Cab Automotive taps into car industry boom

Cab Automotive, which produces a range of interior components including seats, arm rests, parcel trays and dashboard consoles, has secured £7 million of new contracts to supply parts for the new BMW Mini and the seat foams for the Renault van. These latest successes will help the firm push turnover towards the £40 million level and increase the workforce by 30%.

It marks an eventful twelve months for the company which has seen it work with the Manufacturing Advisory Service (MAS) to develop new opportunities and, importantly, buy its 200,000ft² factory in Tipton.

Finance director, Richard McCulloch, explained: “We've gone from £20 million in 2012 to a predicted £40 million by the end of this year with plenty of new opportunities in the pipeline. Managing this growth was one thing, but at the same time we were told by our landlord that there was a chance our facility could be sold. The only solution was to buy the land as that would give us the platform and security to plan for the next decade.”

He continued: “Working with MAS' Rachel Eade we developed an application to the Regional Growth Fund that saw us successfully secure £1 million towards the £4.5 million total cost of the purchase. Without the strategic and financial support received we may have had to look outside the region for our next base which wouldn't have been ideal from a skills point of view. Thankfully we are here to stay in the Black Country and will hopefully be in a position to create more local jobs shortly.”

As part of the expansion, Cab Automotive has spent more than £4 million on capital equipment, a state of the art foam production line, new machines for wrapping BMW Mini arm rests and a new waterjet cutter. The company operates exclusively in the automotive sector and works both as a tier 1 and tier 2 supplier into some of the biggest automotive OEMs in the world, including Jaguar Land Rover, Aston Martin, Nissan, Toyota and McLaren Automotive.

Mr McCulloch concludes: “We've worked with MAS for four years now, accessing support on quality, lean manufacturing, leadership training and in the installation of new machinery. The help has been essential and a key driver in our growth.”

Rachel Eade, MAS automotive sector lead, has worked with Cab Automotive from the outset: “This is a fantastic story of how an automotive supplier has experienced dramatic expansion, even overcoming the volatility of the sector and the global downturn in 2009.

“Throughout its journey, the management team have tapped into external expertise and support when they needed it. This allowed them to focus on what they do best – produce world class interior components.
“The company is now on the verge of moving from a SME into a larger manufacturer. Importantly, it is staying in the West Midlands, creating skilled jobs and, where possible, sourcing from the local supply chain.”

Cab Automotive
www.cabauto.co.uk

MAS
www.mymas.org