Jobs boost as engineering firm announces plans to expand

A Burnley engineering firm has unveiled expansion plans that will see it nearly double in size.
BCW EngineeringBCW Engineering
BCW Engineering

BCW Manufacturing Group, based in Innovation Drive, has announced a third and fourth facilities expansion on-site to accommodate the company’s continued growth in the automotive sector.

Following the opening of their Phase II 55,000 sq.ft. facility in 2015, which increased the size of their site to 100,000 sq.ft., BCW has now commissioned two other phases for 2018.

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This will create a further 80,000 sq.ft. to accommodate continued growth and future proof the business, creating a dedicated state-of-the-art automotive machining facility and additional warehouse space.

Representatives from the BCW Engineering team at the expansion announcement eventRepresentatives from the BCW Engineering team at the expansion announcement event
Representatives from the BCW Engineering team at the expansion announcement event

The new facilities will be completed in two phases with stage one - 50,000 sq.ft. due to be completed by July and stage two - 30,000 sq.ft. to be completed by January 2019.

Alec Cassie, Managing Director at BCW, said: “BCW has experienced huge growth following our move to our modern purpose built facility on Innovation Drive in Burnley. We currently have two superb manufacturing facilities on Innovation Drive and we are delighted to be unveiling plans for the third and fourth specialist dedicated automotive facility to accommodate our expansion in automotive manufacture as a result of securing new contracts of a substantial size with prestigious automotive manufactures.

“We opened our Phase II facility in 2015 to accommodate our growing order book for the manufacture of aircraft parts and treatments facility, and the commission to build the third and fourth facilities will service our further expansion in the automotive manufacturing sector.

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“With new contracts of a substantial size from prestigious automotive manufacturers, contracts which we are delighted to have won against stiff global competition, this expansion will be a major boost for BCW, for Burnley and the wider Lancashire economy, creating several new hi-tech jobs in the process.

Representatives from the BCW Engineering team at the expansion announcement eventRepresentatives from the BCW Engineering team at the expansion announcement event
Representatives from the BCW Engineering team at the expansion announcement event

“The expansion should lead to the creation of up to 50 new jobs over the next 3 years, which will include professional and skilled roles through to apprentices & operators."

Brent Collins, Managing Director of BCW's Automotive Division, added: “BCW’s state of the art facilities, quality products, and continued high level delivery performance have been a key factor in winning new business, and we are delighted to be unveiling the plans for the expansion, the dedicated automotive extrusion machining and automated assembly to our partners and key blue chip clients.”

Burnley Council leader Mark Townsend said: “I’ve been delighted to watch the ongoing growth of this hi-tech engineering business.

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"They are what Burnley is about and what we are building the towns reputation on ‘making things and making them well’ – Burnley has positioned itself as a regional centre of manufacturing excellence to both the aerospace and automotive sectors and BCW are a beacon for our manufacturing excellence. Blue chip car and aerospace names are looking to Burnley for the production of high quality parts and exceptional service.

“The council has worked closely with BCW to support them during their growth and expansion here in the town and we are delighted to see the unveiling of phases III and IV and the job creation that this will lead to for the town.”

Phase III and IV of the BCW expansion will accommodate their automotive extrusion machining and automated assembly, enabling them to expand their anodising treatment capacity to meet the expected UK growth for lightweight aluminium chassis. This all relates to the growth of hybrid and electrification of modern vehicles.

This will increase their treatments facility and more than double their anodising capacity from 350,000 m2 a year to one million m2 a year.

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Brent added: “We are delighted to be working in partnership with DEM and Barnfield Construction to develop the brownfield site on part of the former Michelin plant, with DEM running the building project and implementing the automotive machining solutions for us.

“Green and environmentally friendly processes are key to our growth going forward and the new facility will enable us to deliver low temperature processes to comply with our prestigious automotive customer requirements.”