Brose (www.brose.com), a leading Tier One automotive supplier, has celebrated 30 years of production in the UK by producing its two-millionth seat structure in a single year.

The company, which employs 900 people at its two plants in Coventry, announced this milestone earlier this month during the official presentation of its Queen’s Award by Timothy Cox, the Lord-Lieutenant of Warwickshire.

Staff, local dignitaries and Maximilian Stoschek (the great-grandson of company founder Max Brose) were on hand to see managing director Juergen Zahl accept the award, which reflected a major spike in export sales to China, France, Spain and Brazil, following a significant period of expansion for the firm.

Mr Zahl said: “We are very passionate about our Coventry facilities, and the Queen’s Award is the pinnacle of the journey we have been on for the last 30 years.

"Many lows have been overcome, and many highs have been achieved. Today, we are one of the best manufacturing locations in the Brose Group — and a strategic supplier of window regulators and seat structures to Jaguar Land Rover, Nissan and Toyota.”

Brose acquired Sheridan Engineering in 1988 — its first international plant outside Germany. Initially, the company was producing locks, latches, hinges and window regulators for Ford, Peugeot, Jaguar and Rover, and it was based in several industrial units on Durbar Avenue.

Today, it employs 900 people and is located in two high-performing manufacturing facilities, producing two million seat structures and more than 4.6 million window regulators every year for 17 different car models made in 20 global plants.

Mr Zahl continued: “We have had a really strong five years, bouncing back from the global recession to achieve £289 million in sales in the last financial year.”