150 new jobs are to be created at a Coventry manufacturer one year after it was overtaken by a Chinese company.
Covpress, which produces body panels for the automotive sector and has clients including Jaguar Land Rover, has announced the plans to increase staff count from 550 to 700 while investing in automated robotic and laser equipment.
The increase will take place over the next two years and marks further investment by parent company Shandong Yongtai after it bought the West Midlands firm for £30m a year ago.
Having already invested £10m in the company, the takeover has already seen Covpress take on an additional 75 staff in the last 12 months alone.
You Xiaoming, CEO of Shandong Yongtai Group, told the Coventry Telegraph: “We have exciting plans for the future. Over the next two years plans are already in place to inject a further investment that will modernise and expand our facility here at Covpress.
“This will add much needed capacity to our automotive and non automotive clients and further jobs opportunities within the facility.
“Quality demands we use the latest technology and this comes at a price. We will be investing in state-of-the-art robotic and laser equipment to support this. The equipment that we are installing will need highly trained operatives. We envisage employing in excess of 150 people to carry out these functions. These are permanent positions servicing contracts that have already been signed.”
Kit Halliday, joint chief executive (Europe) for Covpress, added: “The confidence that the Chinese partnership is showing in this company is plain to see.
“Their investment is very welcome and it is a direct result of the hardwork and dedication of the workforce in this company.
