Bosal invests to safeguard jobs
EXHAUST manufacturer Bosal UK has invested £1m to diversify its product range and safeguard jobs.
The Preston-based company has invested in machinery that will allow it to produce exhausts and components for bus and coach makes including Volvo, Scania. Mercedes-Benz, Leyland, Ford, MAN and MCW.
The equipment allows for shorter production runs in line with the lower volumes for bus and coach systems when compared with car and light commercial vehicle volumes.
It already manufactures exhausts for cars and light and heavy commercial vehicles from its 45,000 sq ft plant.
The investment means it can now service a wider market and will help to safeguard the jobs of its 300 staff at a time when the auto manufacturing industry is suffering from a decline in sales.
There has been a spate of job cut and shut down announcements from manufacturers in the industry across the region in recent weeks.
Last week, manufacturer Leyland Trucks cut 100 jobs at its site in Farrington, near Leyland and said European sales for 2009 could fall as much as 24%.
Jaguar in Halewood asked for up to 600 voluntary redundancies on Monday and at the end of October, Bentley announced that it was seeking between 200 and 300 redundancies at its Crewe factory.
