Former RAF man flies in to lead West Midlands automotive cluster

A former RAF navigator has been appointed to the post of automotive cluster manager at regional development agency Advantage West Midlands. Martyn Mangan joins the agency to oversee projects funded to increase the competitiveness and performance of the region’s automotive industry. Almost 55,000 people in the West Midlands are directly employed within the automotive industry, with around 200,000 workers in the region’s supply chain. Advantage West Midlands is investing in the industry through projects such as the £80 million Premier Automotive Research and Development programme and at the

University of Warwick and the Accelerate programme, both of which are working to improve the strength of the supply chain in the region.

Originally from Bolton, Martyn joins from the South West Regional Development Agency where he held a similar post working with companies involved in the aerospace, marine, defence and automotive sectors.
He also spent 16 years in the Royal Air Force working as a navigator on the Hercules low level squadrons. Martyn holds a joint honours degree in materials science and mechanical engineering from Queen Mary College and an MBA from Edinburgh Business School. Martyn said: “The West Midlands is the heartland of the UK’s automotive industry, accounting for a third of all output nationally. “The region remains home to some of the world-famous names – BMW, Prodrive, Aston Martin, Jaguar-Land Rover, Morgan and Mira – who have a major role in both employment and also in driving forward research and development in the European and international automotive market.

“But the West Midlands is also home to dozens of smaller high-value niche vehicle manufacturing companies which the Agency is supporting through the Niche Vehicle Network. “This all goes to prove that our region remains a vibrant and attractive place for automotive and through strategic investments made by Advantage West Midlands, we can continue to keep the sector as one of the most economically important. “I think it is absolutely vital that the profile and excellence in automotive design, manufacture and research and development is raised in the West Midlands and beyond.” Alongside aerospace and rail, automotive forms part of the transport technologies cluster, one of the ten business clusters identified by Advantage West Midlands as priorities for the future of the region’s economy.