City firm Penso Engineering's royal seal of approval

By Chris Smith 19/12 Updated: 22/12 10:23

Buy photos » Prince Andrew visits Penso. Photo by Jamie Gray 51.011.03.cov.jg5

AN engineering firm which has almost doubled its workforce in the past two years has been given royal seal of approval.

Prince Andrew visited Penso Group Ltd on Friday to see how the firm was flying the flag for British engineering and to meet its latest recruit, 19 year-old Jak Gudger, who only started his first-year Production Apprenticeship four days before.

The teenager is the 40th new member of staff at Penso which now employs 100 people at its based on Woodmans Road next to Coventry Airport, working on high profile projects for Jaguar Land Rover, Mercedes-Benz and Morgan.

In the past year alone, the company manufactured over 600 vehicles, produced 4,500 wire harnesses and completed well over 1000 bespoke interiors for a variety of clients.

Sales director and marketing director Michael Collins said: "The Royal visit capped an amazing year, it gave us the perfect opportunity to promote the manufacturing excellence, innovation and design flair we boast in the West Midlands.

"We also discussed access to finance, the skills agenda and the importance of bringing through the next generation of engineers we so desperately need to grow our business."

Louise Bennett, chief executive of the Coventry and Warwickshire Chamber of Commerce, which organised the visit, said: ""If we are going to see a rebalancing of the economy in this country we need to see many, many more companies of this type who have started small and grown rapidly to become a leader in their field."