Coventry manufacturer ‘on pole’ in its 60th year

CWCC president Steve Harcourt and Keely Hancox join staff at Whiteley Brooks to celebrate its 60th anniversary

Coventry-based Whiteley Brooks Engineering, which counts a range of Formula One (F1) teams as customers, and is celebrating its 60th anniversary in business, is in ‘pole position’ for growth after investing £550 million in upgrading its inspection technologies and machine tools. The company has been serving the motorsport industry with a range of precision parts since it was established in 1965, providing components for almost every F1 team, Formula E and the World Endurance Championship.

The company is also helping to train the next generation of engineers having taken on six apprentices out of a total workforce of 40 during the past three years, and they will be learning their skillsets from more experienced members of the team, which includes Gear Purewal and Eirinn Turner who have been with the company for 53 and 37 years, respectively.

Coventry and Warwickshire Chamber of Commerce (CWCC) president Steve Harcourt and head of operations Keely Hancox recently toured the facility with Whiteley Brooks director Jat Purewal, who explained the reasons for the ongoing investments. He said: “We are very proud to reach 60 years in business. I have been here since 2002 so it is important to recognise everyone who has made the company what it is today, including the founders Ken Whiteley and Stan Brooks.

“We are now up to a team of 40 and our success is down to a real team effort. We also invest regularly and have just signed off another £550,000 in new machine tools and additional inspection software that our customers are really interested in. Our motto is ‘Keeping ahead of the game’ and we have to live by that because our customers are having to innovate year after year, so we have to do the same.

“We are unable to talk about individual customers and the parts we make because of the nature of the sport, but we are incredibly proud to be delivering for some of the best-known F1 teams out there, which is a real success story for Coventry. I was really pleased to show Steve and Keely around and I am really grateful to the CWCC, of which we have been a member for 23 years, for helping us to shout about the fact we have reached 60 and continue to invest in the future.”

Mr Harcourt concluded: “Whiteley Brooks is a fascinating Coventry company that is doing amazing work in one of the most popular sports on the planet. They are a great example of how, even in uncertain times, it is possible to invest in people, technology and machinery to put a business on the strongest footing for growth.”