Paisley MSPs visit Howden’s global headquarters in Renfrew

MSPs Wendy Alexander (Paisley North) and Hugh Henry (Paisley South) have met the Howden senior management team in Renfrew, to update themselves on the ongoing development of the company as a worldwide supplier of custom engineered fans, compressors and heat exchangers, and to find out more about the company’s role in the local community.

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After a brief presentation from Howden’s CEO Bob Cleland they visited Howden’s Renfrew factory, where large compressors, manufactured in Glasgow, are assembled into vast packages prior to being shipped to sites around the world. Ms. Alexander discussed Howden’s ongoing commitment to the area, and was delighted to hear from Bob Cleland that £4m is being invested in the nearby compressor factory during 2009 and over £3m has been invested to develop the Renfrew site and the company’s global business systems. “Howden is a global engineering company that is committed to Scotland as a centre for engineering excellence, and this investment helps provide it with a competitive long term future in the global market.” said Mr. Cleland.

During a meeting with the senior management team Mr. Henry discussed employment opportunities with the company, and learned that over the last two years Howden has been recruiting faster than ever to meet the growth in demand for its products. In that period the workforce in the west of Scotland has increased from 339 to 473. To cope with this and similar growth worldwide,  the company has partnered with Glasgow Caledonian University to develop the Howden Academy, a three week concentrated training programme providing job-specific application engineering training in a quality-assured centre of excellence.

Bob Cleland said “Engineering is an exciting career and Howden Academy has completely revamped the approach we take to post-graduate engineering education and training. By making this level of investment in our people, we will attract and retain the best engineers from around the world, strengthening our position as a global force in engineering innovation.”  More details can be found on the Howden careers site www.howden.com/en/careers.

Wendy Alexander said

“It is great to see Howden’s going from strength to strength since relocating its Headquarters back to Renfrew a few years ago. Few of us who drive past this famous factory on the Old Govan Road realise it is now a global business with over 3000 employees, 5 factories in China, and a turnover heading for three quarters of a £billion.
Howden’s training academy gives local young people engineering training opportunities which are second to none.
I hope to welcome some of the participants to the Scottish Parliament in the future”