With the announcement of Nissan’s £1bn ‘gigafactory’ and production of their new all-electric model in Washington came the news that around 1,600 jobs would be created by the company locally.
But, the impact will be felt even further, with an expected 6,200 jobs to be created within the supply chain nationally.
Some of those businesses involved in the supply chain and dependent on work from Nissan already are based here in the North East.
Paragon Rapid Technologies is an engineering firm offering product development support and manufacturing solutions through CNC, Additive Manufacturing and traditional prototyping technologies. In fact, their Nissan support extends from 3D printing through Reaction Injection Moulding to CNC machining of component parts and jigs and fixtures. They are based on the Teesside International Airport site.
The company is investing in new technology and will be supplying Nissan. Already, the Japanese car manufacturer makes up 20% of Paragon’s business.
Paragon’s automotive expert, Mark Rimmer, says, “We’re so well set up to support the electric vehicle trend that’s happening in the UK, very rapid development projects happening all around us. We’ve got 3D print technology which really means the engineers and project teams and print the parts quickly.”