Extra auto jobs follow more work on the Wild side

A Birmingham-based automotive firm has created 20 new jobs as part of a further expansion in the West Midlands.

Wild Manufacturing Group has taken an extra storage warehouse in a move brokered by Redditch property agents John Truslove.

The £50 million-plus turnover business now employs 700 people. Customers include some of the biggest names in the car industry including Jaguar Land Rover, Honda, Volkswagen, GM, Ford, Audi, Johnson Controls and Lear.

It specialises in precision components such as wire assemblies, springs, complex precision stampings and assemblies, machining and fine blanking. The group supplies 100 per cent into the automotive sector and sells to over 27 countries.

Products end up as parts for car seats, engines, gearboxes, chassis components, exhausts, hinges and a wide range of other assemblies.

The group has four manufacturing plants – Wild Manufacturing Group Ltd based in Birmingham, Wild Springs & Wireforms Ltd based in Crossgate Road, Redditch, Bfl based in Huckeswagen, Germany, serving the German market and beyond; and Wild Manufacturing Hungary Bt, based in Aszar, Hungary, for Central & Eastern Europe.

The new warehouse is Unit 4A, Springside, Howard Road, Redditch, beside the Crossgate Road site. The 5,873 sq ft facility has been taken on a five year lease.

Wild Manufacturing Group began life as a Birmingham manufacturer of washers in 1919. But its dramatic growth has only come about since chief executive Allan Cook’s acquisition of the business in 2003.

“Yes, it has been a huge expansion over a relatively short time,” said Mr Cook.

It was, he added, down to having a strong and committed workforce and the success in recent years of the UK and European car industry.

“It continues to be buoyant,” said Mr Cook. “We see ourselves as a leader in our chosen products having built a formidable presence in the automotive fine blanked components market.”

John Truslove director Ian Parker said: “Wild Manufacturing Group is a brilliant operation.

“It is another example of a quality yet unpretentious company which just gets on with the job and is part of the ticking heart of the UK motor industry.”