W BUSINESS
L
BLUE SKIES AND CALM WATERS
FORECAST FOR INTERNATIONAL TRADE
Business confidence in Wirral continues to grow and reflect the positive
tone being set across the City Region and the North West in general.
Exporters in particular are reporting impressive levels of productivity
and growth and many are investing heavily and launching ambitious
expansion plans. As we look forward to the International Business
Festival and the influx of overseas delegates, a growing number of local
businesses are looking to explore opportunities abroad and the prospect
of dipping into international markets.
We spoke to two of Wirral’s leading exporters to learn about their businesses;
their views on Wirral as a location for international trade and their opinions
on the current and future outlook for their businesses.
JOHN TONER, GENERAL MANAGER -
TELEDYNE CML COMPOSITES
Teledyne CML Composites is a
specialist manufacturer of advanced
composite components and assemblies
for commercial and defence aerospace
customers. The company supplies
turnkey composite packages that include
engineering, lay-up, curing, CNC
machining, assembly, paint and non-
destructive testing to exacting aerospace
standards.
As a key first tier supplier into the
aerospace industry, Teledyne CML
Composites operates in Wirral as the
North West of England is the largest hub
of aerospace activity in the UK and home to key industry OEM's such as
Airbus and BAE Systems.
In addition to business opportunities generated within the region, we are
a globally focussed company and from our Wirral base, we export aircraft
components internationally to many countries around the world including
the United States, Australia, China and Canada, to name a few. The
components we manufacture support the production of the most advanced
commercial and defence aerospace programmes in the world.
Concerning the outlook for trade going forward, we remain confident about
the future of our business. The lack of clarity surrounding Brexit makes it
difficult to establish at this time how it may affect our industry, however, with
modern aircraft fleets continuing to transition from metallic construction to
composite, we see ourselves well positioned to benefit from the forecasted
growth in commercial aircraft production. Forecasts produced from market
leaders, Airbus and Boeing predicts the global fleet of commercial aircraft
will more than double from the existing 18,000 units in operation today to
in excess of 38,000 units by 2034 and we are working to be a part of that.
This year we expect another year of double digit growth and will continue
to generate new employment in the region to satisfy the ever increasing
demand for lightweight composite components into the aerospace sector.
To underpin our future growth ambitions, we continue to invest in research
and development to stay at the forefront of composite technology.
With ambitions to grow our business globally, we remain focussed on our
role locally, within the local economies of the Wirral, the City Region and
the North West of England. As a strategic member of Wirral Chamber of
Commerce, we recognise the support we have received in growing our
company profile in the local area, which has been of significant importance
as we expand our workforce. The Chamber has also been instrumental in
supporting us with funding opportunities both on a local and national level.
We are very much looking forward to the Liverpool