Historic Wolverhampton firm will move to new site with loss of 60 jobs

Marston Aerospace will move 260 of its 320 staff from Wobaston Road, Wolverhampton, onto a site just hundreds of yards away.

It will share the site in Stafford Road - the former Goodrich factory - with sister company UTAS Actuation Systems.

But 60 jobs will go in a decision to shift production of heath exchangers for civilian aircraft to another UTAS factory, in Mexicali, on the Mexican/US border near San Diego.

All the companies are part of the Aerospace Systems division of American-owned United Technology, one of the world's biggest engineering companies, which bought the Goodrich factory in 2012.

The move to the Stafford Road site will see fresh investment in the Marston business, including the conversion of the old Goodrich sports and social club into a new testing facility as part of creating a 'centre of excellence'.

Marston will leave its 200,000 sq ft factory and move into around 95,000 sq ft of the Stafford Road site, which will then house a total of around 1,200 people.

The move will happen in 2015 and Marston bosses are hoping the job losses will be soaked up by voluntary redundancy and transfers to other jobs within the company.

The company has been on the Wobaston Road site for decades, but can trace its roots back to a Wolverhampton japanning business set up in 1740.

Marston Aerospace has been making heat exchangers – used to cool oil and air and heat fuel in aircraft – since before the First World War.

The company's human resources director, Nigel Ormerod, said: "We have not identified any position as at risk.

"We will go through the voluntary programme first. Nobody will leave until at least the second half of 2015."

The company has been on the Wobaston Road site for decades, but can trace its roots back to a Wolverhampton japanning business set up in 1740.

Marston Aerospace has been making heat exchangers – used to cool oil and air and heat fuel in aircraft – since before the First World War.

The news was broken to the workforce yesterday afternoon, when Marston managing director David Danger told them: "United Technologies Aerospace Systems (UTAS) is committed to remaining in Wolverhampton and this proposal is a major investment in this area."

He added: "We believe this strategy will help to make the business stronger and will enable us to keep a robust and solid business here in Wolverhampton."

Mr Danger said later: "The workforce knew things were being considered but didn't know the details.

"People can see material investment and commitment on the one site, despite the fact that there will be fewer people employed in our business."

He said moving production to Mexico made Marston's heat exchangers more competitive when battling for major civilian aerospace contracts in the US.

But military heat exchanger production and all research and development work, including civilian, will be retained in Wolverhampton.

Mr Danger confirmed that the future of the Marston Aerospace business had been under discussion since the £11 billion United Technologies takeover of Goodrich 18 months ago.