New £2.5m casting plant at RunFlat International brings jobs boost to Cradley Heath

A new casting plant which has brought a jobs boost to a Cradley Heath manufacturing firm has been officially opened following a £2.5m investment.

West Bromwich MP Sarah Coombes was invited to ‘cut the ribbon’ and take a tour of the new facility at RunFlat International which creates run flat tyre technology for armoured vehicles used in the defence and security industries.

The new casting plant, which has been created within the existing factory space in Gawne Lane as part of a remodelling, has almost doubled the company’s casting capabilities in anticipation of greater demand for its products as spending on UK defence ramps up.

The business, which won the King’s Award for Enterprise, in the international trade category, in 2025, employs a total of 60 people - with 15 of those taken on since the new casting plant began operations in February.

The board of directors - Alex Masters, Eric Cartelet, Tom Westley Snr and Tom Westley Jnr - opened the venture, with Labour MP Sarah Coombes, whose West Bromwich constituency takes in the corner of Cradley Heath where RunFlat is located, invited to do the official honours during a visit on Friday July 3.

She said: “It’s a fantastic investment at this RunFlat site in Cradley Heath. I’m incredibly proud to be the MP for this fantastic manufacturing business.

“Investment in military tech is inevitable in the future in the environment we live in. I hope this brilliant company will benefit from government contracts in the future.”

RunFlat International, which was named Business of the Year at the 2025 Black Country Chamber Business Awards, has been going since 2001 and is part of the wider historic Westley Group which employs around 300 people.

The company’s custom military and security vehicle wheels, and complete tyre assemblies, are used around the world in the defence sector largely and in other armoured vehicles used to transport dignitaries and VIPs as the technology enables vehicles to drive up to 100km on deflated tyres in the event they are shot or damaged.

Eric Cartelet, managing director of RunFlat International, said for the first time in the company’s history it has made £30m this past year.

He added: “We expect the growth to continue over the next few years.

“We’ve invested just over £2.5m, we've hired people and we expect the growth to go beyond the £30m turnover that we've just seen this financial year - we’re expecting even more next year as all the governments are investing a little bit more in their own defence forces and vehicles.”