automotive
A car parts manufacturer in Staffordshire hit hard by the recession has bounced back and today revealed £4million plans to expand and create 40 jobs.
Tallent Automotive, which supplies car makers including BMW, Nissan and Honda, is planning to build a new 60,000sq ft factory at its Cannock base.
Around 250 workers have been taken on at the Wolverhampton Road site in the last 18 months and existing facilities have reached capacity.
Managing director Brian Francis today revealed the proposals as he said Tallent had recovered from the ravages of the recession.
The number of staff at Cannock was slashed from 950 to 700 in 2009 as orders dropped off in the downturn. But the payroll has been restored to former levels.
More jobs are expected to become available in the next 18 months while the new factory could open as early as 2014.
Mr Francis said today: "The Cannock site is just about full to capacity so we will be building another factory there.
"We are still waiting for confirmation from customers for the business which will see that built but we believe it is going to happen over the next couple of years. We will also be recruiting people towards the middle to end of next year."
Mr Francis paid tribute to staff who have driven the company's revival while admitting Tallent had benefited from the failure of other firms. "We have got an excellent workforce which gels together really well. The workforce makes the company," he said. "At the same time a lot of capacity has gone out of the industry and that has helped us."
Tallent, which makes chassis, suspension and body parts, made 1,000 of its 3,500 staff across the country redundant in 2008/9 but has now recovered all the posts which were lost.
