The Japanese company Mitsubishi has a long association with Scotland. It first arrived here in 1975 when it started making video recorders at a factory in Livingston. A few years later, it saved an ailing television factory in Haddington which it ran for some 20 years before being forced to close it.
Picture: ROB MCDOUGALL
Mitsubishi Electric celebrates 20 years of air conditioning manufacturing in Livingston and commits to a £20 million investment
Now the company has announced confirmation of its commitment to Scotland with details of a major expansion. Mitsubishi Electric Air-Conditioning Europe has been in Livingston for the last 20 years. It is marking its anniversary – and indeed looking to the future – by opening a new world-class research and development facility. This will be located on a site next to its existing factories and it follows the recent decision to relocate the UK branch of its R&D Centre in Europe to Scotland. Indeed the company has a longer term plan to create a centre of design excellence here.
The Scottish minister for Energy, Enterprise and Tourism, Fergus Ewing MSP, welcomed the announcement, describing it as “great news for Scotland”. He stressed that the Scottish Government “strongly supports the introduction of renewable heat technologies as they can make a huge contribution to our national emission reduction targets. The Scottish Government’s target of 100% of electricity demand to be met from renewables by 2020 make Scotland an ideal proving ground for advanced renewable energy technologies.”
Mitsubishi’s general affairs manager in Scotland, Iain Riddle, acknowledged that the firm was still principally and air conditioning manufacturer. He pointed out that the Scottish factory was one of only four around the world – the others being in Thailand, China and Japan. However he explained that “there is a strategy now to transfer products from the Japanese factory to us – that’s part of our expansion.”
The company expects that production from its Scottish facility will quadruple in the next four years, enabling it to serve its customers in Europe, the Middle East and Southern Africa much more efficiently. And as part of this process, it is keen to develop a centre of design excellence outside Japan. The reason for selecting Scotland as the location for the centre is that it makes sense to have the RND, design and manufacturing teams operating together at the same location. In this, the Scottish site is unique within Mitsubishi globally.
To stress its commitment to the Scottish plant, the company has announced a commitment to invest £20 million in its Scottish base to continue its expansion and development of new products in Scotland. the company is also developing very strong links with Scotland’s colleges and universities. It already works closely with West Lothian College through its engineering apprentice training programme. It is also formed a relationship with Herriot Watt University, renowned for its expertise in the company’s key areas.