North Shields company brings work back home from China

Oct 26 2009 by Andrew Mernin, The Journal

Managing director Sarah Rose – daughter of chairman David Rose – said: “While we are experiencing a significant upturn in demand we are also switching production from overseas back to Britain.

“The fall in value of the pound with import duty and recent major increases in freight costs from the Far East has meant we can now produce certain products at the same or even lower cost in our factories here in the UK with the added benefit of flexibility as we do not have a plan to such long lead times.”

The scourge of the UK’s manufacturing workforce in the last two decades has been the emergence of Asian powerhouses such as China and India where labour costs are a fraction of those in Britain, leading to mass job losses in the UK as firms move East.

But the irony of the Roses’ reverse of that trend is that its 94,000 sq ft stable of Tyneside facilities includes the former Honeywell Elmwood Sensors factory – the scene of over 150 job losses in 2003 when its owners shifted production to China.

It acquired the 16,000 sq ft factory a year ago and has since renovated it and got it up to full production.

The firm will take on around 20 new members of staff in a range of roles before Christmas as the manufacturing of chests, tables and filled bedding returns to North Shields.

Meanwhile the £8m-a-year business is in talks with two “major retailers” as it looks to continue its organic growth.