Vehicles for the Ministry of Defence and the police are being modified at a Coventry company which is expanding after receiving funding from a government initiative.
RDM Group on the Bilton Industrial Estate has won contracts with the Government and Mitsubishi UK to carry out the work at its new £400,000 Advanced Engineering Centre.
The firm has leased the additional 20,000 sq ft premises near its current site and added six members of staff after receiving a £121,837 grant from the government’s Growing Places funding scheme following approval from the Coventry and Warwickshire Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP).
Councillor Lynnette Kelly, Coventry City Council Cabinet Member for Business, Enterprise and Employment and LEP board director, was invited to tour the Advanced Engineering Centre to see first-hand the innovative work being carried out.
“It was really interesting to hear about the work taking place at RDM and extremely encouraging to hear the company has a full order book after winning several new automotive contracts,” she said.
“Growing Places was launched with companies such as RDM in mind to aid their expansion plans and add new jobs now and in the future which helps to stimulate the local economy.
“These are really exciting times at RDM and this is another example of the engineering excellence of the automotive sector in Coventry and Warwickshire.”
The new refurbished unit houses a laser engraving and marking system, three injection moulding machines and three state-of-the-art machining and milling centres, as well as offices for administration staff and a large vehicle build and conversion centre.
The new machinery and software means RDM is now able to offer precision machining, injection moulding, surface engraving, routing and world class prototyping services.
It has also set-up a traditional trim shop that will be able to cater for ‘one off’ specials right through to low/medium volume line side supply for a host of sectors.
David Keene, Chairman of RDM, said the contracts with the Ministry of Defence and the police were already underway.
“We have won a contract with Mitsubishi UK to customise police vehicles (including a bespoke racking system) and with the MoD to adapt their vehicles with dedicated storage and firearms cabinets,” he said.
“We have already recruited six staff and over the next two years that could potentially rise to another 25 if we secure more new contracts.
“The Growing Places funding means we are developing from a SME automotive supplier to a full tier 1 supplier.”