Plaid Cymru Leanne Wood and Helen Mary Jones Visit Leading Car Components Manufacturer in Llanelli

Plaid Cymru Leader Leanne Wood and Llanelli candidate Helen Mary Jones praised one of the town’s biggest employers after a tour of their innovative manufacturing facility.

Calsonic Kansei, which makes car parts for clients such as Jaguar Land Rover and Nissan, welcomed Leanne and Helen Mary to their sprawling facility on Llethri Road to provide an overview on the health of the company’s manufacturing division based at the site and to outline the challenges they face staying ahead in the competitive automotive industry.

The company, which also has a technology centre in Llanelli and has its European headquarters in the town, was a beneficiary of Welsh Government funding under a Plaid Cymru Minister for the Economy – Ieuan Wyn Jones – in 2008 when the recession affected the business badly.

The Proact scheme allowed the company to keep staff on to be re-trained and further Welsh Government investment was brought in to provide new machines.

In February of last year the company announced that it had secured new orders, allowing it to make 30 temporary workers permanent employees, and a further 28 people were employed on a temporary basis.

Following the tour, Leanne said: “I was impressed with the innovation and attitude on display at Calsonic Kansei.  They are a company which is constantly searching for improvement and have, as a result, made a name for themselves in the tough and competitive automotive industry.

“Calsonic and all its workforce are proof that Wales and its people can be world leaders when it comes to skills and quality of product.  We need to be championing companies like this more and holding them up as an example of what can be achieved when we back ourselves.” 

She added: “I thank the company for the warm welcome extended to the Party of Wales and wish them all the best in its efforts to stay ahead of the field.”

Helen Mary added: “I have been to the Calsonic Kansei factory in Llanelli a number of times and on every occasion you notice something new and that’s because they are constantly developing and bringing in new technology.  It’s satisfying to see as I was involved in securing funding for the company back in 2008 when the global recession hit manufacturing and the car industry hard.

“I am so pleased to see that the company remains a big and important manufacturer for the town of Llanelli and its importance to the local areas really hit home when it was revealed during a presentation that the majority of the workforce live within walking distance of the plant.     

“The facility has been providing well-paid manufacturing jobs for the town for decades and long may that continue.”

Phil Miers, Operations Director for Calsonic Kansei in Llanelli, said: “The recipe for success is having a loyal workforce with a lot of experience, along with an excellent customer base.  The workforce have a desire to carry on improving and accept and welcome change in order to be successful.

“Calsonic Kansei are a major force in the local area and we are striving to improve systems and processes to continue to be a major force in the years to come.”