Lear sitting pretty with research
CITY FIRM HAS EUROPEAN CENTRE OF EXCELLENCE AFTER INVESTMENT
An automotive boss has visited the Wearside site of his firm’s new European Centre of Excellence.
Lear Corporation’s President of Global Just In Time, Gideon Jewel, called in at the company’s Rainton Bridge plant, where it is developing its European Foam Research and Development Centre of Excellence.
The investment will bring new, highly-skilled jobs to the city, and further extend Lear’s presence at Rainton Bridge.
“I’m delighted to see the start on site of the research and development unit, which is a hugely important new dimension of Lear’s work at Sunderland,” he said. “Our R&D work can be likened to an experimental kitchen.
“It means we can rigorously test ingredients to produce the best possible recipe before we drive it forward. Lear Sunderland will be carrying out R&D for all our European plants.
“We chose Sunderland because of the proven capability and exceptional productivity of the workforce we have here and the consistent support we have had from Sunderland City Coun- cil since we opened the plant in 2011.”
The Foam centre will test Lear products in depth and analyse chemical formulations to assess and improve all elements of the company’s foam material for its range of automotive seating systems.
Building and fitting out of the R&D centre is expected to be completed by September 2017.
The changes in the materials for car seat filling have transformed over the years from horse hair and springs to much lighter, flexible foam manufactured by Lear.
Chris Scott, Lear’s Global Foam vice-president, who will be visiting from the United States to review progress, added: “The R&D unit will be working with local universities to extend the impact of the dedicated team and resources at Lear which will be carrying out experimental research and analysis as well as product development for our European plants.
“I’d also like to say a special thanks to the city council for helping us to make this happen. This is an exciting development and I’m looking forward to meeting the teams and reviewing progress later this month.”
City council deputy leader Coun Harry Trueman said: “The city’s close links between the university, businesses and city council have proved to be a winning combination, producing positive results that boost growth.”