The company, which employs 900 people across its two plants in Coventry, announced the milestone during the official presentation of its Queen’s Award for Enterprise by Timothy Cox, Lord-Lieutenant of Warwickshire.
Staff were joined by local dignitaries and Maximilian Stoschek, the great-grandson of company founder, Max Brose, as MD Juergen Zahl was presented the award. The accolade was given to Brose on the back of a major spike in export sales to customers in China, France, Spain and Brazil.
“We are very passionate about our Coventry facilities and the Queen’s Award is the pinnacle of the journey we have been on for the last 30 years,” explained Juergen Zahl.
“Many lows have been overcome, many highs have been achieved and today we are currently one of the best manufacturing locations in the Brose Group and a strategic supplier of window regulators and seat structures to Jaguar Land Rover, Nissan and Toyota.
“This has only been possible thanks to two factors. Firstly, the commitment of Brose’s senior management team to grow our UK location has seen more than £100m invested since 2012 in the factory extension and the introduction of the state-of-the-art paint plant that gives us greater control of the seat coating process.”
He continued: “The second factor and, in my opinion the most important, is the Brose staff that work across our two plants in Coventry. Their hard work, commitment and innovation has been crucial to our success.”
When Brose acquired Sheridan Engineering’s Coventry factory in 1988, it marked the company’s first foray outside of its homeland in Germany. The plant originally made locks, latches, hinges and window regulators for Ford, Peugeot, Jaguar and Rover.
Today, the company’s two plants in the city produce two million seat structures and over 4.6 million window regulators per year, supplying 17 different car models across 20 global plants.
Zahl continued: “We have had a really strong five years, bouncing back from the global recession to achieve £289m in sales in the last financial year.”
Maximilian Stoschek added his support: “Coventry is very special to me, as during my early years in the company, I spent several months there as part of my training.
“To receive the Queen’s Award for Enterprise is such an historic achievement for our plants here, but also holds great significance for the Brose Group. Our Headquarters and my home is in Coburg, where The Queen’s great great grandfather, Prince Albert, was born and raised. Thus we have our own particular link to the British Royal Family.”
