Carlisle Companies, Inc., based in Charlotte, N.C., has acquired the heavy vehicle off-highway brakes division of ArvinMeritor in Wales, and is creating thirty new jobs and safeguarding an additional fifty jobs there.
Carlisle is buying a 50,000 sq. ft. production unit and will equip it as a modern brake manufacture, assembly and test facility that will become Carlisle’s European Off-Highway Brake Business headquarters. This new business entity is registered as Carlisle Brake Products (UK) Ltd.
The site will also accommodate a dedicated off-highway brake products design and development team focused on providing Carlisle’s customers with the next generation of brake systems. The European After-Market operation, currently managed in Switzerland, is being relocated to Wales as well.
– I am delighted the Welsh Assembly Government was able to support Carlisle in their decision to invest and expand in Wales, safeguarding existing jobs while also creating a range of highly skilled engineering and development design jobs, – said Andrew Davies, Minister for Enterprise, Innovation and Networks for the Welsh Assembly Government.
An offer of regional selective assistance grant aid has been made to the company, and Mr. Davies said the skills of the existing workforce and the availability of a high-specification production unit in the area had been deciding factors in retaining the operation in Wales.
Design and product development activities, including a test laboratory, will be expanded when they move into their new facility. The company has also taken an option on land alongside the Omega unit for potential future expansion.
In addition, Operations Director Michael Williamson said they would be making a significant investment in the manufacturing infrastructure and IT systems at the new site, and anticipated that the fit-out of the new plant would be completed in time to relocate the whole operation by September.
Doug DeVallance, General Manager at Carlisles global headquarters for Industrial Brake and Friction Products in Bloomington, Indiana, added, – Carlisle has been pleased by the support they have received from the Welsh Assembly during this process of selecting a future home for the brake and actuation system business we acquired from ArvinMeritor. It was their support that convinced Carlisle that the best place to continue production of these products was in Wales.
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