• Fri. Mar 29th, 2024

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Major new contract win and £3.5m investment for expanding company Mecaplast

Dale Atherton, Simon Varley and Michael ButlerA Peterlee company has invested over £3.5m in new equipment and staff development following a major new contract win from Jaguar Landrover.

Automotive parts manufacturer Mecaplast has purchased four new injection moulding machines, ranging from 800 to 2,300 tonnes, and formed a partnership with Access Training to upskill and develop its growing management team.

The firm will start making parts for Jaguar Landrover vehicles in early 2017.

To facilitate their recent and projected expansion plans, Mecaplast has enlisted Gateshead-based Access Training to support eight of their employees through Advanced and Higher Apprenticeships in Management.

The Peterlee business has doubled in size in the last two years, going from 75 employees to 150 and doubling its turnover due to a significant contract win from Nissan to supply parts for the Qashqai. The firm is now on track for further expansion.

Plant Director David Cann comments: “We are looking forward to working with Jaguar Landrover and we have several other new contracts in the pipeline. The business is going from strength to strength.

“Our recent fast expansion required a restructure which saw the addition of new members of staff and changes of responsibility for others. We want our people to grow with the business and we are fully committed to investing in our staff.

“We needed training to develop new skills and to support our staff in personal development too. I have had experience of using Access Training in a previous role and they were my first choice to bring us the outcomes we are looking for.

“It’s very busy at the moment and the pace is set to continue as we expand further and for that we need first class Managers. I’m very encouraged with how the training’s going, everyone is very motivated and progressing well.”

Michael Butler, Mick McAvoy and Jeff Dickinson are working towards a Higher Apprenticeship which is designed for senior staff to develop their leadership and management skills. It covers strategic decision making, managing budgets, planning and implementing change, leading teams and managing projects. It also includes the CMI level 5 Diploma in Management & Leadership which is delivered on a monthly day release basis.

Dale Atherton, Simon Varley, Marc Golightly, Richy Ward and Karl Catleugh are doing an Advanced Management Apprenticeship which develops skills for planning, allocating and monitoring the work of a team, supporting team members, managing conflict, resolving problems, project management, agreeing budgets and managing customer service. It also looks at strategic decision making, managing budgets, planning and implementing change, leading teams and managing programmes of complimentary projects.

Mecaplast designs, develops and manufactures plastic parts and complete systems for vehicle car bodies and engines.Customers include most of the leading car manufacturers, including Toyota, GM, VW, Renault, Nissan and BMW.

Access Training is an award winning training provider with offices in Gateshead and has helped over 5,000 people start and develop careers. It offers apprenticeships at intermediate, advanced and higher levels in a wide range of occupational areas.

For information about management training call 0191 490 2377 or email info@accesstraining.org

By admin