MINISTER THANKS MUNITIONS WORKERS SUPPORTING FRONT-LINE OPERATIONS, BAE Systems
Release Date: 2009-07-17
Glascoed, Wales. – BAE Systems workers producing munitions for operations in Afghanistan were thanked today for meeting all delivery targets by Baroness Taylor, the Parliamentary under Secretary of State for International Defence and Security.
The minister toured the South Wales plant to see how production of artillery and mortar rounds has been stepped up to meet the needs of operations in Afghanistan.
Baroness Taylor said “I am delighted to be here in Wales to thank the staff at BAE Systems for their vital work in supporting our troops on the front line. The current operational tempo has placed significant extra demands on the workforce and I have been very impressed to see for myself the way they have risen to the challenge”
BAE Systems’ three munitions factories at Glascoed, Radway Green in Cheshire and Birtley on Tyneside have ramped up production at the same time as the factories are being transformed under a revolutionary 15-year £2bn partnering arrangement called MASS signed in August last year between the UK Ministry of Defence (MoD) and BAE Systems.
MASS (Munitions Acquisition – the Supply Solution) is anticipated to grow to more than £3 billion during the next 15 years. Some 1,700 jobs are directly sustained by the deal, including 230 specialist munitions engineer posts.
All deliveries of vital supplies under the agreement have been on time. Glascoed is producing 25,000 mortar bombs a month, doubling rates of a few years ago. Radway Green has more than doubled production of small arms ammunition to up to a million rounds a day.
Charlie Blakemore, Managing Director for BAE Systems Global Combat Systems – Munitions, said: “We are working closely with the MoD to ensure our troops get the ammunition they need while providing best value for money for the taxpayer.
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“MASS allows us to take a long-term strategic view. BAE Systems has begun to invest more than £120 million over the next five years to accelerate transformation of our munitions sites into modern, safer, highly-automated, energy-efficient and flexible facilities.
“We are also working together with the MoD to ensure the UK has the necessary skills and resources, not only to support current usage patterns, but also to be able to increase output and design new leading-edge ammunition technology.”
MASS was signed on 20 August 2008 between the MoD’s Defence Equipment & Support organisation and BAE Systems. It guarantees the MoD ceiling prices for ten years and consists of three elements: a capability charge to cover all fixed costs; payment for products priced at direct material and labour costs; and a further element to allow for flexibility, such as additional engineering tasks and “surge manufacture” to support operational deployments.
The agreement includes opportunities to share savings achieved through improved performance, innovation, overseas sales and expansion of scope. There are also penalty clauses for under-performance.
Three manufacturing sites are being transformed over a five year period under MASS. The improved plants will result in energy savings of 18,000 tonnes of CO2 emissions a year, equivalent to the carbon footprint of 1,500 UK citizens.
Birtley, originally a Belgian-staffed World War I shell factory, carries out forging, machining and treatments of large calibre tank and artillery ammunition. A new energy-efficient plant will be built locally and some £28 million invested in plant and machinery, including a new specialist forge, robotic machining cells and new, environmentally-friendly, paint and treatment capabilities. It has 310 employees.
Glascoed, built in the 1930s, fills, assembles and packs munitions. Its transformation has already started with the commissioning of a modern filling plant in 2006 for the filling of ‘insensitive munitions’ which are much less likely than conventional ammunition to explode if involved in an accident or subject to bullet or fragment attack. In a £34 million investment programme, more than 3o0 per cent of its 800-plus buildings are being demolished. New lean, flexible large and medium calibre and mortar facilities will be created and there will be significant investment in site infrastructure and utility systems which will improve energy efficiency by over 100 per cent. 630 people work there.
Radway Green, also a result of the World War II re-armament drive, manufactures small arms ammunition. Over £40 million will be invested in new facilities to be built on the existing site, and a new manufacturing plant that will provide a 50 per cent increase in capacity. It has 600 workers.
| Type: | NORMAL |
| Company: | BAE Systems |
| Country: | United Kingdom |
| Url: | http://www.baesystems.com/Newsroom/NewsReleases/autoGen_109617114146.html |