The premier league

Coventry is the historic home of the British automotive industry, although until recently the general trend has been one of decline. However, technologically savvy companies such as CPP (Manufacturing) are reporting healthy business levels.

Already firmly established in the prestigious automotive market supplying high quality assemblies for premium brand companies, CPP is going one step further by undertaking the full vehicle production of the Spyker Aileron model at its Coventry-based facility.

CPP was founded in 1995 by Brendan O'Toole and Darren Welsh and specialised in the supply of body panels for classic cars and lightweight alloy racecar bodies for the likes of Jaguar and AC Cobra – a service that it still provides today.

From relatively humble beginnings, the company has evolved and is now considered a preferred partner to many of the world's most exclusive and prestigious automotive manufacturers. It is this experience and CPP's ability in offering a complete engineering and coach building service that led to the company being awarded the contract to build 200 Spyker Aileron sports cars per year at its Coventry base.

The company operates from its head office in Seven Stars Industrial Estate, and has four sites covering 80,000ft² in total. CPP currently employs 110 people with this projected to rise to 150 during 2010 to meet the demands of Spyker production and other customer orders. 

Quality time

CPP endorse a policy of complementing its in-house skills with those of the many specialist suppliers in the Coventry area which allows them to provide a service that can be tailored to suit individual client requirements. Its reputation is built on marrying traditional skills with modern technology and manufacturing methods and in order to remain truly independent, CPP has a long established apprenticeship scheme to ensure continuity and longevity of its skilled workforce into the future.

Some of the solutions offered by CPP vary from traditional sheetmetal work and component and vehicle prototyping to metallic arts and bespoke furniture with many projects utilising its full onsite engineering support team. Supporting this infrastructure is a dedicated quality assurance team maintaining the company's ISO9001 and VW Group quality approval accreditations.

CPP utilise Faro measurement technology to ensure the parts, and assemblies correlate to design specifications. The Faro Scan arm uses laser technology to inspect parts quickly including in-situ on the production line should the need arise. CPP director, Matt Rose comments: “Our multiple Faro measurement solutions allow us to verify that the quality of our parts and assemblies meet our customer's high standards.”

David Homewood of Faro UK adds: “CPP is a long standing Faro customer with whom we have an excellent relationship. I am inspired by a company that is bucking local and national trends and is rising from the decline of the local automotive industry like a Phoenix.” 

In confidence

CPP's long standing relationship with Spyker Cars started in 2000 and to date the company has produced in excess of 200 body shells across several platforms for the Dutch car company. As well as Spyker it also undertakes an extensive list of projects – often of a confidential nature – with other customers including Aston Martin, Bentley Motors, Rolls-Royce and Jaguar Land Rover.

A common requirement across its entire customer base however is the need for shorter leadtimes, enhanced quality levels and competitive pricing. The company meets these challenges by fully optimising its cross-functional, multi-skilled workforce and a result of this, coupled with the Spyker Aileron production, is CPP recently being awarded the contract to supply Aston Martin with the production Body-In-White vehicles for its definitive million pound sports car, the One-77.

CPP is also the approved constructor of Proteus Cars' C-Type model where its key skills in sheetmetal work are supported with full product design and development, tooling design and manufacture, project management, quality control and inspection services to produce the complete ‘drive away' vehicle.

In terms of motor manufacturing, CPP also produce the Zagato GTZ, where the ‘donor' vehicle is a Bentley Continental that is completely stripped down and re-built to a design created by the famous Italian marquee and manufactured to Bentley's stringent build quality standards. 

Changing landscapes

Moving forward the company has solid plans to expand its horizons, initially by the installation of a new press with a 3.6m working envelope, bolstering its manufacturing capabilities even further.

CPP's managing director Brendan O'Toole says: “It is an industry perception that CPP offers an excellent world class coach building service and the reason for this is our ability to secure, retain and train our team.

“The automotive world is changing and with the introduction of definitive cars such as the Spyker Aileron and Aston Martin's One-77, CPP has honed its services to accommodate the developing technological advances. I simply do not accept we are witnessing the death of the UK's automotive industry – we are at the beginning of a transition of change whereby exclusivity will grow and I believe Coventry will play an important and sustainable role due to generations of engineering and technological excellence.”

CPP
www.cpp-uk.com Faro
www.faro.com