In one-of-a-lifetime opportunity, I was invited to visit the Aston Martin Lagonda facility in Wales. The visit was facilitated by the Welsh Automotive Group on request from the Department of Business and Trade, Government of UK. Accompanying us was Robert O’Neil, a tall, Welsh local, Chief Executive of the Welsh Automotive Group, an independent company, incorporated in 2001 to develop a common approach in achieving sustainable continuous improvement for the Automotive Industry in Wales. The organization is funded by the Welsh Government and has many members, including Aston Martin.
As per Robert O’Neil, the aim of the organization is to establish the region of Wales as a credible name among the automotive industries across the globe, much like the region of Coventry, which houses companies like Ford, Jaguar-Land Rover, Tata, Mahindra among many others. The region of Wales, on the other hand consists of 2 niche vehicle makers, including Aston Martin, 30 Tier 1s and 1 OE Engine Plant in the form of Toyota, with a further 100+ companies in the service and supply chain, many of which are small and medium enterprises. In total some 13,000 people in Wales are directly employed in this sector.
While Aston Martin Lagonda facility just started a couple of years, employing around 750+ people, a success story for Wales has been Toyota’s Deeside plant. The facility opened in 1993 and today produces an engine every 44 seconds. It is the first Toyota plant outside of Japan to produce hybrid electric engines. However, the region has now opened itself to focus on Net Zero Mobility, inviting OEMs and parts makers in the EV segment.
“We are looking for any companies that currently supply the market or have the capability to change their process and participate in electric vehicle supply chains in the future,” said Robert O’Neil. What Wales offer is a supply chain supremacy with a focus on Semiconductors as well. Robert says that the Semiconductor challenge has rocked the world, especially the electric vehicle industry.
First Covid-19, then Global shipping crisis and now the Ukraine-Russia situation has escalated the situation. This also proves that various countries need their own supply chain for seamless auto production. He invited the Indian companies and said they should come to Wales because we have academia, innovation, govt structure all working in tandem to accelerate development of compound semiconductors through the world’s first dedicated compound semiconductor cluster.
Summarizing his pitch, Robert O’Neil said that Wales is right now not the number one priority of domestic and international automakers, but soon, with semiconductors and other ancillary units being setup in the region, the electric vehicle makers will benefit largely. And hence, it’s in favour of the automakers to enter the Welsh market for reaping early benefits.