Member Article

'Hard work starts now' warn Hitachi

Hitachi Rail Europe has warned a County Durham firm that the hard work starts now after winning a multi-million pound deal with the Japanese company.

Glass manufacturing experts Romag, based near Consett, won a preferred contractor agreement to supply glass for Hitachi’s Class 800/801 high speed trains for the Intercity Express Programme.

Romag, based about 25 miles from Merchant Park, where Hitachi’s £82m train-building facility will be built in Newton Aycliffe, says the five-year deal will sustain jobs and hopefully create more in the future.

But Hitachi, a company which demands exacting standards, says Romag now has to prove it can deliver.

Hitachi’s procurement director Jamie Foster told Bdaily: “They won’t thank me for saying this, but this is the easy part.

“Now it’s about delivering the programme and about making sure these products are available on time, to the design spec and quality that we expect, so this is only a small part of the project, and the hard work is yet to begin.”

Mr Foster does say the deal represents a big development for Hitachi Rail Europe.

“It’s another indication of how far this project has progressed, with a number of contracts being done up to now,” he added.

“This deal with Romag signifies a big step forward and it shows that we’re on track with the programme to date.

“We’ve already done a lot of work with Romag up to this point, but now we’ll move into a much more detailed design phase.

“We’re calling upon their expertise in the glass industry, to go with our expertise in the rail industry, to pull together a real world-class quality product.”

Now part of Gentoo Group, Romag specialises in security glass for the transport market and ‘high impact’ glass for the rail industry.

It is one of the UK’s leading independent glass processors and is trusted worldwide by leading organisations to deliver high quality, reliable glazing solutions designed to meet customer’s specific requirements.

Romag has been processing glass in its factory in County Durham in the North of England since 1943 and employs around 100 highly skilled staff.

The firm’s managing director Phil Murray said: “We’ve been making glass for 70 years, and to be awarded such a prestigious contract with Hitachi is a great boost.

“It means we can sustain jobs here and potentially increase our workforce in years to come, so we’re absolutely delighted.

“It also provides high-quality, skilled manufacturing jobs for the people of Consett in an area that it’s desperately needed.”

Construction of Hitachi’s new factory on Aycliffe Business Park is expected to start later this year and be open in 2015, creating more than 700 full-time jobs and thousands in the supply chain.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Martin Walker .