Coventry-based RDM Group, which provides electronic and software engineering, automotive wiring harnesses, CNC machining, carbon fibre and trim and upholstery, has seen sales eclipse pre-lockdown levels after automotive manufacturers switched to sourcing more locally to reduce dependencies on global supply chains.

This has seen orders jump 30% on this time last year, creating up to 18 new jobs across manufacturing, software development, logistics and in the firm’s autonomous technology division Aurrigo,, which has recently launched Auto-Dolly, the world’s first driverless cargo and luggage dolly for airports.

The company is now looking to capitalise on this demand by investing more than £500,000 into increasing engineering capacity, capital equipment, further recruitment and the opening of an additional international office in Singapore.

David Keene, CEO of RDM Group, said: “We have definitely noted a shift in purchasing decisions by the big OEMs, who are experiencing significant supply chain issues from Brexit, Covid-19 and natural disasters.

“The requirement for local sourcing has never been greater and we have certainly benefitted since lockdown was eased, both in immediate sales and in our future pipeline of opportunities.”

He added: “At our Advanced Engineering Centre, we have the capability to support design, development, prototyping and medium-volume supply across a range of engineering disciplines.

“This means customers can use us to single-source manufacturing solutions in anything from electronics and trim to injection moulding and carbon fire parts as lightweighting becomes increasingly important.”

RDM Group was founded 28 years ago when Mr Keene took voluntary redundancy from MG Rover.

Durng the last three decades, the company has overcome a number of major economic and global shocks to remain a critical supplier of engineering services to some of the world’s best-known automotive manufacturers, including Aston Martin, JLR and Morgan Motor Company.

All components are manufactured to IATF16949 global quality standards and can be delivered in batches starting at one-offs right up to 50,000 units per week.

Mr Keene continued: “Our autonomous vehicle division Aurrigo continues to go from strength-to-strength, with the Auto-Pod and Auto-Shuttle resuming trials in Milton Keynes and on the roads in Cambridge respectively, while Auto-Dolly is enjoying massive interest from global ground-handling specialists, airlines and airports.”

“The latter is a massive opportunity and this, combined with our Auto-Sim modelling technology, could deliver more than £10 milion in sales over the next 12 months, which will generate 50 new technology jobs in the area.”