Leyland Trucks wins £1m training grant

THE Northwest Regional Development Agency (NWDA) has given Leyland Trucks a grant of nearly £1m towards staff training.

The two-year £2.1m programme will seek to help the company respond more effectively to the struggling European truck market.

It will focus on assembly operations with the aim of improving quality and reducing manufacturing costs at the plant where around 1,000 staff produce DAF trucks.

Under the scheme some staff will be trained in emerging technologies such as electronics, robotics and low carbon emission and propulsion systems.

Managing director Andrea Paver said: “Investing in our people has been a key feature of our activities here at Leyland for many years. Being awarded this grant recognises not only the investment in training that we make for our longer-serving employees, but also the commitment we have to young people and the fact that we have continued with our apprentice and graduate programmes throughout the recent very challenging recessionary times.”

Leyland Trucks, based at Leyland, near Preston, is the only remaining volume manufacturer of heavy trucks in the UK. One in three trucks sold in the UK is built at the plant and 40% of its output goes overseas.

It is owned by the US giant Paccar which has been forced to lay off more than 300 jobs at the plant in the last 18 months following a sharp decline in global demand.