Posted by: Victoria Category: NWAA news Date: Wednesday, August 31, 2011

The North West Aerospace Alliance has signed up the first two companies to a landmark programme designed to help its members drive down everyday costs.

The £1.3million, NWDA & ERDF funded Shared Services project will see NWAA 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.

Presently, two companies: Merc Engineering of Barrowford and ELE Technologies of Colne, have become the first to sign up to the Transport Service, the first element of the Shared Services programme to be launched.

This element of the project leverages a deal with logistics giant TNT to reduce the cost for members, initially for UK parcels and pallet movements.

In September, the second element of the Shared Services will be launched, focussing 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.

“We look forward to working with the Shared Services team shortly on the Consumables category. As costs are ever increasing, the aggregated procurement offered through the Shared Service’s team is a welcome support to Merc Engineering UK and will help us to remain competitive.”

Martin Harrison, finance director at ELE Technologies, said: “Like many manufacturing companies, ELE Advanced Technologies is always looking for opportunities to drive its costs down. 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.”

Paula Stell, Shared Services Manager for the NWAA, added: “We believe this programme is unique in the aerospace industry, and has the potential to generate significant savings for the companies involved.”

Caroline Meakin, Unipart Rail’s Commercial Project Manager commented: “The Shared Services team have worked extremely hard with the member companies to identify areas for opportunity. We are pleased that the work is delivering results and organisations are making significant savings.”

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