Power tool company Makita Manufacturing Europe is bucking the wider economic gloom by pushing ahead with ambitious plans to expand its business.
The family-run firm has recently recorded its best trading year for the second successive year since setting up in Telford in 1991 - recording a £74million annual turnover.
It puts the growth down to rising demand for its range of British-built power tools continuing to grow.
The Shropshire company, which is due to mark the manufacturing of 20 million tools later this year, has also just received a £3m order from Germany for power tools.
As part of its growth plans, the 45-year-old firm is constructing a 38,000 sq ft warehouse extension at Makita Manufacturing Europe’s UK manufacturing headquarters in Hortonwood, Telford.
Construction work on the new site will be carried out by McPhillips.
“We do work on projects all over the Unitd Kingdom but it is always pleasing to get contracts in our home county of Shropshire and especially as Makita is just around the corner from our offices in Hortonwood, Telford,” said Peter McPhillips, joint managing director of McPhillips.
Anne Taylor, Director of Business Investment at Transforming Telford, the town’s economic development company, said the move was fantastic news.
She added: The partnership between Makita and McPhillips is a perfect example of how we should work together throughout the recession with the aim of providing local jobs for local people.”
Makita operations director Paul Harris said its expansion plans were good news for the local economy. He said: “We employ 450 local people and we are ensuring that we outsource to good local companies.”
Mr Harris said that his “dedicated” workforce in Telford had meant they had become “the new China,” making record profits beating Makita operations across Europe.
He continued: “We have the best workforce here in Telford. They are dedicated and have even given up their holidays to ensure we meet export deadlines. That is why we are the mother company for Europe.”
Makita Manufacturing Europe Ltd currently buys £15m worth of British components and this figure is set to grow to £50m annually. A total of 35 million components are sourced globally with the direction to buy all its manufactured products in the UK.
