Two aerospace companies in the North West have become the first to sign up to a pioneering Shared Services project run by the North West Aerospace Alliance in partnership with Unipart.
Merc Engineering of Barrowford and ELE Technologies of Colne have signed up to the Transport Service, the first element of the Shared Services programme to be launched.
The Transport Service involves a deal with logistics giant TNT to reduce the cost for members, initially for UK parcels and pallet movements.
The £1.3million, NWDA & ERDF funded Shared Services project is run by the alliance in partnership with logistics expert Unipart. The aim is to get alliance members working together to improve competitiveness by pooling their purchasing power and secure better deals on everything from tangible items such as utilities, stationery and transport to strategic services such as quality and environmental expertise.
The North West Aerospace Alliance is the largest aerospace cluster organisation in Europe. The region contributes over £6 billion to the UK economy – one third of the UK aerospace turnover.
In September, the second element of the Shared Services will be launched, focusing on driving down costs on consumables such as non-technical engineering workshop supplies and personal protective equipment.
Jon Hoyle, commercial director at Merc Engineering, said: “Merc Engineering is delighted to be partnering with NWAA and Unipart on the Shared Services project. Transport is the first service being rolled out to Merc and already we have been offered very significant savings.
And Martin Harrison, finance director at ELE Technologies, said: “The Shared Services project has given us leverage and cost savings that we could never achieve on our own. We look forward to collaborating with NWAA and Unipart on the next categories.”
