Fiat contract boosts fortunes of UK manufacturing plant

Schaeffler UK’s Llanelli plant has received a significant order from Italian automotive manufacturer Fiat for the supply of 11 million mechanical tappets per year. This is the first time that Schaeffler’s UK plant has worked with Fiat.

Established in 1955, the Llanelli plant manufactures high precision engine components for the automotive market. The plant currently employs 202 people and is an autonomous subsidiary of the multi-national German-owned Schaeffler Group.

Roger Evans, Plant Director at Schaeffler (UK) Ltd commented: “This contract is a significant achievement for the plant and further demonstrates the high levels of quality and service that we are providing to customers. This contract represents a further vote of confidence from the Schaeffler Group in our abilities to manufacture tappets for worldwide consumption. It also shows that in these troubled economic times, UK manufacturing can still prosper against lower labour cost economies.”

Schaeffler supplies assembly plants in Italy and Brazil with top shim mechanical tappets for Fiat’s ‘FIRE’ type engine, having invested significant time and money in new production machinery in order to meet this opportunity.