Over £100million is to be invested at BAe's site at Samlesbury, near Preston, before the end of the century as the site gears up for manufacture of Eurofighter major structures. A sum which comes on top of other large investments in new plant and machinery over the past few years. But this huge new outlay is the least important facet of the company's drive for world class aerospace lean manufacturing. 'Our strategy is quite different from most of our competitors,' explains site director Phill Blundell. In the USA and at most of BAe's European counterparts, companies are setting up 'centres of excellence' to do one thing well. As in the car industry these plants will rely on large throughput to achieve economies of scale.
展开▼
