Mitsubishi plans £20m expansion of Livingstone base

Posted on 17 Jul 2013

The Japanese technology group will spend £20m on expanding the Livingstone site to mark the 20th anniversary of its air conditioning plant there.

Currently 10% of its Scottish output, the heat pumps business along with the transfer of high-end design functions from Japan could see another 100 jobs created over the next two years to add to the 450 employed at the site.

Iain Riddle, Mitsubishi’s general affairs manager in Scotland, said:

“We are still principally an air-conditioning manufacturer, one of four factories throughout the world with Thailand, China and Japan, but there is a strategy now to transfer products from the Japanese factory to us, that is part of our expansion.

“Part of the strategy has been to develop the design capabilities of the various factories, which is unusual for a Japanese company.”

Mr Riddle expects a quadrupling over the next four years in production of heat pumps, currently 10% of output, which were aimed at the full domestic heating market.

The site produces almost 150,000 aircon units a year for residential, commercial and industrial users primarily in continental Europe, Scandinavia, the Middle East and Southern Africa.

Dr Kazuhiko Tsutsumi, president of Mitsubishi’s corporate research & development group, said:

“The ability for close co-operation between research and manufacturing will speed up the product development cycle in Scotland.

“We anticipate that Scotland’s excellent universities will provide a highly educated pool of talent that we hope to attract to support our future expansion.”