Multi-skilled Welsh workforce helps Airborne Systems soar way above the competition

This year could not have started better for South Wales parachute manufacturer Airborne Systems Europe.

The Llangeinor-based company secured a lucrative £50m contract with the French Ministry of Defence.

This, said its managing director Chris Rowe, was recognition of its position as a world leader in its field.

Mr Rowe said: “Not only is this a major strategic breakthrough for us in France, but we have also reinforced our global leadership position in the parachute systems market.

“We now have a firm foothold in mainland Europe, which will help us to increase our market penetration.”

US-owned Airborne Systems, which employs 300 at its European headquarters near Bridgend, also has a site at Letchworth, Hertfordshire, which employs 100 people and looks after the UK forces parachute inventory which involves cleaning, repairs, packing and storage.

At Llangeinor and its sister plant on the Bridgend Industrial Estate, which manufactures naval decoys, Airborne Systems has established a niche market producing a wide range of military parachutes.

This range includes a guided GPADS (Guided Precision Aerial Delivery System) cargo parachute which can fly to within 100 meters of a programmed impact point when launched from a giant C130 aircraft.

Alongside this are parachutes carried by combat forces and the “steerable” variety favoured by special forces.

“These comprise the main product line,” Mr Rowe said.

He added: “Here in Llangeinor we have the factory divided into two parts. There is a shop floor that handles the textiles used in parachute manufacture and alongside this we have a machine shop housing computer-controlled machinery where we make the metal components – buckles and the quick-release units – that go on the parachute systems.

This, he explained, was what the company did in Wales and it was mainly the armed forces of several nations in operational theatres such as Afghanistan, and previously Iraq, where hazardous road conditions make airborne supplies a necessity.

He added: “ We also assemble the large boat platforms which enable combat troops to drop a rigid inflatable boat tied onto a platform out of an aircraft which then separates allowing the following troops to go straight into the boat once it lands.”

This is a unique system adopted by countries around the world and makes AirBorne Systems a world leader.

Another first for the company is its textile-based naval decoy system designed to defeat radar homing missiles. When a missile is locked onto a ship the decoy is fired from the ship, rapidly inflates into a huge target that causes the missile to fly away from the ship towards its metalised fabric.

In his four years at Airborne Systems Mr Rowe has headed a revival in its commercial fortunes.

Turnover then was £18m, but next year this is expected to rise to £30m. which reflects the strategical changes that have taken place.

Mr Rowe said: “One of the first things I did when I came here was rebuild the management team.

“Together we have done a great deal to improve the way the business is run, addressing the business opportunities that arise and developing the workforce to meet these.

He added: “Attention is paid to training and multi-skilling because in this businesses there are peaks and troughs that occur in different areas consequently different skills are required which necessitates staff being able to move around.

“So we have skills matrices where people are assessed and trained on a variety of products and can be moved at short notice.”

Stressing the importance of skills training Mr Rowe is quick to acknowledge the role played by the Welsh Assembly Government in helping the company achieve Investor In People status and in acquiring its new site at Llangeinor.

“At one stage we were one of their KB4B businesses having been designated a growth company, which entitled us to help with training and costs,” he said.

“ We haven’t taken on any school-leavers, but we have started an apprenticeship scheme this year and intend to start an NVQ in parachute making which will be the first of its kind in the country.

“All of which makes our workforce skilled, specialised and experienced.”

As to the overall level of skills training in Wales he admits to being disappointed.

Responsibility for this, he believes, lies not just with schools, but also with industry in not making clear what it requires and facilitating work experience.

In providing a skilled workforce, Mr Rowe said, Airborne Systems has devised its own training programme which has resulted in a multi-skilled and highly adaptable workforce which leads him to conclude that in this difficult economic environment the Welsh Assembly Government is attempting to meet the challenge.

Reflecting on the defence industry in general his company is, he said, a relatively small player positioned in a niche market where it has become a world leader.

Emphasising this he reverts to the winning of the French contract which he describes as “a fantastic coup,” where “displacing the French incumbent was quite something.”

So what does the future hold for the business?

Mr Rowe said: “You have to keep moving. I think there will be financial challenges especially with cuts in defence spending.

“Fortunately for us they tend to be in the major defence programmes.

With front-line equipment, we tend to see fewer cuts in that area and being a small player we keep below the radar.”

All of which, he explains, means having to develop products with a business model that keeps the company at the cutting edge of technological innovation.

“We have a reputation that stretches back 30 years, but you have to keep the products coming to maintain the position of a world leader.

“Then there is the export market to explore which is why we are seeing a shift to a higher proportion of export sales than we had in the past.”

Despite its importance to the national economy the defence industry can be an emotive subject which Mr Rowe is all too aware of.

He said: “We have benefited from supplying the armed forces on operations which, in the past couple of years, has meant us taking people on rather than laying them off.

“We do benefit from conflicts, but we do supply the front-line troops when actively engaged or when training.”

On the defence industry in general he added: “It doesn’t follow normal trends. You don’t see the effects as quickly as in other sectors. You see them two or three years down the line because they are determined by what goes on politically and militarily than by the local economy.”

- Ends -

4 August 2010

Source: Wales Online