Parliamentary Reports
| Rolls Royce |
 |
 |
 |
| Saturday, 18 October 2008 10:16 |
 Rolls Royce is a global company but its heart is right here in Pendle, in Barnoldswick, and I want it to stay that way.The Company is an industry leader, performing well in the highly competitive aerospace market, but its face has changed over recent years. 45% of research and development, 40% of its employees and 50% of new programmes are already located outside the UK. The company’s unique hollow fan blade technology, developed at Barnoldswick, is at the very core of its business. It, therefore, came as a shock to learn that the company was considering a second manufacturing facility in Singapore. Over the summer I was in touch with RR Chief Executive, Sir John Rose, who told me the growing order book and strong demand meant the manufacturing capacity for fan blades at Barnoldswick would run out by the end of 2011. He told me the company is looking at all the options – including the expansion of the Barnoldswick plant and a new factory in Singapore. In the meantime, £9 million is being invested at Barnoldswick to develop the new XWB fan blade used to power the Airbus 350 We need to keep the core technology here in Britain and I am in touch with the North West Development Agency, who are pledging financial support, and with Ministers to back Barnoldswick. Sir John tells me the Company will review all the options in January 2009 and then make its investment decision. |
Report
