In a visit hosted by the Lancashire Enterprise Partnership (LEP) and organised by the Government’s UK Trade and Investment (UKTI) department, the diplomats and civil servants learnt how the county’s aerospace industry is the strongest in the country.
The aim was to enable them to relay the ‘Lancashire – number one for aerospace’ message to potential customers abroad and encourage foreign companies to invest in Lancashire.
Lancashire has the single largest concentration of aerospace production in the UK, employing over 12,700 people, and is part of a wider world class regional cluster accounting for more than a quarter of national production. Major employers in this sector are BAE Systems, Rolls Royce and Aircelle.
The delegates visited BAE Systems at the Lancashire Enterprise Zones’ Samlesbury site and learnt about the aerospace sector’s supply chain, the work of BAE and the Lancashire Enterprise Zone itself.
The University of Central Lancashire and Lancaster University also briefed the delegates.
The Director of the Lancashire Skills Hub outlined ongoing programmes to ensure the workforce has the right skills for the sector while foreign-owned corporations like Safran Aircelle and Kama described their experience of the positive business environment locally. Wincanton rounded off the afternoon by outlining their role in providing logistics support to the aerospace sector.
The visitors took away a clear understanding of the nature and scale of the aerospace sector in Lancashire, learnt about Lancashire’s strength and expertise in the industry and found out what types of companies would benefit from relocating to the county.
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