engineering - investing in britain
WORKERS, OCTOBER 2003 ISSUE
The engineering firm Bamfords are taking on 200 extra workers in Staffordshire. They will be working on new diesel engines, 4 and 6-litre power plants for the famous JCB diggers.
This will be the first time that Bamfords have produced their own engines, and they will be some of the first new engines designed and built in Britain since Jaguar's AJ26 in the mid-1990s. They will be developed in partnership with engine specialists Ricardo, AVL, Cosworth Technology and Krause.
Bentley is to employ 350 more workers in Crewe producing the Continental GT. The firm has invested £500 million in overhauling the factory and aims to produce 4,000 cars next year, up from 1,400 this year.
The company says Crewe workers' craftsmanship is "the best in the world" and that Bentley policy is to "invest in people not robots". Why don't more companies invest in British skill?