Maximum Output

Heavy investment in manufacturing positions trailer and bodybuilder Montracon for post-Brexit boom

- Steve Banner

Trailer and body builder Montracon has invested £4.2m in its Doncaster factory. The move will double weekly trailer output to 80 on a single shift by the middle of 2018, says managing director Paul Avery

Celebrating its 40th anniversary as a trailer builder this year, Montracon currently produces a total of 3500 trailers annually from its three plants at Doncaster, Market Weighton in East Yorkshire and Mallusk in County Antrim.

The company is part of Ballyvesey Holdings, which also owns Montgomery Transport, Commercial Vehicle Auctions and several truck dealerships representing Scania, Mercedes-Benz and DAF.

Montracon’s decision to invest in Doncaster suggests it is not expecting a collapse in the demand for trailers once Britain leaves the European Union in March 2019. However, where Brexit is having an effect, says Avery, is in the decline in the value of the pound in the wake of last year’s referendum and the impact it has had on the cost of the imported components Montracon uses.

“As a consequence we’ve had to implement three mini price increases,” he says. This means Montracon’s products now cost three percent more on average; a modest rise, he reckons, given the pound has experienced an 18 percent slide against the euro.

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