Senior staff from its headquarters in the United States of America made the trip specially to attend the opening of Moog’s new £40 million Gloucestershire factory in a mark to show just how important the county is to its global operations.
Mark Lawton, general manager of Moog's aircraft control components division which is moving into the new-build, said it was an exciting time for the business.
The new 209,000 sq ft building, developed in partnership with Barberry Industrial, has more than doubled the size of its aerospace division in Tewkesbury, a £50 million turnover business which makes engine and flight control products for military and commercial aerospace programs.
Lawton said: ‘This is a huge vote of confidence in Tewkesbury. We had our chief executive officer of all of Moog and the chief operating officer here for the opening.
‘We have been in Gloucestershire for 50 years, 44 of those in Tewkesbury. We have completely outgrown the three buildings we are currently in.
‘The new space is at least twice the floor plan of our existing three buildings and we have taken a 35 year lease on it. It will allow for expansion.’
Over the next few weeks the firm will move the 400 staff who work in those three buildings into their new headquarters. Hundreds more also work in Moog's nearby industrial division close to the railway station at Ashchurch.
For Lawton, the move will only help foster what is known throughout the company as the Moog Family, an ethos which describes how the firm thinks and acts towards its staff. And the extra capacity will also help develop its long-standing commitment to apprentices and graduates.
The firm’s products are used by most of the world’s major aeroplane manufacturers — more than ‘100 platforms’ in total — including GE Aviation, Safran, Airbus and Rolls-Royce.
Nusrat Ghani, the government's Minister of State for Industry in the Department for Business and Trade, said the UK had provided £8m to help Moog develop the new factory.
