A £7m investment is transforming a Victorian factory into a modern, state-of-the-art production facility for polymer component specialist Icon Aerospace Technology.
Together with its landlord Strawsons, Icon is investing the sum as part of its ongoing vision to create a 21st century manufacturing business which succeeds the requirements of its customers for the long term. This includes providing its workforce, suppliers, and customers, with an attractive and productive environment in which to work, as the business works through an order book worth c. £150m over the next few years.
The investment enables Icon to reduce its total footprint by near 50% to a highly efficient and productive three-acre site - all whilst its sales output doubles. The purpose-built facility enables the aerospace manufacturer to significantly improve flow of materials, achieve throughput efficiencies and productivity and reduce its carbon footprint through a more energy efficient production environment. The enhanced capacity and competitive environment which has been created has positioned Icon to win more work as the aerospace and defence market continues to grow.
The modernisation programme is part of Icon’s wider Continuous Improvement Programme (CIP), known as I4 – Improvement; Insight; Intelligence and Inspiration. This is a £3m investment which is creating an environment that enables all employees to contribute, learn and deliver improvements, and thus help the company achieve its vision of building a highly successful manufacturing business for the long term.
The company believes this will not only create a productive and happy workforce, but will have a positive knock-on effect for the local Retford community, where the business has been based since inception, in 1871.
Tim Pryce, CEO of Icon Aerospace Technology commented: “The strength of our products and service is in the strength of our people and when the Icon team considered how best they could further meet the demands of our customers we knew the answer was in our employees. By creating a working environment where our employees could thrive, our customers would feel the benefit.
“The town of Retford and the surrounding communities have been our home for 145 years and this level of investment ensures we can continue to provide a great place to work and for people to build careers, across all functions, from Engineering and Accounting to Marketing and Manufacturing.”
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