Made in Yorkshire membership driving greater awareness for Rosti Automotive

Rosti Automotive is one of the stalwarts of the Made in Yorkshire network, reflected by the fact managing director John Pendleton is the organisation’s current president.

He oversees the Pickering-based arm of a business which is a vital part of the main company – a full service supplier of exterior, interior and under-bonnet components and systems to the European premium car market. It has four manufacturing facilities within the UK as well as a Design and Development centre in Leamington Spa.

Wholly owned by Swedish family controlled investment company, Nordstjernan, Rosti Automotive has seen massive investment in the latest high technology plant and equipment. This has helped to drive five years of continuous sales growth which at times has exceeded 20% pa.

This growth has been achieved against a backdrop of increased capability in product design and manufacturing, leading to it offering ever more complex systems to some of the world’s most demanding and challenging car manufacturers.

Rosti Automotive was created in 2017 as a standalone business to give greater focus on the demands and quality standards inherent within the automotive sector.

“Being a part of Made in Yorkshire has been great exposure for us. The company has established a lot of good contacts and placed orders of its own with other members, which is important because it has helped us to reduce our costs,” said John.

“We have held events at the firm, which again has been useful for our profile and in turn, it is helping to attract people to the community.

“Overall, awareness of Rosti and what it does is now much higher as a result of us joining the network and I would recommend that other firms looking to raise their profile consider joining.”

John has also benefited on a personal level from his role as the network’s president.

“I’m really enjoying being president. It has given me a much greater understanding of the diverse nature of manufacturing in Yorkshire,” he said.

“We have been able to implement various sub-groups to represent specific areas of the membership and now what I want to do is to establish a network of skills so that members have somewhere to go in order to access the people they need to meet their needs.”

The company’s focus on quality product and supply recently saw it awarded a new contract extension with leading customer Jaguar Land Rover.

The contract will see Rosti design, develop and manufacture of a wide range of complex plastic components and assemblies on the next generation of premium Jaguar and Range Rover vehicles.

Rosti Automotive will be developing a range of highly technical exterior and under bonnet components featuring the latest recyclable and lightweighting plastic technology to optimise both environmental impact and vehicle performance properties.

The supplier will be investing up to £20m in state of the art moulding and automated robot assembly cells to optimise both component and quality performance. The products will be manufactured at its facilities in Stamford Bridge, Pickering and Larkhall.

Rosti Automotive currently supplies moulded and painted plastic components including grilles, spoilers, door modules, door claddings, engine covers, bumper child parts and interior moulding to a wide range of customers including JLR, Ford, Lear, Plastic Omnium, Magna and Grupo Antolin.