Alcon has today announced a £300,000 investment in new machinery focussed on increasing production capacity to meet the demands of their growing specialist vehicle division. The investment in new machinery will help to service the increasing number of orders being received for volume production braking components from axle manufacturers, military vehicle OEMs and armoured vehicle conversion specialists. Installed at their Tamworth site and working alongside their existing Northampton production site, Alcon’s new machinery will boost Tamworth’s production capacity and will increase security of supply by spreading the specialist vehicle production work across multiple Alcon sites. The new machinery will primarily be used for volume production in the defence and security sector where Alcon is fast becoming the global braking partner of choice.
Jonathan Edwards, Group Sales Director at Alcon said: “As you can see from today’s announcement, we’re continuing to take the defence and security sectors very seriously with ongoing investments made to enable further growth. Our specialist vehicle business, including defence, forms a significant percentage of our turnover and our plan is to expand that further still within the next 3 to 5 years – and that is bearing in mind the fact that the rest of the business is also growing”. He added: “We’re very proud of the fact that multiple armoured vehicle manufacturers and modifiers are contacting us to solve their specific braking problems that occur every time weight is added to any vehicle. We’ve got some fantastic new projects on the go that we’re not yet able to disclose and having added production capacity sets Alcon up to be ready for those, whilst continuing to deliver our current orders”.
Alcon is the selected braking partner for Patria’s 6×6 and 8×8 vehicles that are winning multiple orders globally, securing a considerable volume of braking component manufacture for Alcon. This further investment decision comes off the back of some recent milestone successes in the defence and security sector. Alcon’s armoured vehicle braking kits are also in high demand as the new Toyota LC300 armoured designs are rolled out by the world’s leading armouring companies. Behind the scenes, Alcon are working with a number of premier defence vehicle manufacturers working on global vehicle projects that cannot yet be announced.
Alcon has over 35 years of experience in engineering high-quality and high-performance brakes and clutches for specialist vehicles; from F1, World Rally and prestige performance cars to 60T-plus military armoured vehicles. This, combined with their proven pedigree in rapidly solving the unique braking problems created by the operational demands of the military environment, put them in a strong market position. Alcon braking solutions have been sought out by some of the world’s finest defence industry vehicle OEMs. Alcon braking systems are used by over 20 defence and security equipment OEMs, including Patria, Supacat, BAE, Ricardo and Jankel because Alcon provide bespoke braking systems that fully meet the demanding requirements of the challenging, high-performance, modern-day battlefield.
